L.

Zeitlin “The stability of individual and group values in the marketplace”

Unilever Consumer Science Symposium 1

THE STABILITY OF INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP MARKETPLACE

VALUES

Lawrence R. Zeitlin
Professor Emeritus of Organisational Psychology
City University of New York
and
University of Wales-Bangor

Values, those intervening variables we invoke to explain regularities in behaviour, have long
been regarded as relatively constant. We still discuss the marketplace applicability of
Hofstede’s and Rokeach’s surveys though the data is now more than a generation old
(Rokeach 1973; Hofstede 1980). But, since values are basically generalised attitudes, they
may, like all attitudes, be subject to alteration over time. This is particularly true when the
cultural or environmental structure supporting the values changes. Furthermore, in assessing
the stability of values, it is important to distinguish between the values held by an individual
and those of a cultural group or market segment.

Individual values are learned during the developmental process in early life. Parenting
techniques, schooling, and informal socialisation all play a part. The values are well supported
and reinforced by the institutions of the culture. The process is virtually complete by the time
a child reaches puberty and, in normal circumstances, the values so learned are extremely
resistant to modification. Longitudinal studies of individual attitude, value, and interest
patterns reveal very little change over the course of a lifetime. As the twig is bent, so bends
the bough.

By repeating values measurement studies years to decades later, researchers have documented
the stability of individual values within the context of a culture. Rokeach and his associates
repeated their early 70s values survey in the late 1980s and found most values in the US
culture were almost identical with those found in the earlier study except for a change in
values concerning equality and racism (Rokeach 1973; Rokeach and Ball Rokeach 1989).
Apparently racial unrest during the period between surveys had polarised opinion in the
direction of intolerance. In a cross-cultural study Peck examined national values in seven
countries taken years apart, using the same subjects, and found little change (Peck 1975).

Research in other domains supports similar findings. It is common political wisdom to state
that "all politics is pocketbook politics". On a formal basis political parties differ in their
attractiveness to the poor and wealthy depending on the party line on taxes and benefits. If
values are viewed as generalised attitudes that promote individual goals, it might be expected
that personal values reflecting political ideology would change as affluence changes. Research
shows that this is rarely the case.
L. Zeitlin “The stability of individual and group values in the marketplace”
Unilever Consumer Science Symposium 2

In many portions of the US voters are required to declare their political affiliation before
being permitted to vote in primary elections, after which they can only choose among the
candidates offered by their own party. The Democratic Party traditionally favours low-income
voters, the Republican Party high-income voters. In the last three decades, the US economic
boom has altered the financial fortune of the typical family. The average household net worth
in the US has risen $80,000 since the early 90s. The percent of truly poor, those needing the
economic safety net services featured in Democratic party campaign promises, has dropped to
2% of the population. Yet the proportion of Democratic registered voters to Republican
registered voters has stayed nearly the same for years. Studies of party registration made over
a 40 year period by Common Cause, a political watchdog organisation, confirms that voters
rarely change party affiliation even though the voter’s economic condition has changed
dramatically.

The relative stability of individual values has often been viewed as a great cultural flywheel
whose inertia precludes rapid social change. Such stability can work to the disadvantage of
society as well. Since WW2 the Japanese have been encouraged to cultivate the values of
personal thrift and saving, partly so their savings could finance the expansion of the industrial
economy, partly to discourage consumption at home, so that the output of their factories could
be sold more profitably abroad. With the Japanese economy currently in recession, the
government's frantic efforts to increase consumption at home as an economic pump priming
measure have proven futile. The financial incentives given to consumers to spend have simply
resulted in greater rates of saving. Changing deeply embedded cultural values is not easy.

But are values really that unchanging? Seligman and Katz, of the University of Western
Ontario, suggest that some findings of the stability of individual values may be an artefact of
the way the value survey questions are posed (Seligman 1996). Rokeach, Schwartz, and other
researchers looking for common values across cultures measure values by asking subjects to
rate their importance as guiding principles in their lives. People are asked to answer abstractly
about how values guide their general judgments or behaviours without regard to any specific
topic or purpose or social relationship. While such values research offers the ability to broadly
differentiate cultures, its relevance to application in the marketplace is limited. Even though it
is conceptually possible to predict general attitudes from this type of survey, there is no
assurance that individuals would rank values in the same way if they were responding to a
different request. The value order might be altered if the subjects were asked to rank order
values in terms of their importance to them as consumers, or voters, or sports fans, or as
parents.

