How Schwartz Values Influence Social Networks in the Workplace

In the literature, human values are defined as “desirable, broad trans-situational goals that serve as guiding principles in human life”. Shalom H. Schwartz introduced the concept of ten different human values and proposed their structure in the form of a circle. These individual values can influence the relationships between agents and, consequently, the structure of the entire social network. In this paper, we exploit data from the European Social Survey as well as our own unique experimental data to explore the mechanisms of this influence and analyse its consequences by the means of agent-based modelling. We present preliminary results that provide weak support for both proposed hypotheses: Schwartz values (i) lead to greater stability of social networks in the workplace and (ii) can differentiate agents’ behaviours and the resulting positions in their workgroups.