The index was developed by Drs Carla Houkamau and Chris Sibley in 2010; both of whom are senior lecturers at The University of Auckland.
[2] Sample items in this dimension include: Socio-political consciousness reflects how active an individual is in promoting and defending Māori rights given the context of the Treaty of Waitangi.
A high score on this scale reflects the belief that Māori individuals need to remain loyal to the group and stay politically unified.
A high score on this scale therefore represents a rigid and inflexible construction of the characteristics that determine an "authentic" Māori identity.
[8] Sample items include: Houkamau and Sibley proposed the MMM-ICE be used as an instrument for answering the question, "What does 'being Māori' mean?
[10] They found that those who identified as having mixed Māori and European ancestry reported significantly higher satisfaction with their standard of living, personal health, future security, and the economic situation in New Zealand.
[clarification needed] In 2015, Houkamau and Sibley found that self-reported measures of one's appearance as Māori significantly predicted decreased rates of home ownership.