The value of values

Thanks to you early adopters on ConsumerShift — I really appreciate you! For those new to this series on values — and perhaps a review for the more experienced — I’m going to review the values of three key components of the book: values, need states, and personas. Values first.

The book situates values in a larger “inner dimensions” of consumer life model. Values are at the center of the model as the key influence on consumer decision-making and behavior [the “outer dimensions” are covered as trends in a subsequent chapter] Values are what individuals view and choose as most important in life — though we are not always consistent in applying them, e.g., the environmentalist who drives a muscle car. Because values are so important, lots of groups try to influence us to choose the “right” ones. There is nothing wrong or sinister about this — it’s actually quite a sensible strategy. Thus, schools, churches, governments, political parties, companies, etc., directly or indirectly attempt to influence the values of their members or potential members. One thing I’ve done with my definition of values as “an individual view about what is most important in life that in turn influences decision-making and behavior” is to move the element of “right and wrong” to virtues. My research suggested that virtues are timeless and the purpose of my work is to understand how consumers (also known as “people,” but that’s another whole discussion) are changing over time. Virtues are important, of course, but they don’t provide insight into how consumers lives are changing over time.

The book goes into all the influences and makes the case for values as the single best indicator for how consumer life is changing. The pattern uncovered in the research, drawing upon nearly two dozen systems but drawing most heavily on the outstanding work of theWorld Values Survey and Spiral Dynamics, is that there are four types of values and there has been a consistent “developmental” pattern in their adoption over time. The four types are:

Traditional: Focused on following the rules and fulfilling one’s predetermined role, with priorities such as respect for authority, religious faith, national pride, obedience, work ethic, large families with strong family ties, and strict definition of good and evil

Modern: Focused on achievement, growth and progress, with priorities such as high trust in science and technology (as the engines of progress), faith in the state (bureaucratization), rejection of out-groups, an appreciation of hard work and money, and determination to improve one’s social and economic status.

Postmodern: Focused on the search for meaning in one’s life, with priorities such as self-expression, including an emphasis on individual responsibility as well as choice, imagination, tolerance, life balance and satisfaction, environmentalism, wellness, and leisure.

Integral: Emerging as the leading edge of values change, with a more practical and functional approach to employing values that best fit the particular situation, enabling one to pursue personal growth with an understanding and sensitivity to larger systemic considerations.

The pattern has been a slow long-term movement from traditional to modern to postmodern to integral. ConsumerShift focuses on the newer types, postmodern and integral, and demonstrates how their emergence is reshaping the consumer landscape. The changes are captured in seven emerging need states and seven future consumer personas, the topics of the next two “value of…..” posts coming soon. Andy Hines