TY - JOUR
T1 - Material and relational consumption to improve subjective well-being
T2 - Evidence from rural and urban Vietnam
AU - Tsurumi, Tetsuya
AU - Yamaguchi, Rintaro
AU - Kagohashi, Kazuki
AU - Managi, Shunsuke
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by the Environment Research and Technology Development Fund (S-16) of the Ministry of the Environment , Japan. We would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their comments.
Funding Information:
This research was supported by the Environment Research and Technology Development Fund (S-16) of the Ministry of the Environment, Japan. We would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their comments.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s)
PY - 2021/8/10
Y1 - 2021/8/10
N2 - If the subjective well-being (SWB) of a population has reached saturation in terms of consumption, it becomes difficult to increase SWB through consumption. Previous studies have shown the existence of such saturation in some developed countries. However, little is known about applications for developing countries due to a lack of data. Thus, this study investigates whether a difference in the relationship between consumption and SWB exists between urban and rural areas in Vietnam. We apply the generalized additive models that allow a non-linear functional form to demonstrate the detailed relationship between consumption and SWB. Our results for Vietnam show that saturation, in terms of material consumption, exists for urban areas, while there is a negative relationship between material consumption and SWB in rural areas. In addition, we find a positive relationship between relational consumption and SWB in rural areas and a slightly positive or flat relationship in urban areas. Overall, our estimation results imply that the saturation of the SWB with regard to material consumption can be observed even in developing countries. Furthermore, not only can individuals’ SWB be significantly increased by relational consumption in the presence of a strong social capital, but the same result can be found with material consumption by bartering. Our findings imply that a sharing economy with strong social capital can be a key to sustainable consumption.
AB - If the subjective well-being (SWB) of a population has reached saturation in terms of consumption, it becomes difficult to increase SWB through consumption. Previous studies have shown the existence of such saturation in some developed countries. However, little is known about applications for developing countries due to a lack of data. Thus, this study investigates whether a difference in the relationship between consumption and SWB exists between urban and rural areas in Vietnam. We apply the generalized additive models that allow a non-linear functional form to demonstrate the detailed relationship between consumption and SWB. Our results for Vietnam show that saturation, in terms of material consumption, exists for urban areas, while there is a negative relationship between material consumption and SWB in rural areas. In addition, we find a positive relationship between relational consumption and SWB in rural areas and a slightly positive or flat relationship in urban areas. Overall, our estimation results imply that the saturation of the SWB with regard to material consumption can be observed even in developing countries. Furthermore, not only can individuals’ SWB be significantly increased by relational consumption in the presence of a strong social capital, but the same result can be found with material consumption by bartering. Our findings imply that a sharing economy with strong social capital can be a key to sustainable consumption.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.127499
DO - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.127499
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85106211298
VL - 310
JO - Journal of Cleaner Production
JF - Journal of Cleaner Production
SN - 0959-6526
M1 - 127499
ER -