In the second part of the questionnaire, the respondents were asked about their personal values and a number of sociodemographic characteristics including gender, age, and education. The Rokeach (1973) value scale was used to measure personal values. This scale contains a set of 18 terminal values that relate to end states of existence (such as the importance of material wealth for the respondent) and another set composed of 18 values that relate to modes of behavior or instrumental values (such as the importance of ambition in the life of the respondent). Originally, these values were expected to be rank ordered. In our study, the respondents were asked to rate all items separately on a 9-point Likert-type scale. In this way, nonparametric restrictions could be overcome. Literature has shown that similar results follow from the two methods (see Finegan 1994; Munson and McIntyre 1979). Munson and Posner (1980) asserted that the information about the intensity of guidance in an individual's life was more precise using a Likert-type rating scale. In addition, the rating process is quicker and is therefore more convenient for the respondent (Fritzsche 1995). We used an unbalanced scale (from irrelevant, −1, to very important, 7) in order to cope with the leniency effect (Antonides and van Raaij 1998).