Personal Value Questionnaire
Personal Value Questionnaire
Personal Value Questionnaire
Aim: To assess the values of a subject using the Personal Values Questionnaire (Sherry &
Verma, 1998)
INTRODUCTION
Values: Values are internalized cognitive structures that guide choices by evoking a sense of
basic principles of right and wrong, a sense of priorities, and a willingness to make meaning
and see patterns. Like other cognitive constructs, values can be studied at the individual level
or at the group level. That is societies, cultures, and other social groups have value-based
norms, priorities, and guidelines, which describe what people ought to do if they are to do the
‘right,’‘moral,’‘valued ‘thing. The study of values currently focuses more explicitly on the
circumstances in which values predict action.
Value refers to the relative importance that an individual places on an item, idea, person, etc.
that is part of their life. These feelings are unique to the individual. For instance, a person
may have a great attachment to some item from childhood that another person might see as
garbage, but that item can be said to have great sentimental "value" because of the memories
or other association that it evokes in its owner.
Theories of values
Purpose: To identify personal values that are robust across cultures and that can help explain
diversity and conflict in values.
Description: Six main features, relevant to all values, are described first. This is followed by
an outline of ten basic personal values, with a guide to which are congruent and which
conflict.
1. “Values are beliefs linked inextricably to affect. When values are activated, they
become infused with feeling”.
2. “Values refer to desirable goals that motivate action.”
3. “Values transcend specific actions and situations. … This feature distinguishes values
from norms and attitudes that usually refer to specific actions, objects, or situations.”
4. “Values serve as standards or criteria. Values guide the selection or evaluation of
actions, policies, people, and events. People decide what is good or bad, justified or
illegitimate, worth doing or avoiding, based on possible consequences for their
cherished values. But the impact of values in everyday decisions is rarely conscious.
Values enter awareness when the actions or judgments one is considering have
conflicting implications for different values one cherishes.”
5. “Values are ordered by importance relative to one another. People’s values form an
ordered system of priorities that characterize them as individuals.”
6. “The relative importance of multiple values guides action. Any attitude or behaviour
typically has implications for more than one value. … The tradeoff among relevant,
competing values guides attitudes and behaviors… Values influence action when they
are relevant in the context (hence likely to be activated) and important to the actor.”
The Schwartz theory of basic values identifies ten broad personal values, which are
differentiated by the underlying goal or motivation. These values are likely to be universal
because they help humans cope with one or more of the following three universal
requirements of existence:
Self-Direction
Defining goal: independent thought and action--choosing, creating, exploring.
Self-direction derives from organismic needs for control and mastery (e.g., Bandura, 1977;
Deci, 1975) and interactional requirements of autonomy and independence (e.g., Kluckhohn,
1951; Kohn & Schooler, 1983). (creativity, freedom, choosing own goals, curious,
independent) [self-respect, intelligent, privacy]
Stimulation
Defining goal: excitement, novelty, and challenge in life.
Stimulation values derive from the organismic need for variety and stimulation in order to
maintain an optimal, positive, rather than threatening, level of activation (e.g., Berlyne,1960).
This need probably relates to the needs underlying self-direction values (cf. Deci, 1975). (a
varied life, an exciting life, daring)
Hedonism
Defining goal: pleasure or sensuous gratification for oneself.
Hedonism values derive from organismic needs and the pleasure associated with satisfying
them. Theorists from many disciplines (e.g., Freud, 1933; Williams, 1968) mention
hedonism. (pleasure, enjoying life, self-indulgent)
Achievement
Defining goal: personal success through demonstrating competence according to social
standards.
Competent performance that generates resources is necessary for individuals to survive and
for groups and institutions to reach their objectives. As defined here, achievement
values emphasize demonstrating competence in terms of prevailing cultural standards,
thereby obtaining social approval. (ambitious, successful, capable, influential) [intelligent,
self-respect, social recognition]
Power
Defining goal: social status and prestige, control or dominance over people and resources.
