Life satisfaction and the intention to reduce materialistic consumption

LIFE SATISFACTION AND THE INTENTION TO REDUCE MATERIALISTIC CONSUMPTION: EXPLORING THE MEDIATING ROLES OF SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING AND THE ATTITUDE TOWARDS MATERIALISTIC SIMPLICITY ABSTRACT Purpose: Given the detrimental effects of (over)consumption on the planet, reducing the overall consumption level of human beings is a solid long-term sustainable solution. An individual’s personal belief is the starting point of one’s actual (de)consumption behaviour. Since the (intense) longing for materialistic consumption evolves from one’s dissatisfaction with life in general, curiosity was tickled whether an individual’s higher sense of life satisfaction could still the ever-lasting hunger for tangible products. Accordingly, this study analysed, on a micro-level, to what extent life satisfaction relates to the intention to reduce materialistic consumption. The relationship between life satisfaction and intention to reduce materialistic consumption was conceptualised with the help of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), which stresses the interrelationship between one’s belief, attitude and intention towards a particular behaviour. Within this research, life satisfaction, identified as a person’s belief, was the first predictor towards the intentional behaviour of reducing materialistic consumption. Following TPB, a true comprehension of the relationship between these two components is achieved with the help of two other predictors: subjective well-being and attitude towards materialistic simplicity. Since life satisfaction is the cognitive component of subjective well-being, this research is interested in the mediating role of subjective well- being within the relationship between life satisfaction and the intention to reduce materialistic consumption. Likewise, attitude towards materialistic simplicity, identified as the positive attitude towards decreasing materialistic possession and materialistic consumption in general, appears as a predicting antecedent to intention to reduce materialistic consumption. Therefore, the mediating role of one’s attitude towards materialistic simplicity is examined in the relationship between life satisfaction and the intention to reduce materialistic consumption. Methodology: In the present study, an online questionnaire with a sample of 206 respondents examined the (in)direct effects of life satisfaction, subjective well-being, attitude towards materialistic simplicity and intention to reduce materialistic consumption. Simple Linear Regression Analyses were conducted to analyse the direct effects, whereas Mediation Analyses were conducted to examine the indirect effects. 3 Findings: Results indicate life satisfaction's statistically significant positive effect on the intention to reduce materialistic consumption. Likewise, the positive effect of life satisfaction on subjective well-being and the attitude towards materialistic simplicity was found significant. Moreover, the mediating role of attitude towards materialistic simplicity was proven statistically significant in the relationship between life satisfaction and intention to reduce materialistic consumption and in the relationship between subjective well-being and intention to reduce materialistic consumption. Value: Research into motivating consumers to lower their materialistic consumption, and the thereby involved beliefs and attitudes, is lacking. Analysing these indicators of intentional behaviour helps to comprehend an individual’s drivers and hurdles to reduce the level of materialistic consumption. As the results show that life satisfaction predicts the intention to reduce materialistic consumption, insights should be used (in future research) to investigate increment in people’s life satisfaction to assure the reduction of materialistic consumption and eventually resolve the current ecological problems. Other theoretical and societal implications are provided and elaborated as well.