30 Global Ethics for Leadership
2.4 World Values Surveys
Social science research monitors the value developments on a global,
regional and local level. Various such surveys^4 over time substantially
contribute to understanding common values, cultural, geographic and
religious differences and transformation over time.
The World Values Survey WVS^5 , existing since 1981 as a global re-
search project of social scientists^6 , makes regular global values compari-
son across cultures and religions and over time. The latest survey con-
ducted in 2015 groups the countries in major values groups on a vertical
scale between “traditional and secular-rational values” and a horizontal
scale between “survival and self-expression values”. I do not intend to
discuss the methodology of the survey, but it shows clusters of values
and its diversity. It shows contextual values not in contradiction to glob-
al values, but in complementarity to it.
Another example of surveys and research on global values is the pro-
ject “Global Value”. It is “one of the largest EU-funded research pro-
jects to date addressing the measurement and management of business
impacts on global sustainable development. It aims to create a frame-
work and toolkit that multinational companies can use to comprehen-
sively assess and better manage their impacts.”^7
4
E.g. the GlobeScan SustainAbility Survey http://www.globescan.com/news-and-
analysis/globescan-sustainability-survey.html. The World Values Survey, see
next. Specific thematic survey exist e.g. 5 on business ethics or bioethics.
6 Website: http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/wvs.jsp.^
7 Description of WVS: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Values_Survey.
http://www.global-value.eu.