The functioning of social institutions apparently requires some degree of status differentiation
(Parsons, 1951). A dominance/submission dimension emerges in most empirical analyses of
interpersonal relations both within and across cultures (Lonner,1980). To justify this fact of
social life and to motivate group members to accept it, groups must treat power as a value.
Power values may also be transformations of individual needs for dominance and control.
Value analysts have mentioned power values as well (e.g., Allport, 1961). (authority, wealth,
social power) [preserving my public image, social recognition]
Both power and achievement values focus on social esteem. However, achievement values
(e.g., ambitious) emphasize the active demonstration of successful performance in concrete
interaction, whereas power values (e.g., authority, wealth) emphasize the attainment or
preservation of a dominant position within the more general social system.
Security
Defining goal: safety, harmony, and stability of society, of relationships, and of self.
Security values derive from basic individual and group requirements (cf. Kluckhohn, 1951;
Maslow, 1965). Some security values serve primarily individual interests (e.g., clean), others
wider group interests (e.g., national security). Even the latter, however, express, to a
significant degree, the goal of security for self or those with whom one identifies. (social
order, family security, national security, clean, reciprocation of favors) [healthy, moderate,
sense of belonging]
Conformity
Defining goal: restraint of actions, inclinations, and impulses likely to upset or harm others
and violate social expectations or norms.
Conformity values derive from the requirement that individuals inhibit inclinations that might
disrupt and undermine smooth interaction and group functioning. As I define them,
conformity values emphasize self-restraint in everyday interaction, usually with close others.
(obedient, self-discipline, politeness, honoring parents and elders) [loyal, responsible]
Tradition
Defining goal: respect, commitment, and acceptance of the customs and ideas that one's
culture or religion provides.
Groups everywhere develop practices, symbols, ideas, and beliefs that represent their shared
experience and fate. These become sanctioned as valued group customs and traditions. They
symbolize the group's solidarity, express its unique worth, and contribute to its survival
(Durkheim, 1912/1954; Parsons, 1951). They often take the form of religious rites, beliefs,
and norms of behavior. (respect for tradition, humble, devout, accepting my portion in life)
[moderate, spiritual life]
Tradition and conformity values are especially close motivationally; they share the goal of
subordinating the self to socially imposed expectations. They differ primarily in the objects to
which one subordinates the self. Conformity entails subordination to persons with whom one
frequently interacts—parents, teachers, and bosses. Tradition entails subordination to more
abstract objects—religious and cultural customs and ideas. As a
corollary, conformity values exhort responsiveness to current, possibly changing
expectations. Tradition values demand responsiveness to immutable expectations from the
past.
Benevolence
Defining goal: preserving and enhancing the welfare of those with whom one is in frequent
personal contact (the ‘in-group’).
Benevolence values derive from the basic requirement for smooth group functioning (cf.
Kluckhohn, 1951) and from the organismic need for affiliation (cf. Maslow, 1965). Most
critical are relations within the family and other primary groups. Benevolence values
emphasize voluntary concern for others’ welfare. (helpful, honest, forgiving, responsible,
loyal, true friendship, mature love) [sense of belonging, meaning in life, a spiritual life].
Benevolence and conformity values both promote cooperative and supportive social relations.
However, benevolence values provide an internalized motivational base for such behavior. In
contrast, conformity values promote cooperation in order to avoid negative outcomes for self.
Both values may motivate the same helpful act, separately or together.
Universalism
Defining goal: understanding, appreciation, tolerance, and protection for the welfare of all
people and for nature.
This contrasts with the in-group focus of benevolence values. Universalism values derive
from survival needs of individuals and groups. But people do not recognize these needs until
they encounter others beyond the extended primary group and until they become aware of the
scarcity of natural resources. People may then realize that failure to accept others who are
different and treat them justly will lead to life-threatening strife. They may also realize that
failure to protect the natural environment will lead to the destruction of the resources on
which life depends. Universalism combines two subtypes of concern—for the welfare of
those in the larger society and world and for nature (broadminded, social justice, equality,
world at peace, world of beauty, unity with nature, wisdom, protecting the environment)
[inner harmony, a spiritual life]
Relations among these 10 broad personal values are dynamic. Actions pursuing one value
“have consequences that conflict with some values but are congruent with others.” This has
“practical, psychological, and social consequences.” “Of course, people can and do pursue
competing values, but not in a single act. Rather, they do so through different acts, at
different times, and in different settings.”
