Do forest owners share the public’s values? An application of Schwartz's value theory

Schwartz's value theory is applied in the context of Finnish family forest owners and their values are compared to those of the public at large. This comparison may give insight how value changes in society are reflected to forest owners’ values and objectives, and hence their actual forestry behavior. The empirical study is based on the use of the Short Schwartz's Value Survey measure (SSVS) in a nationwide mail inquiry (n=2116). Instead of using several value indicators, SSVS directly measures motivational types, the ten universal motivational or value types being self-direction, stimulation, hedonism, achievement, power, security, conformity, tradition, benevolence and universalism. According to the results forest owners ranked universalism which includes such values as the beauty of nature and art and nature conservation slightly lower than the whole population. The difference was clearly increased when female forest owners were compared to women in the whole population who valued universalism as the second most important value after benevolence. Traditions were valued clearly more by forest owners than the public. Forest owners were also classified into two groups based on their values. “Softies” highly emphasized benevolence and universalism while “Toughies” were strongly in favor of power and achievement. The probability to belong to Softies increased by forest owners’ age and it was larger for female owners and owners with recreational or multiple objectives for their forest ownership. Toughies were more often farmers and rural dwellers than Softies