Values and attitudes towards cultural diversity: Exploring alternative moderators of the value–attitude link

Abstract

We study relations of two value dimensions—self-enhancement versus self-transcendence and conservation versus openness to change—with attitudes to cultural diversity. We examine two potential moderators of the value–attitude link, the meaning and the level of cultural diversity. We operationalize the meaning as the perceived consequences of cultural diversity for attaining value-relevant goals. We hypothesize that the perceived consequences depend on a group’s status: majority versus minority and high versus low. We test these hypotheses on representative samples from 25 regions of Russia ( N = 1,934). As hypothesized, the self-enhancement/self-transcendence link to attitude, though negative in all groups, was most negative in the low-status group. The conservation/openness link to attitude was negative for majority Russians, as in past research, but it was positive among minorities. Level of cultural diversity had no moderating effect. This study highlights the importance of group differences in the meaning of attitude objects for understanding attitude predictors.

The thrill of a smart purchase: Does country matter?

“…Self‐transcendence values emphasize concern for the wellbeing of others as opposed to self‐enhancement, which reflects an individual's pursuit of his or her own interests and relative success over those of others. A recent refinement of the Schwartz model partitions the same continuum into 19 more narrowly defined values whose effects are distinguishable across cultures (Grigoryan & Schwartz, 2020; Lee et al., 2019; Schwartz et al., 2012) and could be considered ‘near universal’ (Steinmetz et al., 2009, p. 605).…”

Value-Instantiating Beliefs: A Practical Substitute for Meaning

“…The literature provides plentiful examples of contextual variation in value-attitude relations. The relationship between religiosity and the value of conformity is more positive in countries with more harmonious relations between church and state (Roccas & Schwartz, 1997), conservative values are associated with right-wing political orientation in western countries, but the link is weakened or even reversed in countries with communist past (Barni et al, 2016;Piurko et al, 2011), the conservation-openness value dimension is negatively related to attitude towards cultural diversity among majority group members, but positively -among minority group members (Grigoryan & Schwartz, 2020).…”

“…Interpreting the observed variations in value effects, researchers point to differences between the studied groups in meaning ascribed to the object under study (e.g., Barni et al, 2016;Grigoryan & Schwartz, 2020;Piurko et al, 2011)), the nature of the object (e.g., Roccas & Schwartz, 1997), or features of the ideologies pertaining to the object (e.g., Barni et al, 2016). Rephrasing such interpretations using the narrower construct of VIB allows being more specific in the descriptions of differences between contexts, generating testable predictions corroborating the interpretations, and developing new hypotheses.…”

The Effects of Needs for Security and Certainty on Economic Beliefs: The Role of Political Engagement and the Welfare State Model

“…We first calculated the scores for higher order values, that is conservation (using the items measuring preference for security, tradition, and conformity; six items, M ¼ 4.30, SD ¼ 0.82, Cronbach's a ¼ .71) and openness (using the items measuring preference for self-direction and stimulation; M ¼ 4.08, SD ¼ 0.91, four items, Cronbach's a ¼ .65). Next, we subtracted openness scores from the conservation scores (see Grigoryan & Schwartz, 2020, for such a procedure; M ¼ 0.22, SD ¼ 1.19). 1 Thus, high scores represent high conservation as opposed to openness scores, indicating preferences for security, tradition, and conformity over self-direction and stimulation.…”