The figure below provides a quick guide to values that conflict and those that are congruent.
There are two bipolar dimensions. One “contrasts ‘openness to change’ and ‘conservation’
values. This dimension captures the conflict between values that emphasize independence of
thought, action, and feelings and readiness for change (self-direction, stimulation) and values
that emphasize order, self-restriction, preservation of the past, and resistance to change
(security, conformity, tradition).”
Tradition and conformity are located in a single wedge because they share the same broad
motivational goal. Tradition is on the periphery because it conflicts more strongly with the
opposing values.
“The second dimension contrasts ‘self-enhancement’ and ‘self-transcendence’ values. This
dimension captures the conflict between values that emphasize concern for the welfare and
interests of others (universalism, benevolence) and values that emphasize pursuit of one’s
own interests and relative success and dominance over others (power, achievement).”
There are two major methods for measuring the basic values: the Schwartz Value Survey and
the Portrait Values Questionnaire.
Schwartz’ work also examines relationships between different values in more detail, which is
useful for a richer analysis of how values affect behaviour and attitudes, as well as the
interests that they express.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Lay and Bruno(2018) conducted a study on Personal values and leadership effectiveness: The
study sought to evaluate the personal values profile, the predominant leadership styles, the
leadership effectiveness, and the relationship between personal values balance and leadership
effectiveness of a group of Brazilian executives. In order to evaluate the personal values
profile a closed instrument of the rank order type has been developed and applied. To identify
the predominant leadership styles, as well as the leadership effectiveness of the involved
executives, it has been used as an instrument available in the market.
To verify the relationship between personal values balance and leadership effectiveness, the
linear regression method has been used computing the linear correlation coefficient between
the before mentioned variables, involving 400 executives.
The study has shown that the executives have an unbalance in their personal values profile,
with predominance of economic and theoretical values. Additionally the study has uncovered
lack of flexibility regarding the leadership styles, presenting styles of selling and sharing
ideas as dominants. The study also showed that the leadership effectiveness of the involved
executives was at a moderate level.
Finally, the research pointed out a high positive relationship between personal values balance
and leadership effectiveness, and, furthermore, it showed a better balance of personal values,
if one considered only the part of the sample involving executives working in organizations
which presented better results in the three previous years (50 executives).
Purc and Lagun(2019) conducted a study on Personal Values and Innovative Behavior of
Employees: Innovations are based on the good ideas of individuals; therefore, it is very
important to better understand the role that individuals and their personal characteristics play
in innovative initiatives. The aim of the current study was to test the relationships between
employees’ personal values and their innovative behavior. It was hypothesized that these
relationships are mediated by an employee’s job autonomy.
We integrated Schwartz’s basic human values theory with the notion that job autonomy is an
important job characteristic that can be redesigned to better fit employees’ preferences.
The study results (obtained from 263 employees in different branches) showed that openness
to change and self-enhancement values are positively related to job autonomy, whereas
conservation and self-transcendence values are negatively related to job autonomy, which
confirms that personal values are important in explaining autonomy in the workplace. In
addition, employees’ self-enhancement values are positively related to their innovative
behavior, while conservation and self-transcendence values are negatively related to
innovative behavior.
Mediation analysis with a bias-corrected bootstrapping method showed that job autonomy is
a significant mediator of the relationships between employees’ personal values (except for
openness to change) and their innovative behavior.
Our research extends the theory of basic human values, showing that values serve as a
personal basis for innovative behavior. Our results also contribute to the innovation research
by demonstrating the importance of personal values and job autonomy for innovative
behavior in organizations.
