This paper presents a total survey of the characteristics and changes over time (1990–2010) within the entire population of Swedish non-industrial private forest owners (NIPF owners). By charting the changed demographic, socio-economic and geographic profile of the NIPF owners, it also provides a baseline for a discussion and analysis of potential implications for forest management, policy and values. NIPF owners differ in important ways from the general population of Sweden. However, the gap has narrowed over time with regard to, e.g., educational level and sex composition. The ongoing urbanization process is evident in the growing share of non-residential NIPF owners who live at a distance from their forest property and who differ from their residential (rural) peers through, e.g., higher education, higher income and a higher prevalence of co-ownership of their forest holdings. Although these changes might translate into updated views on forest values among NIPF owners, there could be a delay before this impacts on forest management practices and output.
In-house family ties at workplaces occur in most contexts, and are associated with both advantages and disadvantages. On the basis of 40 interviews with human resource managers at Swedish workplaces, the values and risks of in-house family ties and their importance within the workplace are analyzed jointly, thus allowing for a holistic perspective. The interviews reveal values and risks on a strategic level, for day-to-day operations, for the social work environment, and on the level of individuals. Crucially, even when in-house family ties are perceived as uncomplicated, there is a latent risk that problems might arise. The interpretation of the role of in-house family ties is also strongly related to whether they are paired with asymmetrical (vertical) power relations. It also depends heavily on the chosen perspective-that of the organization, the social work environment, the individual, or the broader society-and the perceived advantages tend to come with corresponding inverted disadvantages.