Personal values and employee engagement: a study in Vietnam

Figures & data

Table 1. Schwartz value taxonomy.

VALUES	DESCRIPTION/ITEMS: INDIVIDUALS WHO VALUE THIS BELIEVE IN THE IMPORTANCE OF…
Power	…being in charge of people and resources and having money (social power, wealth, authority)
Achievement	…socially recognized successes (ambition, competence)
Hedonism	…sensual pleasure (fun, enjoying life)
Stimulation	…having stimulating experiences (daring, exciting life)
Self-direction	…. independence of thought and action (creativity, freedom, independent, curious)
Universalism	…. promoting the welfare of all people and nature (equality, social justice, protecting the environment)
Benevolence	…promoting the welfare of people, you are close to (helpfulness, loyalty, honesty, forgiving)
Conformity	…controlling impulses to fulfill others’ expectations (self-discipline, obedience)
Tradition	…. maintaining traditions (moderation, respect for tradition, devout)
SECURITY	…safety and security of self, family, and nation (family, security, social order, clean)

Source: Schwartz (1992).

Table 2. The hierarchy and mean ratings of values in Vietnam.

Scale	Mean ratings (SD)
Security-conformity-tradition	4.33 (0.65)
Benevolence	4.23 (0.78)
Universalism	4.20 (0.80)
Self-direction	3.96 (0.80)
Hedonism	3.49 (0.98)
Power-achievement	3.48 (0.87)
Stimulation	3.22 (0.97)

Source: Różycka-Tran et al. (2017).

Table 3. Five-item measure of employee engagement.

Definition	Items
Swanberg et al. (2011): ‘Work engagement is a positive work-related psychological “state of fulfilment’ that is characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption (p. 614)	EE1. Get excited as perform well at job
	EE2. Exert a lot of energy to perform job
	EE3. Really put heart into job
	EE4. Feel time passes quickly as perform job
	EE5. Feelings affected by how well job is performed.

Source: Developed by the authors.

Table 4. KMO and Bartlett’s tests for employee engagement and EFA results.

KMO test (Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin of sampling adequacy)		0.806
Bartlett’s test (Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity)	Approx. Chi-square	310.492
	df	10
	Sig.	0.000
Measurement items	Factor loading
	1
EE1	0.803
EE2	0.772
EE3	0.756
EE4	0.662
EE5	0.623
Eigenvalues	2.639
Total variance extracted (%)	52.774

Note: EE: Employee Engagement.

Table 5. KMO and Bartlett’s tests for personal values, and EFA results.

KMO test (Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin of sampling adequacy)			0.833
Bartlett’s Test (Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity)	Approx. Chi-square		1206.743
	df		120
	Sig.		0.000
Measurement items	Factor loading
	1	2	3	4
PV2	0.762
PV4	0.696
PV15	0.585
PV16	0.575
PV6	0.541
PV10	0.517
PV21		0.743
PV11		0.685
PV20		0.606
PV13		0.509
PV19			0.759
PV17			0.748
PV18			0.661
PV9				0.785
PV8				0.750
PV7				0.706
Variance explained (%)	30.652	12.193	7.974	7.052
	Total variance extracted: 57.870 %

Note: PV: Personal value.

Table 6. Schwartz value taxonomy matching with PVQ-21.

Item	Statement	Personal value	Code
PV2	It is important for me to be rich and have a lot of money.	Stimulation	S-P
PV4	It is important for me to show my abilities. I want other people to admire what I do.	Power	S-P
PV15	I want to take up new adventures and live an exciting life.	Stimulation	S-P
PV16	It is important for me to always behave properly and not do anything that people consider wrong.	Power	S-P
PV6	I love surprises and always want to try something new.	Stimulation	S-P
PV10	Having a good time is important to me. I like to ‘spoil’ myself at times.	Stimulation	S-P
PV21	It is important for me to do things that give me pleasure.	Hedonism	H-SD-A
PV11	I prefer to make my own decisions and do what feels right to me.	Self-direction	H-SD-A
PV20	I strongly believe that we should care about nature	Hedonism	H-SD-A
PV13	Being successful is important to me.	Achievement	H-SD-A
PV19	I try to follow my traditional values and customs that my family and society have endowed on me.	Tradition	T
PV17	It is important for me to earn respect from others.	Tradition	T
PV18	Being loyal to my friends is a priority in my life.	Tradition	T
PV9	I believe in listening to people who are different from me and trying to understand them.	Conformity	C
PV8	It is important for me to stay humble and modest.	Conformity	C
PV7	I believe that I should obey rules even when no one is around.	Conformity	C

Notes: S-P: Stimulation and Power; H-SD-A: Hedonism, Self-Direction, and Achievement; T: Tradition; C: Conformity; EE: Employee Engagement.