Hueso, Linan, Jaen and Basuki (2020) conducted a study on The influence of collectivistic
personal values on the formation of entrepreneurial intentions: This article analyses the
specific role of collectivistic personal values as an antecedent of entrepreneurial intention.
While previous studies have focused on individualistic values, the influence of collectivistic
values has remained largely ignored.
We study this influence on a sample of 413 university students from the United Kingdom and
Spain.
The results are consistent in both countries, suggesting that an emphasis on collectivistic
personal values triggers an indirect, negative effect on entrepreneurial intentions through both
personal attitude and perceived behavioural control.
However, it also induces an indirect positive effect through subjective norms. The study
indicates that not only individualistic values but the complete personal-value structure is
influential in explaining the formation of entrepreneurial intentions.
• Religious Value – In this study it was found that the teachers who reside in Dayalbagh have
higher religious value than the teachers who reside in the city of Agra (P<.05). Similar result
is found in the student community also (P<.05). These results are supported by other studies.
The results are supported by other studies as well. Hence it seems responsible to say that
religious scale of PVQ measures this value validity.
• Social Value – The validity of the scale is judged by comparing the value-hierarchy of
B.Ed., Law, Engineering, and Medical students. For the comparison, only the six values of
PVQ are considered. The social value scale of PVQ gives results comparable to those of
similar studies.
• Democratic Value – It is expected that under- privileged sections of the society who have
been discriminated against in the past, and who are struggling hard for equality in one respect
or the other, score higher on this value than persons who are privileged. It is found that
women teachers have scored significantly higher than men teachers (P<.01) on this value.
Also the students belonging to lower strata of the society have shown greater respect for
democratic value than the students of higher strata
• Aesthetic Value – The finding from the data collected via this scale are supported by the
norms on the aesthetic value of men and women by Ray Chaudhary (1958), who has also
found that women are higher than men in their aesthetic values.
• Economic Value – From the study of the values of the standardization sample, it is
observed that students of commerce group (N=253) most of whom belong to business
communities are higher in their economic value that the student of scientific group (N=631)
(P<.01), This is an evidence of fact that Economic Scale of the PVQ measures the value
validity.
• Knowledge Value – The knowledge value scale of PVQ differentiates among the
professional groups in expected manner. The empirical findings suggest that the knowledge
value scale of PVQ is valid.
• Hedonistic Value – The only evidence of this value, that has yet been obtained, is that in a
school a group of 6 teachers who were habitual drinkers, were found to high on this value.
We feel more convincing evidences of the validity of their value are needed.
• Power Value – The findings of this scale were corroborated by the findings of Pal (1969)
who used Ray Chaudhary’s adaptation of Allport et.al. “Study of Values”. These evidences
support the validity of this scale of value.
• Family Prestige – Mathur on PVQ (1971) found that student-teachers with rural orientation
were very high in their family prestige value. Women teachers are found to be lower in
family prestige value. Women teachers are found to be lower in family prestige value than
men teachers (p<.05) in this study. This finding seems to be plausible because e women’s
choosing a career is itself a break from traditionalism which is implied in the family prestige
value. Hence the family prestige value scale of the PVQ seems to be valid.
• Health Value – Validity of the health value is supported by the fact that men teachers
(N=428) have significantly higher health value than the women teachers (N-246, p<.01). The
same is true of boys (N-1153) girls (N-572), It may be recalled here that the health value in
the PVQ means the valuing of health making practices like morning walk, exercise, playing
etc. among other things. Now it is generally observed that women do not value health to the
extent that they prefer these practices to activities signifying other values. Hence it is quite
natural that women score significantly lower than men on the value and health value scale of
the PVQ which reveals this sex difference is, therefore, valid.
Two indices of reliability of the PVQ were found out. Firstly, its reliability was determined
by Hoyt’s method using analysis of variance which method is as efficient ad Kuder
Richardson’s but less cumbersome. Secondly, two test-retest reliabilities were determined
one after an interval of 11 months and other of 2 months. Thus, three sets of reliability
coefficients for the PVQ are available. The well conceptualized religious and family prestige
value has reliability coefficients of .82 and .85 respectively. The lowest reliability is for the
power value (.58). The reliability coefficient for other scales are in the neighbourhood of .60.
