Towards the development of alternatives beyond capitalism

Visiting Associate Professor Carla Houkamau presents preliminary findings of the Māori Identity and Financial Attitudes Survey.

13 SEPTEMBER 2018, 1 - 2 PM

F209 PUNA KAWA, MASON CENTRE, OTAGO POLYTECHNIC, FORTH STREET, DUNEDIN

Associate Professor Carla Houkamau is from the University of Auckland Business School, University of Auckland. 

This presentation reports selected preliminary findings of the Māori Identity and Financial Attitudes Study (MIFAS). In October 2017 the MIFAS survey was sent out to 100,000 people registered as being of Māori descent on the New Zealand Electoral Roll and 7000 responded.  The meta-objective of the MIFAS is to explore how personal characteristics (e.g., ethnic identity, social identity beliefs, age, personality, gender) and characteristics within the social, economic and cultural environment influence economic behaviour, values and aspirations among Māori. This talk will contextualise the MIFAS and review current understandings of economic values and aspirations which are distinctive to Māori. Of particular interest will be the expression of Māori perspectives that represent resistance to the mainstream economic values which prevail in New Zealand. An outline of the study methodology will be provided along with an overview of response rate information from the first wave of data collection. 

Carla Houkamau (PhD) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Management and International Business and the Associate Dean for Māori and Pacific Development for the Business School. Being of mixed Māori and Pākehā descent Carla holds a deep personal interest in the history of Māori-Pākehā relations and promoting cultural understanding. Her current research focuses mainly on intergroup relations, chiefly how group memberships influence attitudes and behaviour. Reflecting her role in the Business School her work has broadened to include diversity management, identity economics and implicit bias. Her research using the Multidimensional Model of Māori identity and Cultural Engagement (MMM-ICE) has been recognised nationally and internationally for advancing ethnic identity research using psychometric measures and large samples.