What is the Meaning of an Automobile for the Consumer? How Brazilians and Americans Evaluate Cars, a Comparative Model

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to identify the relation between Human Values and behavior in order to judge automobile purchases in Brazil and the United States of America. North Americans (N=461) and Brazilians (N=570) filled out the Portrait Values Questionnaire in its refined version, PVQ-R (Schwartz et al., 2012), the List of Values (Kahle & Kennedy, 1988) and the Judgment and Meaning Scale (Allen, 2000). Using stepwise regressions to determine which Human Value relates better with each type of judgment and attribution of meaning, two structural models were built comparing the influence of each value in each type of judgment both in the United States of America and Brazil. The results showed that in both countries the Human Values have a higher correlation with judgment than the List of Values and can predict the types of judgment and attribution of meaning the subjects use to evaluate automobile purchase, however, the structures are similar but not equal, indicating that cultural influences can alter how the evaluation is processed.摘要 本研究旨在厘清人类价值观（Human Values）与行为之间的关联，以研判巴西与美利坚合众国民众的汽车购买决策。研究共招募北美受访者（N=461）与巴西受访者（N=570），所有受试者均完成了经修订的肖像价值观问卷（Portrait Values Questionnaire-Revised, PVQ-R，Schwartz等人，2012）、价值观清单量表（List of Values，Kahle & Kennedy, 1988）以及判断与意义量表（Judgment and Meaning Scale，Allen, 2000）。本研究采用逐步回归分析法，以明确何种人类价值观与各类判断及意义归因的关联度更高；同时构建两个结构模型，分别对比美利坚合众国与巴西境内各价值观对各类判断的影响程度。研究结果显示，相较于价值观清单量表，人类价值观与判断行为的相关性在两国均更为显著，且能够有效预测受试者用于评估汽车购买的各类判断及意义归因类型；不过两国的结构虽相似却并不完全等同，这表明文化差异会改变评估决策的加工逻辑。