Mockaitis, Audra, Kumpikaitė-Valiūnienė, Vilmanté, Ferrari, Emanuela and Ó Maonaigh, Conchúr (2025) MUSSI Working Paper Series No – 27 Adjustment and Intra-Individual Value Change in Migrants: The Mediating Role of Host Country Embeddedness. Working Paper. Maynooth University Social Science Institute (MUSSI), Maynooth.
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Abstract
The notion that cultural values are inherently stable is an accepted tenet in cross-cultural
research. However, there is ongoing debate about the stability of individual values. While much
of the literature has focused on the stability of cultural values, few studies have systematically
examined whether and how individual values change in the context of migration. Migration
represents a significant life transition that challenges individuals to adapt to a new cultural and
social environment, making it an ideal context for studying intra-individual value change.
In general, there are few studies in the literature that measure changing values within
individuals (Schuster, Pinkowski, & Fischer, 2019). Studies by Bardi et al. (2014), Lönnqvist
et al. (2011, 2013), and Rudnev (2014), are among the few that have explored values change
in migrants, offering valuable insights into the mechanisms underlying this process. However,
the broader literature has primarily concentrated on the influence of individual values on
aspects of acculturation or adaptation by migrants to their host country (e.g., Ward & Searle,
1991); the impact of migration on values change is largely underexplored, and there is still a
gap in our understanding about how migration shapes individual values and the processes
through which such changes occur. Our study takes a different approach by examining how in
country adjustment leads to intra-individual value change in migrants.
We base our study on the premise that values are dynamic and subject to change when
individuals encounter significant disruption or change to their lives, such as through a major
life event like immigration. The decision to commit to a new life in a different culture and the
processes associated with adapting to the host country can profoundly alter one's perspective.
Interactions with host country individuals repeatedly challenge personal beliefs and
assumptions, which may lead to a re-evaluation of values over time. This interaction manifests
in various ways, including an acceptance of the host culture as "home" and a gradual adaptation
of individual values, depending on the degree of comfort and acceptance individuals feel
toward their new environment, or how embedded they are in the host country.
Bierwiaczonek and Waldzus (2016) highlight that the literature on cross-cultural
adaptation has tended to focus on specific subpopulations, such as expatriates and international
students, often neglecting the socio-cultural adaptation of first-generation migrants. They argue
that because migrants are generally more committed to settling in their host countries than
temporary sojourners, it is often assumed that they attain satisfactory adaptation over time. This
assumption, however, overlooks the unique challenges and contextual influences faced by first
generation migrants, and the longer term outcomes of transition to the host country context,
which remain underexplored in the literature. For these reasons, we focus on European
migrants from Lithuania, voluntary migrants, who have chosen to settle permanently in their
host countries.
Our study seeks to address these gaps by investigating whether and how individual
values change as a consequence of migration and the mechanisms through which these changes
occur. Specifically, we examine how in-country adjustment influences values change and the
mediating role of host country embeddedness. Using a sample of 1,687 voluntary migrants to
four European Union host countries, we aim to provide new insights into the literature on
values in the migration context by generating a deeper understanding about how migrants’
individual values change in the process of adapting to new environments.
| Item Type: | Monograph (Working Paper) |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | Funding. This project was supported by the Lithuanian Research Council, grant number S MIP-23-115 |
| Keywords: | adjustments; intra-individual value; migrants' mediating role; Host Country Embeddedness; |
| Academic Unit: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Institutes > Maynooth University Social Sciences Institute, MUSSI |
| Item ID: | 21860 |
| Identification Number: | 10.48460/MU.MURAL.00021860 |
| Depositing User: | Audra Mockaitis |
| Date Deposited: | 23 Sep 2026 14:00 |
| Publisher: | Maynooth University Social Science Institute (MUSSI) |
| Use Licence: | This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here |
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