The use of personal values in living standards measures

The Living Standards Measure (LSM), a South African marketingsegmentation method, is a multivariate wealth measure based onstandard of living. This article reports on whether a rationale canbe found for the inclusion of psychological variables, particularlypersonal values, in this type of multivariate segmentation. Schwartz’s(1992; 2006) values model was used to operationalise personalvalues.15Data were collected by means of a survey from a nationallyrepresentative sample (N = 2 566) of purchase decision-makers. ThePortrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ) (Schwartz, Melech, Lehmann,Burgess, Harris & Owens 2001) was used to measure personalvalues. Centred value scores were used to statistically control forvariation among respondents in rating themselves on the PVQ. The10 LSM groups were collapsed into four LSM super groups to providea more rigorous analysis of measured personal value diff erencesbetween LSM groups. The statistical analyses included descriptiveand inferential statistics. 16 The findings in general supported Schwartz’s theory of basic human values. Respective values could be allocated among diff erent wealthbased consumer segments, which explained variances between these groups. It would be advisable to further investigate howthese diff erences can be applied in marketing. Although the LSMsegmentation approach has been adapted somewhat, the principalfi nding of this research remains applicable