Now higher reliability coefficients increase the precision of measurement by reducing its
standard error. But the measurement in the field of non-intellective personality variables
cannot be a precise as that in the field of non-intellective personality variables cannot be as
precise as that in the field of intelligence of achievement. Guilford (1954; p. 388) says that
the tools should be chosen even though their reliability may be of order of only .50. Judged
from this consideration the reliability of PVQ seems to be good.
METHODOLOGY
Materials Requires
• Personal Value Scale Questionnaire
• Paper
• Pen
Demographic Details
Name : XYZ
Age : 21
Gender : Female
Qualification : Graduate
Instructions
“Under certain circumstances ‘what would you like to do’, to know this, this questionnaire
has been prepared. Three answers have been given of every question. If you like any response
the most, please mark a tick in the cell against the response, if you like any response the least,
please mark a cross in the cell against that response and no mark is to be put against the third
response. There is no time limit, but the response which you deem fit in the first instance, the
same may be marked.”
Introspective Report
“The test was interesting”
Observational Report
The subject was focused while giving the test
Scoring
The responses are to be scored as follows:
1. 2 for a check mar showing the most preferred value under the stem
2. 0 for a cross showing the last preferred value under the stem
3. 1 for the blank or unmarked item showing the intermediate preference for the value
Sometimes the respondents leave some questions unanswered. If the number of such
questions is 4 or less, each item of the unanswered question should be scored as 1. It their
number is more than 4 the questionnaire should be rejected. In all the cases the scores should
be recorded beside the corresponding bracket and the total for each value should be written in
the cage given at the foot of the page. The correctness of scoring and recording of the totals
for al l the values is checked by summing the total for all of them on each page separately. If
the grand total is 24 the scoring may be correct, provided that compensating errors have not
been committed. Finally the entries in the cage at the foot of each page should be brought to
the bigger cage on the front page of the PVQ. The total of each column should be noted down
in the bottom row. The se totals denote the scores of the respondent on the corresponding
value given at the top of the column. In this questionnaire.
RESULT
The aim of this practical was to assess the value system of the subject using the PVQ.
In case of religious value, the subject scored a sten score of 4 which indicates that the subject
may have low religious values.
In case of social value, the subject scored a sten score of one. This indicates that the subject
may be very low on social value.
In case of democratic value, the subject scored a sten score of 5 which points towards an
average level of democratic value.
The subject also has a very high score of 9 in case of economic value.
In case of hedonistic values, the subject got a high score of 7 indicating that for the subject
the present is more important than the future.
Similarly, a high score of 8 in case of the power value indicates that the subject has a high
desirability of ruling over others and also for leading others.
An average score of 5 for family prestige value indicates that the subject has average level of
respect for roles which are traditionally characteristic of different cates of the Indian society
and average levels of conservative values.
Lastly an average score of 6 for health value indicates that the subject takes keeping the body
fit for carrying out one’s normal duties and functions important.
CONCLUSION
The subject has an average level of health, family, knowledge and democratic values making
her a normal fit for society. However, low and very low levels of religious and social values
respectively may be a hindrance. Even so the subject does show high levels of aesthetic,
hedonistic and power values, which indicate that the subject is more likely to take up
Leadership roles. Very high levels of economic value also suggest that the subject is very
pragmatic and realistic when it comes to monetary and material wealth management.
REFERENCES
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and Motivations for Teaching, Front. Psychol., 12 July 2019 |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01645
Purc.E and Lagun.M, Personal Values and Innovative Behavior of Employees, Front.
Psychol., 18 April 2019 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00865
Hueso JA, Jaén I, Liñán F, Basuki W. The influence of collectivistic personal values on the
formation of entrepreneurial intentions. International Small Business Journal.
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