Values, Beliefs Attitudes, and Behavior

In three books on issues related to the construct of value, Rokeach (1969, 1973, 1979) contributed significantly to the overall understanding of value construct as a psychological phenomenon. In his first book, titled Beliefs, Attitudes, and Values: A Theory of Organization and Change, Rokeach (1969) presented a philosophical argument for the importance and association of value to other psychological aspects such as beliefs and attitudes. In his second, book titled The Nature of Human Values, Rokeach (1973) presented his value theory and an instrument to assess value, known as Rokeach’s Value Survey, or RVS, as well as the rationale and validity of his survey instrument. In a third book, titled Understanding Human Values, Rokeach (1979) discussed the validity of his value theory along with a review of research studies that employed his theory in different research fields. Rokeach (1969) discussed the differences between: values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. He suggested that values are underlying dispositions for individual’s beliefs, attitude, and behavior. In the following section, a review of such differences is presented in the context of information systems in general and e-learning systems in particular. Although the aim of this study is not to provide empirical evidence for such a sequence (i.e. value impacts on beliefs, attitude, and behavior), the relationships presented in literature among such constructs are valuable in developing a framework to assess e-learning systems’ effectiveness that is built upon value theory. Furthermore, some IS scholars include attitudes and behaviors (or system usage) as constructs contributing to IS effectiveness. However, a review of these constructs in value theory literature is essential as it suggests these are mediating constructs rather than effecting constructs such as value and satisfaction.