Description

The Work Values Inventory–3 (WVI-3) is a self-assessment and career-reflection tool designed to help individuals identify and prioritise the values they consider important in their professional lives.

Work values are relatively stable beliefs about what individuals desire and consider important in their employment. They may concern job content, employment conditions, workplace relationships, autonomy, financial rewards, or opportunities for personal development.

The WVI-3 includes 40 work-related values organised into four broad categories:

  • personal core values;
  • preferred work environments;
  • desired workplace interactions;
  • preferred work activities.

Contrary to the original description, the WVI-3 is not limited to three dimensions, such as autonomy, professional development, and recognition. The number “3” forms part of the name of this version and does not indicate that the instrument contains only three factors.

Purpose

The principal purpose of the WVI-3 is to help individuals identify what they consider essential in a job and examine whether their personal values align with their chosen occupation or workplace.

The instrument may be used for:

  • self-awareness and career reflection;
  • exploration of educational and occupational choices;
  • career decision-making;
  • assessment of person–environment value alignment;
  • identification of possible sources of job dissatisfaction;
  • support during career transitions;
  • development of career goals and priorities.

The WVI-3 is not intended to identify a single “correct” occupation. Its results provide a basis for discussion, exploration, and informed decision-making.

Structure

The WVI-3 contains 40 values divided into four categories, with ten values in each category.

Personal Core Values

This category examines values that may influence both professional and personal life:

  • achievement;
  • balance;
  • independence;
  • influence;
  • integrity;
  • honesty;
  • power;
  • respect;
  • spirituality;
  • status.

Preferred Work Environment

This category examines the conditions under which an individual prefers to work:

  • fast-paced work;
  • flexibility;
  • high earnings;
  • opportunities for learning;
  • convenient location;
  • predictability;
  • a quiet environment;
  • a relaxed or low-pressure setting;
  • structure;
  • freedom in managing time.

Workplace Interactions

This category concerns the social and organisational relationships individuals prefer at work:

  • competition;
  • diversity;
  • friendships;
  • effective leadership;
  • strong management;
  • open communication;
  • recognition;
  • mutual support;
  • teamwork;
  • trust.

Work Activities

This category examines the types of tasks and activities an individual prefers:

  • analytical work;
  • challenging activities;
  • creative work;
  • helping others;
  • innovative projects;
  • physical activity;
  • contact with the public;
  • research;
  • risk-taking;
  • task variety.

Administration

Respondents classify each of the 40 values using three response categories:

  • Always important
  • Somewhat important
  • Not important

The original format does not use a five-point Likert scale.

After completing the initial classification, respondents review the values they identified as always important and select their five most important values. They then rank these five values, placing the most important one first.

The final stage involves writing a brief personal narrative addressing:

  • how the five priority values are expressed in work;
  • which conditions allow these values to be fulfilled;
  • possible barriers to their expression;
  • how they relate to future career decisions.

Scoring

The standard use of the WVI-3 is qualitative and hierarchical rather than strictly numerical. The process involves:

  • classifying all 40 values into one of the three response categories;
  • identifying the values considered always important;
  • selecting the five most important values;
  • ranking the five values in order of priority;
  • developing a personal work-values profile.

For research purposes, responses may be numerically coded, for example:

  • 1 = Not important
  • 2 = Somewhat important
  • 3 = Always important

Numerical coding may facilitate statistical analysis, but it should not be presented as an official psychometric scoring method without supporting documentation.

A single total score is not recommended because summing all values would have limited interpretive meaning. The purpose is to identify the relative priority assigned to different values rather than an overall level of “positive” or “strong” work values.

Interpretation

Interpretation focuses primarily on the five highest-ranked values and the categories from which they originate.

If most priority values are personal core values, the individual may place greater emphasis on consistency between work, personal principles, and identity.

If most values concern the work environment, practical employment conditions—such as flexibility, predictability, earnings, or control over working time—may be particularly important.

If workplace-interaction values predominate, the individual may give greater importance to relationships, trust, support, communication, and recognition.

If work-activity values predominate, the individual may be especially concerned with task content, creativity, research, helping others, or variety.

No value is inherently superior or more desirable than another. Its significance depends on the individual, occupational context, and stage of career development.

Data Analysis

At the individual level, analysis may include:

  • identifying the five highest-ranked values;
  • examining the categories from which they originate;
  • comparing the values with the current work environment;
  • identifying possible conflicts between values;
  • developing a personal career-development plan.

At the group or research level, analysis may include:

  • frequencies with which each value is selected;
  • the most frequently prioritised values within occupational groups;
  • differences according to age, gender, or career stage;
  • associations with job satisfaction and organisational commitment;
  • congruence between personal and organisational values;
  • changes in priorities across different assessment points.

Because the responses are ordinal and the final stage involves ranking, statistical methods suitable for categorical or ordinal data should be used.

Psychometric Evidence

The available WVI-3 format functions primarily as a career-exploration and self-reflection exercise rather than a fully standardised psychometric scale.

The publicly available documentation does not clearly specify:

  • the developers of this particular version;
  • the original standardisation sample;
  • internal consistency;
  • test–retest reliability;
  • factorial structure;
  • convergent and discriminant validity;
  • population norms.

The psychometric properties of other instruments with similar names, such as Super’s original Work Values Inventory or Super’s Work Values Inventory–Revised, should not be attributed to the WVI-3.

Limitations

The WVI-3 should not be confused with other work-values instruments that use the same or a similar abbreviation.

Additional limitations include:

  • reliance on self-report;
  • possible influence of the respondent’s current employment situation;
  • changes in work values across the career lifespan;
  • simplification of a complex value system through the selection of only five priorities;
  • the possibility that several values may be equally important;
  • lack of documented diagnostic thresholds or population norms;
  • inability of numerical scoring to replace personal reflection.

The instrument should not be used independently for employee selection, candidate exclusion, or other high-stakes decisions. It is better suited to career counselling, self-awareness, and structured discussion.

References

Super, D. E. (1957). The psychology of careers: An introduction to vocational development. Harper & Row.

Super, D. E. (1970). Work Values Inventory: Manual. Houghton Mifflin.

Super, D. E. (1995). Values: Their nature, assessment, and practical use. In D. E. Super and B. Šverko (Eds.), Life roles, values, and careers: International findings of the Work Importance Study (pp. 54–61). Jossey-Bass.

Zytowski, D. G. (1994). A Super contribution to vocational theory: Work values. The Career Development Quarterly, 43(1), 25–31.

Robinson, C. H., & Betz, N. E. (2008). A psychometric evaluation of Super’s Work Values Inventory–Revised. Journal of Career Assessment, 16(4), 456–473.

Schwartz, S. H. (1992). Universals in the content and structure of values: Theoretical advances and empirical tests in 20 countries. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 25, 1–65.