Survey: Importance of Values

28 May 2008

Being Good And Having Free Time More Important Than Being Wealthy Or Having A Successful Career

Most New Zealanders don’t rate being wealthy as important, but an overwhelming majority rate living a morally good life and having enough free time to do the things you want to do as very important.

These are the results of a recent survey conducted by UMR Research among a statistically representative sample of New Zealanders who were asked to rate six values on whether they were very important, somewhat important, not that important or very not important at all.

Only 8% valued being wealthy as ‘very important’, but most of us rated living a morally good life (78%), having enough time to do the things you want to do (64%) and having children (59%) as very important.

Chasing the career ladder didn’t rate so well either. 37% rated being successful in a career as very important compared with 49% who rated helping the wider community by volunteering and donating as very important.

Aucklanders, men and those under 30 are more likely to value as very important being wealthy and being successful in a career than others.

More men value as very important having enough time to do the things you want to do than women while women value as very important having children and helping the wider community by volunteering and donating slightly higher than men.

Those that value being wealthy as very important also value significantly more highly than other people having enough time to do the things you want to do and being successful in a career.

Similar research conducted in the United States shows Kiwis and Americans rate things much the same as each other, but with one important exception. While most Americans (61%) rate being successful in a career as very important, only 37% of New Zealanders think the same.

See... Full release with results (PDF)

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