Browsing by Subject "values"

The study examined immigrants' attitudes towards acculturation, in other words the social and cultural changes that take place in the adaptation process. The perspective of acculturation studies was also expanded by examining immigrants' cultural values and their experiences of majority's expectations. In addition, special interest was directed to the relations between acculturation attitudes and values and both factors' relevance on psychological well-being. Indian born immigrants were selected as subjects as they are one of the fastest growing ethnic minorities in Finland. This minority has not been included in immigration studies previously. The seventy-five immigrants that participated as subjects represent a highly educated subgroup of Indian born immigrants. The study was carried out with posted questionnaires. Most of the subjects received an inquiry of their motivation to participate by e-mail or phone before the postal questionnaire. The results were in line with previous studies in Finland as the attitudes emphasising cultural integration were dominant. However, attitudes towards marriage, reflecting deeper and less flexible parts of culture, were dominated by separation motives. Immigrants' perceptions of majority's expectations reflected partly the real assimilation wishes demonstrated in previous studies. Against hypotheses, discrepancies between acculturation attitudes and experiences of majority's expectations did not predict immigrants' psychological well-being in a clear way. The highly educated Indian born immigrants emphasised self-direction and universalism in their values. This separates them from the traditional cultural values of India. The hypotheses made of the predictive relations between values and acculturation attitudes were partly confirmed. Also, the assumptions concerning both the stress buffering role of collectivistic values and the positive effect of achievement values on feelings of mastery were confirmed. Despite the limitations in the data, this study strengthens the view that cultural and personal values play a significant role in immigrants' adaptation process. Information about values can benefit individuals making hard decisions and coping with cultural change as well as officials modifying Finnish immigration policy and planning the support system for immigrants.

This thesis aims to study if personal values mediate the effect of gender on pro-environmental behavior, PEB. It is important to investigate the antecedents of PEB, since the current climate crisis is caused by human behavior. Among the most influential areas of behaviors are those related to energy. Therefore, two energy related behaviors were chosen to represent PEB in this study: energy use reduction and intention of buying an energy efficient appliance. Values have been shown to affect behavior and there is some evidence of gender differences in values, thus gender and values were chosen as predictors of the behaviors. The theoretical basis for this argument lies in Schwartz theory of basic values and several models on antecedents of PEB, e.g. the Value-Belief-Norm Theory. The material comes from the 2016 dataset of the European Social Survey Round 8 (ESS8), which included a module on climate change and energy and used the Portrait Values Questionnaire for measuring values. The data is limited to the Finnish nationally representative sample. The hypotheses examine whether Finnish women behave more proenvironmentally than Finnish men do, and whether women’s higher self-transcendent values and men’s higher self-enhancement values explain this difference in PEB. Hypotheses were tested through hierarchical stepwise regression analysis and mediation analysis. The results were as expected, with small, but statistically significant, differences between men and women in both values and behavior. On average, Finnish women have more self-transcendent values and behave more pro-environmentally, than Finnish men do. The mediation was supported even when covariates were included, which further supports the findings. The only exception to this was the mediation of gender on energy efficacy behavior through self-enhancement values. Explanations for this and the other results are discussed, as well as critique of the binary definition of gender and other limitations. This study adds to the understanding of antecedents of pro-environmental behavior, which is fundamental to achieving effective behavior change.

