Study title

In the spring and autumn of 2015, Statistics Norway conducted for the second time a survey of Norwegian top executives in ten different sectors of Norwegian society. The survey was conducted in collaboration with the Institute for Social Research (ISF). The purpose of the leadership study has been to gain insight into the background and career patterns, contact networks, the relationship between leaders in different areas of society, and attitudes to key social issues. This provides information on how Norwegian society works, what is agreed and where the major lines of conflict go. The leadership survey from 15 years ago showed that there was a combination of agreement and disagreement between the management groups on important issues. Much has changed since the beginning of the 2000s. Researchers wanted to investigate whether increasing globalization, the financial crisis, climate change, increasing international migration, the Quota Act and the EU crisis have affected the top leaders' attitudes to Norwegian society. Furthermore, they wanted to map the social characteristics of different leaders in society (for example, gender, education, and age) and what attitudes leaders have on various topics and issues that are widely discussed in Norway.