A cross-cultural investigation of personal values: The Israeli-Palestinian case

The aim of the present study was to assess the personal values of Israeli and Palestinian students in light of the individualism-collectivism cultural dimension (Hofstede, 1980). Based on Sagie and Elizur's (1996) multifaceted approach, personal values that are individual-centered (i.e., associated with one's home, family, or work) were distinguished from the collective-centered values (i.e., associated with life areas such as religion, sports, or politics). We hypothesized that individual- centered values will be more important than collective-centered values to each individual, with either a higher individualistic orientation (e.g., Israeli) or a higher collectivistic orientation (e.g., Palestinian). The magnitude of the difference between both value types will differ, however, according to the cultural orientation. As compared to the Palestinians, we predicted that the Israelis would rank higher individual-centered values and lower collective-centered values. Using data obtained from two large samples of Palestinian (N=597) and Israeli students (N=452), the hypotheses were examined and supported. Avenues for further research are outlined.