Aims of the study. The left and right are widely used terms in politics. The terms do not have exact academic definitions, but right-wing stances have often been connected with conservatism and authoritarianism, and left-wing stances with liberalism and egalitarianism. Values are defined as basic principles used for the selection of actions and evaluation of persons and circumstances. The 10 Schwartz basic values are universalism, benevolence, tradition, conformity, security, power, achievement, hedonism, stimulation, and self-direction. They can be expressed by means of two dimensions: self-transcendence vs. self-enhancement, and conservation vs. openness to change. Left-wing stances have been connected to self-transcendence and openness to change values, and right-wing stances to self-enhancement and conservation values in Western European countries including Finland. The aim of this thesis was to study Finnish people's impressions of left-wing and right-wing values, and the differences in impressions between left-wingers and right-wingers, using the Schwartz values and value dimensions. Methods. The data was collected in 2012 with an Internet questionnaire. The participants (N=1886) were recruited via mailing lists. They were asked to place themselves onto a left-right continuum (0=left, 10=right). Their personal values and their impressions of left-wing and right-wing values were measured using the Short Schwartz Values Survey (SSVS). The differences in the absolute means for each value between left-wingers and right-wingers were compared with t-tests to see whether the values were regarded as more left-wing or right-wing. Value hierarchies were looked at to reveal the relative orders of importance of values. Results and conclusions. Universalism and benevolence were perceived to be more left-wing than right-wing values. All other values were perceived to be more right-wing than left-wing. Right-wingers were seen as more conservative than left-wingers, and left-wingers as more self-transcendent than right-wingers. However, there were differences between left-wingers and right-wingers in how they perceived left-wing and right-wing values, in a way that suggested a possible ingroup-outgroup bias. Both groups saw the other group as giving foremost priority to power and higher priority to hedonism than the ingroup. Left-wingers also viewed right-wingers as less benevolence- and universalism-driven than the ingroup. The results shed light upon what people mean with the terms left and right. They also help to understand why political discourse can become easily polarized.

Because personality can be defined as a relatively permanent and individual way of thinking, feeling, and acting, and because personal values can be used to explain our motives and attitudes, both personality and personal values may be considered to influence mate selection. The similarity of couples has been observed to be linked to relationship satisfaction and a smaller divorce risk, which makes the consistent study of couple similarity important. The purpose of this study was to investigate couple similarity in Big Five personality traits, as well as in the 10 and 19 personal values defined by Schwartz. Based on these theories and earlier research, three hypotheses could be set, according to which couples are similar (1) in the personality traits of openness, conscientiousness, and extraversion, (2) on the motivational dimensions of personal values, and in hedonism, self-direction, universalism, benevolence, tradition, conformity, and security from the 10 value types, and (3) in hedonism and tradition, as well as in all the specified value types of self-direction, universalism, benevolence, conformity, and security from the 19 value types. The sample of this study was a part of a larger project, and it consisted of 261 18-55-year-old heterosexual couples, all of which were either parents of small children, expecting their first child, or university students and their spouses. The results of this study principally corresponded to the hypotheses. The couples were observed to be similar in all Big five personality traits, on the motivational value dimensions, in universalism, tradition, conformity, hedonism, self-direction, security, benevolence, achievement, and power from the 10 value types, in all of the specified value types of universalism, self-direction, conformity, and power, as well as in the specified value types of benevolence-dependability, security-societal, humility, and face from the 19 value types. According to these results, it seems that men and women do not end up in relationships completely arbitrarily, but that personality traits and personal values guide couple formation at least to some extent.

This study deals with social representations of social order in Finland. While empirically testing a recent theoretical model of social order representations (Staerklé, 2009), I also investigated the role of values in social representation. Additionally, by including a group diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) into my study, I explored the roles that reflexivity and perspective taking on the one hand, and marginalisation on the other, have in representing social order. I therefore compared social order representation contents and processes of an undefined group of Finnish people (N = 281) with a group of Finnish people diagnosed with ASDs (N = 36), using a mixed method, questionnaire-based design, which included both open and closed questions. Quantitatively, my methods were based primarily upon confirmatory factor analyses and correlation procedures. Qualitatively, I used discourse analysis based in Hallidayan (1978) linguistics, rhetorical analyses based in the methods outlined by Burke (1945; 1950), and Greimas’s (1966/1983) actantial model. While focusing upon the dialogism paradigm within social representations theory (Marková, 2003), I had two theoretical aims. First, I began an articulation of treating values as part of the meaning in representation. Second, I explored the development of a social semiotic approach to representation, which included power dynamics as part of representation processes. Empirically, the Staerklé model held up well and largely conformed to its theoretical underpinnings. The participants demonstrated all of the social order conceptions proposed by Staerklé. Based upon the results, I did, however, suggest some modifications to the model due to some awkwardness related to marginalisation, Finnish-style liberalism, and the welfare state. Results showed that overall, Finnish people conceptualise social order in terms of an equality/inequality thema influenced heavily by security value expressions and power dynamics, while anchoring that understanding in the modern welfare model. Differences in positioning towards that common understanding were related to marginalisation, differences in perspective taking, and different ways of expressing power. I concluded by suggesting that representation is very much a motivated process with value-laden contents, and that social representations research needs to better incorporate these dimensions into its agenda.

