Relative Importance of Values as Determinants of Ownership Patterns:

Abstract

To what extent can ownership of products and services be related to the importance of personal values in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec? Personal interviews were conducted in both provinces with 494 representative households outside the largest metropolitan areas of Toronto and Montreal. The findings confirmed the presence of significant differences in ownership and personal values between respondents in the two provinces. A comparison with one pervious study indicated that values tend to shift with time and with geographical area. Personal values were found to be reliable predictors of consumption in the province of Quebec only. Finally, a graphical illustration demonstrated the relatively lower importance of values as compared to geographical and socioeconomic descriptors.