Value-System Segmentation: Exploring the Meaning of LOV

Abstract

Human values have been increasingly used as a basis for market segmentation. The list of values (LOV) is one common approach to segmentation: typically, mar­keters use the top-ranked value to assign consumers to segments. Although it is simple to implement, the top-rank approach to values segmentation conflicts with Rokeach’s concept of an ordered value system, in which individual values are or­ganized in the context of an overall hierarchy. This study uses a new measurement model that identifies latent (unobserved) value-system segments derived from a ranking of the LOV items. Higher-order value-system segments reflect the reality that multiple values will affect an individual’s behavior. A values map is also\con­structed, which allows dimensions underlying the value-system segments to be identified. Data from a national survey show that the resulting value-system segments and values map have face validity consistent with the psychological structure of human values recently hypothesized by S. H. Schwartz and W. Bilsky.