by The point has been made that changing consumer values are central to ConsumerShift because they are the best single predictor of long-term changes in consumer preferences. But why are they the best predictor? By definition, they are guides to consumer decisions and behavior. Going a level deeper, values are central to our identity: who we are and how we think of and describe ourselves. Pioneering values researcher Milton Rokeach (1973)noted, “The functions served by a person’s values are to provide a comprehensive set of standards to guide actions, justifications, judgments, and comparisons of self and others and to serve needs for adjustment, ego defense, and self-actualization. All these diverse functions converge into a single overriding, master function, namely, to help maintain and enhance one’s total conception of oneself.”
A concept that helped me get my head around this was thinking of values as something like a translator mechanism for identity (along with beliefs) into behavior and expressed in lifestyles. We choose our values, though there are many individuals, groups, and institutions trying to influence us on what the “right” values are.
Berger (1967) observed that “While it is possible to say that man has a nature, it is more significant to say that man constructs his own nature, or more simply, that man produces himself.” So, we construct our identity, and values are the building blocks. And one of the key trends noted in ConsumerShift is that consumers are increasingly expressing their identity (thus values) in the purchases they make and in the organizations they choose to associate with. For organizations trying to understand their consumers, gaining insight into identity and values can provide vital insight into their emerging landscape. Andy Hines
References
Rokeach, M. (1973). The Nature of Human Values. New York: Free Press, 216.
Berger, P. & Luckmann, T. (1967). The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. New York: Anchor Books, 49.
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