The phenomenal globalization of business is the main incentive for the study of business ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). With an increase in transnational trade over the past decades, an understanding of acceptable business practices across cultural boundaries is particularly important. Public concern for global issues such as climate change, raw material procurement, human rights, labor policies and corporate governance has significantly increased. Business corporations are obligated to operate as members of communities, organization as such is not allowed to exist if it does not gain acceptance and support from those in its environment. Furthermore, CSR can be seen as a competitive advantage – one dimension of corporate reputation and image. As future managers and consumers the current students are shaping the construct of corporate responsibilities. The future of CSR depends much on the attitudes of coming generations. The purpose of this study was to investigate how and to what extent the personal values and perceptions of CSR differ among Chinese, Finnish and American students. The theoretical frame of reference suggests that perceptions of CSR are affected by background variables – gender, nationality and study major – both directly and through personal values. The nature of the study was quantitative and the sample consisted of altogether 1547 students from Finland, China and USA. The data has been gathered using questionnaires. The results of the study support previous findings of significant cultural and gender related differences in personal values and perceptions of CSR. Generally, female respondents and students majoring in forest ecology and environmental sciences possessed softer values and accepted or supported NGOs’ activity and governmental regulation in business life. The Chinese represented harder and more masculine values, whereas the American respondents emphasized soft values and stakeholder welfare. Overall, the Chinese data was the most homogenous, whereas the difference between genders was the most significant in Finland. Further research would be needed to find out if and how the values and perceptions are evolving over time. It remains to be seen, whether the ongoing globalization will decrease cultural differences in values and CSR orientation.

This thesis investigates the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism advertising. The analysis is focused on case-studying Iceland due to the importance of tourism for the country’s economy and due to its successful tourism marketing campaigns. The thesis aims at analyzing the appeals and visual rhetoric techniques utilized by Iceland during the COVID-19 pandemic and further comparing them the ones from 2019. The comparison to pre-COVID-19 advertising, demonstrates what is the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on Iceland’s tourism advertising. What is more the study examines whether the pandemic shapes new values and desired tourism behavior and thus fills a research gap defined by Zenker and Kock (2020). The data consists of 7 official tourism advertisements of Iceland from 2019, 2020, 2021, published on their official YouTube channel, and the website: The joyscroll. The data is presented in the form of screenshots in the appendixes of this thesis. The data is analyzed via mixed methods, incorporating qualitative content analysis (QCA) of the appeals in combination with critical visual analysis (CVA). The CVA is further focused on the three dimensions of landscape, people, and heritage. The analysis shows that there is an evident change in both the preferred advertising appeals and in the visual rhetoric techniques utilized during the COVID-19 pandemic. What is more the analysis highlights the importance of emotional appeals and humor and the formation of a new value to Icelandic tourism – mental health.