Super and his associates support this view. In the Work Importance Study they recognised
that value rankings were discernibly different when subjects assumed different roles
(Kulenovic 1995; Super and Sverko 1995). Subjects from the world’s three major economic
blocs, Europe, North America, and Japan exhibited distinctly different value rankings when
asked to assume the roles of student, worker, citizen, homemaker, and leisurite. The rankings
assigned to each role also differed significantly between economic blocs confirming that a
L. Zeitlin “The stability of individual and group values in the marketplace”
Unilever Consumer Science Symposium 3

broad national or cultural consensus assigns different importance to each of the roles. Figure 1
depicts the relationship of roles to values in the three economic areas. The sets of values are
ranked in importance along the dimensions of PARTICIPATION and COMMITMENT.

Figure 1. Role salience rankings in Europe, N. America, and Japan.

Note that the values exhibited by Europeans and Americans in the roles of student and citizen
are quite similar, although they differ a bit when asked to assume the roles of housewife and
worker. Japanese values form a discrete group, unlike those of Europeans or Americans,
except when in the role of leisure seeker. In this role their values are like their Western
counterparts.

Another way of looking at this data is by a cladistic diagram relating the similarity of role
related values for all three economic blocks. Figure 2 is such a cladistic diagram.
L. Zeitlin “The stability of individual and group values in the marketplace”
Unilever Consumer Science Symposium 4

Figure 2. Relationship of roles to values in Europe, North America and Japan.

These findings suggest that value rankings may differ as a function of context and that
individual value importance may be modified, within a restricted range, as the situation or role
demands. Far from being specific measurable points, individual values must be considered as
fuzzy constructs subject to contextual alteration. Product related values measurement should
be performed within the context and role in which the product will be purchased or used.

Still, showing that individual values may be situation and context sensitive provides few clues
to the actual rates of value change. Individual value shift within the context of a home culture
may be relatively slow but when groups of individuals move physically from one culture to
L. Zeitlin “The stability of individual and group values in the marketplace”
Unilever Consumer Science Symposium 5

another, as in the case of immigration, the supporting structure of the home culture vanishes
and change is rapid.

The most profound shifts in value occur during acculturation. This is a learning process in
which old values must be extinguished and the new culture's values absorbed. The more the
old values deviate from the new, the greater the cognitive dissonance, and the greater the
pressure for value change.

In a sense the process of acculturation is both frustrating and anxiety provoking as established
beliefs prove non-adaptive in the new environment. Predictably the bulk of the research
literature on acculturation comes from the mental health profession. For multinational
corporations that require personnel to operate cross-culturally, problems of acculturation, or at
least culture shock, are relevant as well (Zeitlin 1996). Management science literature
discusses the acculturation process in the transition of individuals from school to work and the
transfer of workers to an overseas location, the objective being to manage the transition as
quickly and as painlessly as possible (van der Velde, Feij et al. 1995).

Recently Zeitlin measured the rate of value change in a controlled voluntary immigrant
population of business students in the US (Zeitlin 1999). All had chosen to attend US graduate
schools of business to pursue advanced degrees after having completed primary, secondary,
and some college education in their home countries. They were assumed to have acquired
basic home country work and cultural values. Using a modified and expanded Hofstede values
questionnaire, two broad categories of work values were isolated, Work Success and
Lifestyle.

The longer the residence in the USA, the more closely the both the Work Success and
Lifestyle values approached those of US natives. The immigrant’s intrinsic work success
related values became less important over time while their extrinsic lifestyle values
became more important. This relationship is shown graphically in Figures 3 and 4. Native
US values are those at the extreme right hand portion of each figure.
L. Zeitlin “The stability of individual and group values in the marketplace”
Unilever Consumer Science Symposium 6

Figure 3. Work Success (intrinsic) value factor score by years of U. S. residence.

Figure 4. Lifestyle (extrinsic) value factor score by years of U. S. residence.

L. Zeitlin “The stability of individual and group values in the marketplace”
Unilever Consumer Science Symposium 7

The most dramatic effect was the relatively quick adoption of native US life style values
by immigrants. They were fully acculturated by the tenth year, their lifestyle values being
indistinguishable from US natives. The change was most rapid about the fourth year after
immigration. Informal interviews with respondents attributed the timing to the acquisition
of sufficient language skills to sever ties with the supportive ethnic communities and
immerse themselves in the mainstream culture (Zeitlin 1999 (in press)).

