A Test of the Circumplex Structure of Human Values

Schwartz’s value system has been widely used in different disciplines (e.g., psychology, management, and marketing). Although the value structure seems to be validated when data is analyzed through multidimensional scaling, the authors demonstrate, using a sample of Swiss respondents, that the factorial and circumplex structure of human values is not supported when confirmatory analysis approaches (e.g., CIRCUM and confirmatory factor analysis) are used. This paper provides some tentative explanations and makes suggestions as to possible improvements.