Testing Schwartz’s Model of Cultural Value Orientations in Europe with the European Social Survey An Empirical Comparison of Additive Indexes with Factor Scores

The aim of this study is to compare results of measuring the Schwartz (2004) cultural value orientations using multilevel confirmatory factor analysis (ML CFA) vs. the unweighted aggregated means (simple means) used in previous research. We conduct this comparison with data from the 21-item short version of the Por-trait Values Questionnaire in 6 rounds of the European Social Survey (ESS). An advantage of estimating factor scores via ML CFA vs. simple means is that ML CFA weights the impact of the factors on their indicators empirically. It also permits simultaneously assessing Schwartz’ 10 individual level and 7 cultural level values by decomposing the total variances of the 21 items into a within part (individual values) and a between part (cultural values), while controlling for random measurement errors. High intercorrelations between related values in ML CFA required unifying two pairs of cultural values. Comparing correlations with theoretically relevant macro indicators of the factor scores and of the simple means of the cultural values indicated somewhat higher external validity for the factor scores. Taken together, the findings suggest that the derived factor scores provide suitable macro indicators of Schwartz’ cultural value orientations for future studies using the ESS data.