Tutkimuksen päätarkoitus oli hahmottaa verkko-opetuksen arvoja ja arviointia luokanopettajan näkökulmasta. Teoreettisena viitekehyksenä oli mediakasvatus ja didaktiikan käsitys opetus opiskelu oppimisprosessista. Didaktisena perustana käytettiin Kansasen ym. (2000) opettajan pedagogista ajattelua, Lahdeksen (1997) didaktiikan kehämallia sekä Uljensin (1997) opetus opiskelu oppimisprosessia. Lähtökohtana oli luokanopettajan arvioinnin kautta pohtia opetuksen, opiskelun ja oppimisen sekä tieto- ja viestintätekniikan yhtymistä koulukontekstissa. Tutkimuksen pääongelmat olivat: 1) Minkälainen oli luokanopettajan käsitys verkko-opetuksen toteuttamisesta? 2) Miten luokanopettaja arvioi verkko-opetusta? Myös ensimmäistä pääongelmaa lähestyttiin arvojen ja arvioinnin näkökulmasta. Menetelmänä käytettiin teemahaastattelua. Teemahaastattelun teemoja jäsennettiin Gallinin (2001) sosiokulttuurisen verkko-opetuksen arviointimallin sekä Tellan ja Mononen-Aaltosen (2001) mediakasvatuksen monitasomallin avulla. Aineistonkeruussa kahdeksan helsinkiläistä luokanopettajaa vastasivat lyhyeen kyselyyn, jonka jälkeen heitä haastateltiin välittömästi. Laadullisen aineiston analyysissä teemoiteltiin aineisto, ja tämän rinnalla rakennettiin aineistolähtöistä analyysiä. Näiden vuorovaikutuksesta syntyivät tutkimuksen johtopäätökset. Keskeisinä tuloksina tutkimuksessa nähtiin luokanopettajan verkko-opetukseen liittyvien arvojen kaksi eri näkökulmaa: (A) opetus opiskelu oppimismenetelmien ja -tulosten arvonäkökulma sekä (B) ns. kasvatuksellinen ja koulukulttuurin arvonäkökulma. Arvonäkökulmien pohjalta hahmotettiin johtopäätöksissä erilaisia tasoja luokanopettajan opetuksen, opiskelun ja oppimisen arvioinnista, kun tieto- ja viestintätekniikka on mukana prosessissa. Kaksi tasoa tarkennettiin verkko-opetuksen arvioinnin fokuksiksi, jotka olivat (1) teknologinen ja (2) tavoitteinen fokus. Teknologisessa arvioinnin fokuksessa (1) arviointia hallitsee huoli oppilaasta ihmisenä. Arviointi liittyy joko siihen, että oppilaan on opittava perustaidot tieto- ja viestintätekniikassa ja ymmärrettävä Internetin mahdollisuudet, tai siihen, että opettaja pyrkii suojelemaan lapsia Internetin uhkilta ja liialliselta altistumiselta esimerkiksi digitaalisille peleille. Verkko-opetuksen tavoitteinen arvioinnin fokus (2) nojaa siihen, minkälaisia tavoitteita luokanopettaja yleisesti asettaa opetukselleen, vaikka tieto- ja viestintätekniikka ei liittyisikään prosessiin. Fokuksen taustalla on myös mediakasvatuksen näkökulma tieto- ja viestintätekniikan opetuskäyttöön, jolloin keskeistä on, että opetuksen suunnittelu ja arviointi ei lähde teknologiasta käsin vaan didaktiikasta ja pedagogisista arvoista. Verkko-opetuksen arvioinnin fokusten voidaan nähdä täydentävän toisiaan. Fokusten varioinnissa voidaan puhua luokanopettajan kohdalla todellisesta mediataidosta, joka ulottuu yli ammatillisen pätevyyden aina opettajan henkilökohtaiseen kehittymisen kaareen.

