Values and attitudes towards cultural diversity: Exploring alternative moderators of the value–attitude link

Abstract

We study relations of two value dimensions—self-enhancement versus self-transcendence and conservation versus openness to change—with attitudes to cultural diversity. We examine two potential moderators of the value–attitude link, the meaning and the level of cultural diversity. We operationalize the meaning as the perceived consequences of cultural diversity for attaining value-relevant goals. We hypothesize that the perceived consequences depend on a group’s status: majority versus minority and high versus low. We test these hypotheses on representative samples from 25 regions of Russia ( N = 1,934). As hypothesized, the self-enhancement/self-transcendence link to attitude, though negative in all groups, was most negative in the low-status group. The conservation/openness link to attitude was negative for majority Russians, as in past research, but it was positive among minorities. Level of cultural diversity had no moderating effect. This study highlights the importance of group differences in the meaning of attitude objects for understanding attitude predictors.