Changes in Intrinsic and Extrinsic Values During the Early Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Business Faculty Students

Aimed at exploring value shifts during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper compares data from business faculty students at a public university in northwestern Turkiye on seven life values immediately before (November-December 2019) and during the early months (May-June 2020) of the pandemic. The study measured the importance individuals attached to life values using the Aspiration Index (Kasser & Ryan, 1996), which includes three intrinsic values (i.e., personal growth, meaningful relationships, and community contributions), three extrinsic values (i.e., wealth, fame, and image), and the value of physical health. The study found that both men and women decreased the importance they placed on the values of wealth and fame in the early months of the pandemic. In addition, men increased the importance they placed on community contributions. The study also explored changes in the overall means for the intrinsic and extrinsic value clusters and in the relative importance intrinsic values have to extrinsic ones. The results showed a statistically significant increase in men’s espousal of intrinsic values and a decrease in women’s espousal of extrinsic values. The change in the relative importance of intrinsic to extrinsic values was significant for both genders, suggesting that both men and women became more intrinsically oriented during the early months of the pandemic.