Household Income, Satisfaction with Standard of Living, and Subjective Well-Being. The Moderating Role of Happiness Mate
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Household Income, Satisfaction with Standard of Living, and Subjective Well‑Being. The Moderating Role of Happiness Materialism Grace B. Yu1 · Dong‑Jin Lee2 · M. Joseph Sirgy3 · Michael Bosnjak4
© Springer Nature B.V. 2019
Abstract The goal of this paper is to report a study that tested the moderation effect of materialism on the relationship between household income and satisfaction with standard of living (SOL) and subjective well-being. Through a study among 5240 employed members of a representative survey panel in Germany, we found that household income has a positive influence on satisfaction with SOL (as hypothesized), which in turn has a positive impact on subjective well-being (as hypothesized). We also found that the positive income-SOL satisfaction relationship is negatively moderated by happiness materialism (as hypothesized) and that happiness materialism is positively associated with frequent SOL evaluations based on ideal expectations (also as hypothesized). Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed. Keywords Household income · Satisfaction with standard of living · Subjective wellbeing · Domain satisfaction · Frequent evaluations of standard of living
* Grace B. Yu [email protected] Dong‑Jin Lee [email protected] M. Joseph Sirgy [email protected] Michael Bosnjak mb@leibniz‑psychology.org 1
Duksung Women’s University, Seoul, South Korea
2
Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea
3
Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, Blacksburg, USA
4
University of Trier and ZPID-Leibniz Institute for Psychology Information, Trier, Germany
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G. B. Yu et al.
1 Introduction Research in the quality-of-life literature has focused on the relationship between personal income and subjective well-being (SWB). Some studies found that increased income does not contribute to increased SWB. This finding may be explained by social comparison—individuals with increased income compare themselves to those who make more income dampening the possibility of increases in SWB (Easterlin 2010). Another explanation involves financial aspirations (Graham and Pettinato 2002). Increased income serves to heighten financial aspirations, dampening the positive contribution of income on SWB. Yet another explanation involves adaptation—individuals with increased income adapt to their newly found financial situation and this adaptation dampens the income effect on SWB (Easterlin 2010). In contrast, other studies found that increased income does indeed contribute to increased SWB (e.g., Hagerty and Veenhoven 2003; Inglehart et al. 2008; Veenhoven and Hagerty 2006). The common explanation is that increases in income allows individuals to meet unfulfilled needs. Additionally, the positive income-SWB relationship is found to be strong especially when increased income is accompanied with satisfaction with material life (or satisfaction with standard of living) (e.g., Diener et al. 2013; Diener and Biswas-Diener 2002). Conversely, the positive income-SWB effect is weakened when increas
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