Human Values

Intercultural competence consists of an understanding of the target culture combined with self-awareness—together, this comprehensive competence identifies cultural differences and reconciles them by turning opposing values into complementing values (Paige, 1993). Thus, the comprehension of values of the self and other cultures seems to be crucial in the development of intercultural competence. Further, according to the American Council on Education (ACE), one of the components of the ACE model for comprehensive internationalisation includes diversity, equity, and inclusion, whose core foundation rests on the values of the members of the institution. With this idea in mind, this second chapter of the theoretical part of this monograph presents a deep review of the theory of the ten basic universal human values (Schwartz, 1992, 2012). Starting from the premise that, in this research, human values are considered the origin of attitudes, and thus, the foundation of intercultural competence, the notion of values is first conceptualised (3.2). Next, the ten universal basic human values proposed by Schwartz (1992) are discussed (3.3). In the succeeding sections, the dynamic structure of values and the relationships among them are explained (3.4). Section 3.5 develops the common hierarchy of values across cultures, and the roots of the dynamic structure of value relations are described in Sect. 3.6. Afterwards, the relationship between attitudes, the basis of intercultural competence, and human values is discussed (3.7). Finally, the current research tendencies in the field are reviewed (3.8). The chapter closes with a summary (3.9).