Assessing General and Work Values of Hong Kong University Students

This book aims at studying the relationship between general and work values of the university students in Hong Kong. In terms of relationships between ‘general’ and ‘work’ values, Roe and Ester (1999) had proposed three possible scenarios: (1) work values and general values are discrete constructs, or (2) work values are a sub-set of general values (as represented in a model developed by Ros, Schwartz, and Surkiss, 1999), or (3) general values are a subset of work values. Due to the lack of well-established theory for studying possibility (3), this study focused on the first two. Results showed that both scenarios (1) and (2) were to some extent supported by findings from Multidimensional Scaling, Exploratory Factor Analysis, Pearson Correlation Analysis, and Canonical Correlation Analysis. The findings here can therefore be used to suggest a combination of scenarios (1) and (2) as an explanation of the relationship between ‘general’ and ‘work’ values, with work values being both a distinct construct to some extent but closely integrated with general values. Clearly, these findings cannot rule out the possibility of scenario (3).