Year: 2014
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: The purpose of this dissertation was to analyze the relationships between personal values and well-being, paying special attention to the contexts in which these associations emerge. This study addresses an ongoing controversy in current research between two competing hypotheses: a direct or healthy values perspective and the value-environment congruence perspective, the latter of which will be further developed in this dissertation. The theoretical background of the study is derived from Schwartz's value theory (1992, 2006), value-environment congruence models of well-being (Sagiv & Schwartz, 2000; Diener, Oishi, & Lucas, 2003; Diener & Diener, 1995), self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985), as well as research on subjective and work well-being (Diener, 1984; Bakker, Schaufeli, Leiter, & Taris, 2008). This study used a variety of samples: large population samples from 25 European countries (N~40.000, European Social Survey, ESS, 2006), two representative samples of working age adults from a Finnish rural community in 1993 and 2007 (N = 373), university students from Argentina, Bulgaria and Finland (N = 627), as well as a representative sample of young adults from a longitudinal data set from the Finnish Educational Transitions (FinEdu) research project (N = 571). First, the current study tested the relationships between values and the cognitive aspect of SWB specifically life satisfaction (LS) across European countries, and found that the level of socio-economic development of a country moderated the relationships between values and life satisfaction. Interestingly, some associations were contradictory: achievement values were positively and universalism values were negatively associated to life satisfaction in low socio-economically developed countries, and the reverse associations were found in highly developed nations. In less developed countries, which in the ESS are mostly Eastern European, openness to change values (positive) and conservation values (negative) were more strongly related to LS than in higher developed nations. This study also showed some universal positive motivations for well-being: valuing benevolence and hedonism, but not security or power was related to higher SWB in general population across countries. Second, person-group value congruence understood as the similarity between individual and average group values related to higher subjective well-being among university students and fewer psychological stress symptoms among community members. Value congruence, but not individuals scores on value priorities, predicted increased SWB in student samples. In the community sample, conservation values related to fewer psychological symptoms in times of economic crisis, but not in times of economic prosperity. Finally, this study examined long-term predictors of well-being at work (engagement) and proposed a conceptualization of career values based on self-determination theory s ideas of autonomous versus controlled sources of motivation. Results showed that intrinsically rewarding career values were positively related to subsequent engagement, but extrinsically motivated career values were unrelated. According to the findings, perceived person-organization value congruence was the strongest predictor of work engagement. In sum, this study shows that the relationship between values and well-being is dependent on the broader social context that individuals inhabit. In particular, the relationship between individuals values and well-being is influenced by country level characteristics, by the social groups to which they belong, as well as by organizational and developmental situations.
Source: Työväentutkimus Vuosikirja
Author: Florencia M. Sortheix
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1564029143