Work success values changed relatively slowly compared to the lifestyle values. The
relative stability of work success values can be attributed to the influence of the business
school environment and to the expectation of a career path which would reward a specific
work orientation. For this self-selected group the demands of the business world
determined the acceptable range of values. Other immigrant samples might show greater
variation with time of residence. Lueptow reported a similar finding in measurement of
extrinsic work values (Lueptow 1992).

But while individual values may change slowly, group values affecting the marketplace are
subject to different dynamics. Consumers enter the economic marketplace in the early teen
years. This is the time when they begin to make independent decisions about product choice
and have the financial resources to implement their decisions. Most people tend to constrict
their marketplace activities at retirement age, approximately 50 years after entering. Given a
relatively stable population, the turnover of active marketplace participants is about 2% per
year, teens entering as pensioners leave. Depending on the similarity of the values of those
entering and leaving the annual values change may range from 1% to 4%.

Because today's children have had different formative experiences than their elders their
values are correspondingly different. The pensioners leaving the market had their values
formed during the trauma of WW2. The children of the pensioners experienced the social
excesses of the 60s and 70s, and formed their values in an era of political unrest, flower
power, recreational drugs and a suspicion of anyone over age 30. Their own children, those
entering the market today, formed their values in an environment of revitalised capitalism,
colour TV, AIDS, and the Internet. National location, of course determines the specific values
forming environment, but many regions have experienced marked political, social and
economic upheaval in the last two or three decades.

Using, as a first approximation, the evidence that shows that individual values can change
substantially over a ten year period, the marketplace, at least in the Western cultures, may be
divided into five age segments, each spanning a period of about ten years. Each age cohort
matures in a different economic, social, and political environment. These developmental
factors will produce somewhat different common value sets for each. As each cohort moves
through the marketplace, it takes its values with it. Thus a product originally intended as a
youth item, may, in a few years, be the choice of more mature adults. In addition, the context
in which these values manifest themselves and the attitudes and behaviours resulting from
them will be different as the cohort advances. The age groupings and their purchasing
contexts are:
L. Zeitlin “The stability of individual and group values in the marketplace”
Unilever Consumer Science Symposium 8

EMERGING ADULTS - This group consists of persons from 15 to 25 years of age. It is

predominantly composed of singles and/or childless couples with limited resources but
similarly limited responsibilities. This group can be self-indulgent and impulsive.
Recreational and leisure time purchases are high. Brand choices are flexible. They possess
low market self-confidence and can be influenced by advertising and the media.

YOUNG MARRIEDS (partnered) – This group ranges from 25 to 35 years old. It is

composed of couples starting a family, entering careers, and establishing a household. This
group generally has small children and is in the process of making major purchases of a house
and car. Resources are greater but responsibilities often stress income. Brand loyalties are
being established and often are used as surrogate cues for product quality.

ESTABLISHED ADULTS - This group, aged between 35 to 45, are at the midpoint of
careers and well into the pattern of family life. Expenditures for consumer items are likely to
be greatest and generally are less limited by financial resources. Brand loyalties are well
established but, since consumer self-confidence is high, can be altered by rational persuasion.
This and the preceding group are the primary purchasers of consumer items.

MID LIFERS - This group, ranging in age from 45 to 55, is deeply immersed in career and
family activities. Children are in the process of leaving home. Income is available again for
personal indulgence. Most major purchases have already been made. Product choice is often
upgraded in line with surplus income. This is the group targeted for premium products, young
enough to enjoy them and old enough to afford them.

MATURE ADULTS - This group, persons from 55 to 65, are experiencing intimations of
mortality. Those who can afford to are in the process of preparing for retirement. Generally all
children have left the home. Careers have peaked and are winding down. For many in this
group, assets outweigh responsibilities. There is a marked increase in self-centred behaviour,
travel, hobbies, gardening, etc. Apart from such activities, purchasing of consumer items is
low, except for health related products.

The important thing to note is that the product related desires, needs and values of persons
entering the market are not the same as those leaving. Teens like different music, clothes,
cosmetics, food and automobiles than their elders. Their purchasing patterns are different as
well. This constant turnover almost certainly guarantees a marketplace values shift of at least
2% per year. However since overall changes in economic, political, and technological climate
affect the entire marketplace population, not just the entering cohort, the actual rate of values
change from year to year is likely to be substantially greater.