Table 7. Reliability of latent variables.

Factors (latent variables)	CR	AVE	Cronbach’s alpha
S-P	0.820	0.535	0.712
H-SD-A	0.821	0.535	0.708
C	0.845	0.646	0.723
T	0.845	0.645	0.727
EE	0.847	0.528	0.769

Notes: S-P: Stimulation and Power; H-SD-A: Hedonism, Self-Direction, and Achievement; T: Tradition; C: Conformity; EE: Employee Engagement.

Table 8. The discriminant validity test with the square root AVE index.

	T	EE	S-P	H-SD-A	C
T	0.804
EE	0.372	0.726
S-P	0.324	0.420	0.731
H-SD-A	0.481	0.570	0.460	0.731
C	0.437	0.398	0.240	0.487	0.803

Notes: S-P: Stimulation and Power; H-SD-A: Hedonism, Self-Direction, and Achievement; T: Tradition; C: Conformity; EE: Employee Engagement.

Table 9. The discriminant validity test with HTMT index.

	T	EE	S-P	H-SD-A	C
T
EE	0.490
S-P	0.427	0.541
H-SD-A	0.663	0.757	0.648
C	0.609	0.517	0.321	0.648

Notes: S-P: Stimulation and Power; H-SD-A: Hedonism, Self-Direction, and Achievement; T: Tradition; C: Conformity; EE: Employee Engagement.

Table 10. Testing for multicollinearity.

	T	EE	S-P	H-SD-A	C
T		1.424
EE		0.000
S-P		1.291
H-SD-A		1.693
C		1.410

Note: P: Power; S: Stimulation; SD: Self-direction; A: Achievement; H: Hedonism; C: Conformity; S-P: Stimulation and Power; H-SD-A: Hedonism, Self-Direction, and Achievement; T: Tradition; C: Conformity; EE: Employee Engagement.

Table 11. The results of hypothesis testing.

	Original sample (O)	Sample mean (M)	Standard deviation (STDEV)	T statistics (|O/STDEV|)	p Values
T → EE	0.067	0.070	0.062	1.077	0.282
S-P → EE	0.188	0.191	0.054	3.517	0.000
H-SD-A → EE	0.385	0.387	0.082	4.713	0.000
C → EE	0.136	0.139	0.066	2.069	0.039

Notes: S-P: Stimulation and Power; H-SD-A: Hedonism, Self-Direction, and Achievement; T: Tradition; C: Conformity; EE: Employee Engagement.

Appendix A1: The 21 personal values Questionnaires.

PV1. Thinking up new ideas and being creative is important to me.

PV2. It is important for me to be rich and have a lot of money.

PV3. I believe that every person in the world should be treated equally.

PV4. It is important for me to show my abilities. I want other people to admire what I do.

PV5. It is important for me to live in safe and secure surroundings.

PV6. I love surprises and always want to try something new.

PV7. I believe that I should obey rules even when no one is around.

PV8. It is important for me to stay humble and modest.

PV9. I believe in listening to people who are different from me and trying to understand them.

PV10. Having a good time is important to me. I like to ‘spoil’ myself at times.

PV11. I prefer to make my own decisions and do what feels right to me.

PV12. I like helping people around me.

PV13. Being successful is important to me.

PV14. It is important for me to ensure that the government is taking care of my safety concerns.

PV15. I want to take up new adventures and live an exciting life.

PV16. It is important for me to always behave properly and not do anything that people consider wrong.

PV17. It is important for me to earn respect from others.

PV18. Being loyal to my friends is a priority in my life.

PV19. I try to follow my traditional values and customs that my family and society have endowed on me.

PV20. I strongly believe that we should care about nature.

PV21. It is important for me to do things that give me pleasure.

Source: Schwartz (2003).

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