Schwartz’ theory of human values has found widespread interest in the social sciences. A
central part of the theory is that the 10 proposed basic values (i.e., achievement, power,
self-direction, hedonism, stimulation, benevolence, universalism, conformity, security, and
tradition) are arranged in a circular structure. The present study applies a meta-analytical
structural equation modeling approach to test the circular structure. The tested model was
the a quasi-circumplex model considered as the most appropriate representation of the
circular structure. Moreover, the study explores in how far the circular structure varies with
the used samples (e.g., culture) and methodological characteristics of the studies (e.g.,
measure). The meta-analysis comprised 318 matrices with the correlations among the 10
values gathered from 88 studies as well as the European Social Survey (overall N =
251,239). To reduce heterogeneity across the matrices, we used cluster analysis to sort the
matrices into eight clusters with a similar correlation profile and tested the circular structure
in each cluster. The results showed that three clusters showed a good fit to the data and
adequate matching to the theoretically proposed structure. The cultural and methodological
profiles of the clusters indicate potential moderators of the circular structure which should
be considered in future research.