A values change rate of 2% per year may seem small, but it is cumulative. In 20 years,
consumer values may change more than 40%. Think how marketplace values have changed
since Margaret Thatcher first took office in 1979. Japan will have the consumer society it
desires but may have to wait 10 to 20 years.
L. Zeitlin “The stability of individual and group values in the marketplace”
Unilever Consumer Science Symposium 9

When institutions themselves are in flux, values relevant to those institutions are also
modified. A current example of such a global values altering force is the shift to a market
economy experienced by many Eastern European countries. In addition to the economic
disruption experienced by all, the cultural reward system has changed to the point that old
values may be dysfunctional and new values incomprehensible.

Barring war or great economic disruption, it is unlikely that all aspects of the culture will
change in a given time period. Much of the basic values supporting structure still remains
(Kostera 1995). Change effects may be localised in a particular values sector. Fernandez and
his associates repeated Hofstede's work values study after a lapse of 30 years and found
substantial modification in work values of business professionals and business students in 9
countries. Many of the changes were in the independence/dependence dimension and showed
that the current crop of business persons are likely to be more independent than their
predecessors. Fernandez attributes this change to the dominance of the Western business
model, stressing individual responsibility and achievement (Fernandez, Carlson et al. 1997).

So values, particularly those related to consumer behaviour and lifestyle, do change over time.
They appear to be far less stable than the general literature indicates. In addition to the fairly
rapid group values changes in the marketplace, even individual values affecting lifestyles can
change significantly in adults over a 10 year period, especially in situations where the
supporting structure is dramatically altered. Values research, then, is akin to shooting at a
moving target. The half-life of a consumer values study may be no more than 5 years. It
would be imprudent to base important business decisions on older data.

References:

Fernandez, D. R., D. S. Carlson, et al. (1997). “Hofstede's country classification 25 years

later.” Journal of Social Psychology 137(1): 43-54.
Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture's consequences: International differences in work related
values. Newbury Park, CA, Sage Publications.
Kostera, M. (1995). “Differing managerial responses to change in Poland.” Organization-
Studies; 1995 Vol 16(4) 673-697.
Kulenovic, A. and Super, D. E. (1995). The five major life roles viewed cross-nationally.
Life roles, values, and careers. D. E. Super and B. Sverko (Eds.). San Francisco,
Jossey-Bass: 252-277.
Lueptow, L. B. (1992). “Change and stability in the sex typing of adolescent work
orientations: 1976-2989.” Perceptual and Motor Skills 75(3, Pt 2): 1114.
Peck, F. R. (1975). “Distinctive national patterns of career motivation.” International
Journal of Psychology 10: 125-134.
Rokeach, M. (1973). The nature of human values. New York, The Free Press.
L. Zeitlin “The stability of individual and group values in the marketplace”
Unilever Consumer Science Symposium
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Rokeach, M. and S. J. Ball Rokeach (1989). “Stability and change in American value
priorities, 1968-1981.” American Psychologist 44(5): 775-784.
Seligman, C. and Katz, A. N. (1996). The dynamics of value systems. The psychology of
values, Ontario Symposium. C. Seligman, J. M. Olson and M. Zanna (Eds).
Mahwah, NJ, Lawrence Erlbaum. 8: 53-75.
Super, D. E. and B. Sverko, Eds. (1995). Life roles, values, and careers: International
findings of the Work Importance Study. The Jossey Bass social and behavioral
science series. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass Inc, Publishers.
van der Velde, M. E. G., J. A. Feij, et al. (1995). “Stability and change of person
characteristics among young adults: The effect of the transition from school to
work.” Personality and Individual Differences 18(1): 89-99.
Zeitlin, L. R. (1996). “How much woe when we go: A quantitative method for predicting
culture shock.” International Journal of Stress Management 3(2): 85-98.
Zeitlin, L. R. (1999). Gender, race, and citizenship differences in work related values.
Society for Cross Cultural Research, Sante Fe, NM, SCCR.
Zeitlin, L. R. (1999 (in press)). “Work values: Influences of national origin, religion, race
and gender.” World Cultures: Journal of Comparative and Cross-Cultural Research.