Interpreting value changes across countries using archetypes as anchor points : individual and country level perspectives

Schwartz's seminal psychological theory on human values (Schwartz, 1992, 2012) explains differences among individuals and countries. His instruments are robust, showing similar value structures across nations despite varying priorities. Our study examines value changes over time from both individual-level and country-level perspectives. For the individual level perspective, we use archetype analysis. This method identifies extreme observations representing specific value combinations, which are stable over time and useful for monitoring group changes. Country scores are averages of individual scores. Using European Social Survey data across 29 countries over a 20-year period, we identify three archetypes: Growth-focus, Self-focus, and Social-focus, all fitting Schwartz's theory. Changes in value priorities over time are observed between countries, with Growth-focus prevalence influenced by political and economic conditions. Wealthier and more democratic countries have a larger number of growth-focused individuals. For the country level perspective, we start with country-level value scores as input in the archetype analysis. We explain various results, emphasizing that values are individual level constructs based on survey responses. We argue that valid comparisons over time require equivalence of constructs across countries. The discussion focusses on the need for integrating the two perspectives with a plea for a strong theoretical basis of population-level constructs.