Motives, Values, Preferences Inventor - TECHNICAL FACTS

The MVPI contains items that are keyed "agree," "uncertain," or "disagree." The items have been carefully reviewed for invasive or intrusive content and to ensure the inventory has no adverse impact on race/ethnicity or gender. The total completion time is 15 - 20 minutes with a 5th-grade reading level.

Each scale is composed of five themes:

1. Lifestyles: the manner in which a person would like to live
2. Beliefs: "shoulds," ideals, and ultimate life goals
3. Occupational Preferences: the work an individual would like to do, what constitutes a good job, and preferred work materials
4. Aversions: reflect attitudes and behaviors that are either disliked or distressing
5. Preferred Associates: the kinds of persons desired as coworkers and friends

These themes form the foundation for understanding the value structure of an individual.

The original norms for the inventory were based on the responses of 10,000 employed adults from a variety of industries, including health care, banking and finance, food service, construction, and transportation. More than 200,000 people have completed the MVPI over the past 10 years, and it is the primary tool for assessing values in organizations throughout the world.

MVPI scores are stable over time, with test-retest reliabilities ranging between .64 and .88 (mean = .79). The MVPI has been used in more than 100 validation studies; our research shows that the inventory effectively predicts job performance and turnover. In particular, the MVPI is a robust predictor of sales and managerial performance where values often influence behavior (e.g., effective sales personnel usually have high scores on the MVPI Commerce scale which, on the job, appears as a strong interest in financial returns for themselves and their company).