How personal values follow the societal lockdown due to COVID-19: Case of business students in Slovenia

Abstract

We examined patterns of change and stability in four individual-level higher-order groups of Schwartz personal values among individuals during societal lockdown caused by COVID-19 epidemic. The study involves comparison of personal values of 85 business students during societal lockdown, with their personal values in pre- and post-pandemic periods. Sampled group of individuals includes undergraduate and graduate students from University of Maribor, Faculty of Economics and Business, Maribor, Slovenia. Contrary to previous publications, our results indicate a decrease of mean-level for all four higher-order groups of individuals’ values during societal lockdown of COVID-19. In the value hierarchy, self-transcendence values remain first, followed by conservation, openness to change, and self-enhancement values. In the period after the COVID-19, personal values again approached their pre-pandemic levels. Self-transcendence and conservation returned close to baseline levels, while openness to change and self-enhancement values exceeded initial pre-epidemic levels. In the value hierarchy, lead openness to change values, followed by the self-transcendence, self-enhancement, and conservation values. We discuss perceived changes in business students’ values due to the COVID-19 pandemic and present their capacities for dealing with potential unfavorable and threatening circumstances in the future.

Changes in value priorities due to the COVID-19 pandemic—A 4-year cross-sectional study with German students

“…Finally, in accordance with the results of Bojanowska et al [13] for Poland, Potocan and Nedelko [12] for Slovenia, and Daniel et al [14] for Australia, we expect that the Corona-Pandemic will lead to mainly short-time changes in value priorities. Because according to the model of value change in 2.2, change in value priorities needs repeated interactions to manifest in a long-term effect.…”

“…The results showed no mean-level change in the four higher-order groups of Schwartz's two dimensions but rather significant inter-individual differences in the extent of change with economic status as a significant predictor of change in conservation values. Contrary to these results, Potocan and Nedelco [12], who analyzed value change in Slovenia, report a decrease in mean-level for all four higher-order groups of Schwartz personal values during the lockdown, followed by a bounce-back effect. Van de Poel et al [15] employ a different method in their study.…”

“…Initial studies suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic, as an extreme event, shifts individuals' value systems [12][13][14][15][16]. All studies claim they cannot generalize their implications as they focus on people from a specific country, and the pandemic hit countries differently.…”

Influence of Cognitive Factors on Adherence to Social Distancing and the Use of Masks during the COVID-19 Pandemic by Young Adults: A Systematic Review

“…A study with the French population (Bonetto et al 2021) found that conservation values (favoring stability and preserving traditional practices) were higher than normal during the outbreak of COVID-19 and was strongly related to adherence to social distancing, while self-enhancement (to favor personal interests to the detriment of those of others) and openness to change (orientation towards change and independence) values were lower during the same period. Also based on the four value domains proposed by Schwartz (self-transcendence, self-enhancement, conservation, and openness to change), Potocan and Nedelko (2023) concluded that openness to change and self-enhancement values decreased more during the pandemic, and conservation and self-transcendence (transcending self-interest to promote the well-being of other values) decreased less in a sample of young adults in Slovenia (Bonetto et al 2021). In our review, results are scattered among the articles under analysis, since each moral value was addressed only by one study, except for social responsibility, which was confirmed as a predictor of social distancing in two studies (Coroiu et al 2020;Müller and Rau 2020).…”

“…There is evidence that other cognitive factors influence adherence to norms and rules. Among those factors, the role of "personal values" has been addressed during COVID-19, mainly: conservation, self-enhancement, openness-to-change values (Bonetto et al 2021;Daniel et al 2022;Potocan and Nedelko 2023;Vecchione 2022), self-transcendence (Daniel et al 2022;Vecchione 2022), religious belief, government satisfaction, and individual freedom (Lyu et al 2022). Also "age" has been studied as a determinant of adherence with COVID-19 public health preventive measures, with young adults identified as a group with low adherence to COVID-19 protective behaviors (WHO 2022).…”