| dc.description.abstract |
Many studies investigated cultural differences in values, most notably by Hofstede and Schwarz. Relatively few have
focused on virtues, a related and important concept in contemporary social science. The present paper examines the
similarities and differences between nations, or blocks of - culturally related - nations on the perceived importance of
virtues. Adults (N = 2.809 students) from 14 countries were asked to freely mention which virtues they found important
to practice in daily life, and next to rate a list of 15 virtues, which reflect the most frequently mentioned categories in
The Netherlands, as found in a previous study. The 14 nations included the United States, Mexico, nine European and
three Asian nations. For the free-listed virtues, we compared the top-ten lists of most frequently mentioned virtues
across the nations. We used a correspondence analysis on the frequency table to assess the relationships between the
virtues and nations. For the 15 virtues ratings, a MANOVA, and follow-up ANOVA’s were used to examine effects of
nation, age, gender and religion. We found strong evidence for relationships between nations and blocks of culturally
related nations and the importance attached to various virtues. There appear to be some country specific virtues, such
as generosity in France, but also some relatively universal virtues, most notably honesty, respect, and kindness. |
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