Values and economic performance across European welfare state regimes: Direct and indirect effects through social capital, human capital and managerial skills

Abstract

The values that people hold are linked to their economic performance. These links can be either direct or indirect, operating through moderating variables such as social network participation, interpersonal trust, trust in institutions, human capital, managerial skills and hours worked. In this paper these effects are studied using structural equation modelling (SEM) methodology applied to European Social Survey data from 28 European countries in 2018. Schwartz classification of values is used, distinguishing between Self-Enhancement (Power, Achievement), Openness to Change (Self-Direction), Conservation (Tradition, Security, Conformity) and Self-Transcendence (Universalism, Benevolence) values. It is found that Power has the strongest positive direct effect on economic performance, further strengthened by a positive indirect structural effect through hours worked. Self-Direction is indirectly positively linked to economic performance through higher managerial skills and hours worked. Tradition has a strong negative direct effect on economic performance. Security is indirectly negatively linked with economic performance, owing to its negative effects on interpersonal trust, management skills and hours worked. Some of the identified effects are context-dependent and vary across European welfare state regimes. For example, Power is statistically significantly linked to economic performance only in the liberal and conservative regime. Values promoted by respective welfare state regimes are not necessarily associated with higher incomes within those regimes, e.g., Tradition and Security values promoted in the conservative and Mediterranean regime are associated with lower incomes. These findings may lead to a range of policy implications, particularly in relation to the policies on immigration, demographics, the labor market, and work-life balance. Unfortunately, due to the cross-sectional character of the dataset, causal relations among the variables of interest could not be identified.