Value tradeoffs propel and inhibit behavior: validating the 19 refined values in four countries

Abstract

We assess the predictive and discriminant validity of the basic values in the refined Schwartz value theory by examining how value tradeoffs predict behavior in Italy, Poland, Russia, and the USA. One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven respondents reported their values and rated their own and a partner’s behavior. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis supported the distinctiveness of the 19 values and the 19 self-rated and other-rated behaviors. Multidimensional scaling analyses supported the circular motivational order of the 19 values. Findings affirmed the theorizing that behavior depends upon tradeoffs between values that propel and values that inhibit it. Across four countries, value importance, behavior frequency, and gender failed to moderate the strength of value–behavior relations. This raises the question of the conditions under which the widely cited assumption that normative pressure weakens value–behavior relations holds.