Rwanda’s national development plans recognize the need to improve the quality of teacher education. Values have an important role in the new national curriculum. The understanding of the explicit role of values in education and the interest towards values education has increased internationally in the current century. The research on ubuntu philosophy has proliferated in recent decades, and it has been suggested as a potential notion that can restructure the philosophical underpinnings of education, especially in sub-Saharan African contexts. This study investigated the role of values and ubuntu in Rwandan teacher education. The aim of the study is to evaluate how teacher educators attach their values and ubuntu philosophy to their descriptions of teaching practices. This qualitative study was based on narrative inquiry. Six semi-structured interviews were conducted in Rwanda with the teacher educators of the University of Rwanda-College of Education. Snowball sampling was utilized to recruit the interviewees. The interview data was analyzed using Riessman’s (2008) thematic narrative analysis approach. The narratives indicated that the teacher educators acknowledge the importance of values in teaching profession, and ubuntu is a relevant teaching philosophy to them, although there are no clear frameworks for its application in Rwanda. The narratives reflected the teacher educators’ personal, interpersonal and professional values. Their perspectives on ubuntu corresponded with the conceptualizations constructed in the literature. Five categories of value-informed teaching practices were established based on the narratives. These categories described the contexts in which the teacher educators aim to actualize their values. Four categories of ubuntu-informed teaching practices were identified. These reflected the different approaches that the teacher educators utilize in teaching the values and attitudes of ubuntu to the students.

Tässä tutkielmassa tarkastellaan yliopisto-opettajien arvoja, ja selvitetään, ovatko arvot yhteydessä näkemyksiin siitä, miten he kokevat yliopistotyön ja yliopiston perustehtävät. Yliopistouudistuksen jälkeen markkinaistumisen korostuminen on tuonut uusia elementtejä myös yliopistomaailmaan, ja yksittäisten ihmisten toimintaa ohjaavat arvot voivatkin potentiaalisesti muodostaa ristiriitoja ulkoisten ja sisäisten tavoitteiden välille. Korkeakoulutuksen piirissä arvoja on tarkasteltu pääosin opiskelijoiden osalta, mutta toisaalta suomalaiset tutkijat ovat olleet kiinteästi muodostamassa vallitsevaa arvomittaria, ja käsitys suomalaisten yleisistä arvopainotuksista on siten melko systemaattisesti tutkittua. Siksi tällä tutkimuksella on mahdollisuus tarjota laajempi näkökulma siihen, miten arvot painottuvat yliopisto-opettajilla. Tutkimus toteutettiin sähköisellä e-lomakekyselyllä, joka lähetettiin niille Helsingin yliopiston, Tampereen yliopiston ja Taideyliopiston opettajille, joiden yhteystietoja sai käyttää tutkimustarkoituksiin. Tutkimuksessa käytetty valmisaineisto on kerätty vuonna 2015, ja sitä täydentävä materiaali kerätty vuonna 2017. Kyselyyn vastasi 146 yliopisto-opettajaa. Kyselyssä tiedusteltiin akateemista alaa, työnimikettä ja työn luonnetta koskevien taustakysymysten lisäksi laajasti näkemyksiä yliopiston perustehtävistä opetuksesta, tutkimuksesta ja yhteiskunnallisesta vaikuttamisesta tai taiteellisesta työstä. Kyselyn viimeisenä osiona oli Schwartzin universaalien arvojen mittarin suomalaismuunnos. Tutkimuksessa saatiin selville, että yliopisto-opettajat ovat arvoiltaan hyvin yhtenäinen vastaajajoukko, joiden arvoja kuvaa erityisesti muutokselle avoimuuden korostaminen säilyttämisen kustannuksella. He ovat tyypiltään itseohjautuvia universalisteja, ja heille itsensä korostaminen, yhdenmukaisuus tai turvallisuus olivat varsin vähän tärkeitä. Yksittäisten arvojen sijaan työnäkemysten kanssa olivat yhteydessä arvojen kokonaisuuksista muodostetut klusterit, jotka jakoivat yliopisto-opettajat vapaudenhakuisiin, traditionalistisiin ja minäkeskeisiin. Yhteys arvoklusterien, taustamuuttujien ja työnäkemysten välillä oli sirpaleinen, mutta yksittäiset yhteydet olivat muodoltaan koherentteja. Arvojen ja työhön liittyvien näkemysten yhteys on siten hyvin moniulotteinen ilmiö, jonka erityispiirteitä kuvaa yhteyksien luonteen holistisuus.