Human values are fundamental to understanding various fields, including culture, ethics, politics, sociology, and management. These values represent the core reasons behind decisions and behaviors, making them crucial in both theory and practice. However, the concept of human values often lacks clear definitions and a solid theoretical framework, leading to confusion and inconsistency among scholars and practitioners.
This article calls for a reevaluation of the concept of values, proposing a new psychological theory of human motivation based on fundamental principles. By reviewing existing definitions of human values, we suggest they can be distilled into a core set of 12 human emotional needs. This comprehensive framework offers significant advantages over current theories, which often result in an ever-growing list of concepts.
By embedding values within a well-defined motivational framework, this approach enhances theory development, method development, and practical applications. Clear operational definitions help streamline research and improve understanding across multiple disciplines.
Values as Motives: Implications for theory, methods, and practice
