Page 280 - Cultures and Organizations

Yesterday, Now, or Later? 253

theoretical perspectives—Chinese or North American. LTO-CVS and
monumentalism overlapped only partly, because monumentalism does
not predict thrift or persistence, and LTO-CVS is not about religious-
ness. The correlation between the two indexes encouraged a search for
WVS items that would replicate the meaning of both poles of the LTO-CVS
dimension.
Misho scoured the WVS database up to the year 2008 for items that

fulfill the following conditions:

■ They are conceptually similar to the LTO-CVS items.
■ They correlate significantly with LTO-CVS.

The WVS items that best satisfied these conditions were the
following: 39

1. Thrift as a desirable trait for children: “Here is a list of qualities
that children can be encouraged to learn at home. Which, if any, do
you consider to be especially important? Please choose up to fi ve.”
The list included independence, hard work, feeling of responsibility,
imagination, tolerance and respect for other people, thrift (saving
money and things), determination (perseverance), religious faith,
unselfishness, and obedience. Measured was the percentage choosing

“thrift.”
2. National pride: “How proud are you to be (name of your nation-
ality)? very proud, quite proud, not very proud, not at all proud.”
Measured was the percentage choosing “very proud,” which scored
40
negatively. This item measures an aspect of self-enhancement.
3. Importance of service to others: “For each of the following, indi-
cate how important it is in your life—very important, rather impor-

tant, not very important, or not at all important: family, friends,
leisure time, politics, work, religion, service to others.” Measured was
the percentage choosing “very important” for service to others.

“Service to others” resembles the LTO-CVS item “reciprocation of
greetings, favors, and gifts.” Scoring “service to others” as very important
in one’s life can be seen as another form of self-enhancement (like pride): a
concern for maintaining a positive self-image. The three items were mutu-
ally correlated, and across the available countries each of the three was
41
significantly correlated with LTO-CVS. From the three items, we could