Globally Happy: Individual Globalization,
Expanded Capacities, and Subjective
Wellbeing
Ming-Chang Tsai, Heng-Hao Chang &Wan-chi Chen

Social Indicators Research
An International and Interdisciplinary
Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement
ISSN 0303-8300
Volume 108
Number 3
Soc Indic Res (2012) 108:509-524
DOI 10.1007/s11205-011-9890-x

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Soc Indic Res (2012) 108:509–524
DOI 10.1007/s11205-011-9890-x

Globally Happy: Individual Globalization, Expanded
Capacities, and Subjective Wellbeing
Ming-Chang Tsai • Heng-Hao Chang • Wan-chi Chen

Accepted: 5 June 2011 / Published online: 21 June 2011
Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011

Abstract Deep integration of Asia into the global society necessarily affects wellbeing of
local populations. This study proposes a notion of ‘‘extend capacities’’ to explain therelationships between individual globalization and subjective wellbeing among Asian
populations in a context of increasing global integration. Using Amartya Sen’s theory ofhuman capacities as a point of departure, we advance a distinctive list of expanded
capacities, which includes English ability, global exposure and foreign contacts via jobs.
Empirical findings from our multilevel analysis of a large sample from 14 Asian countries
show the consistent impact of mastering a global lingua franca on job satisfaction, perceived life accomplishment, and happiness. Global exposure also generates some favorable
influences.
Keywords

Happiness  Asia  Globalization  Capacities theory

1 Introduction
This study attempts to evaluate the influences of micro-level globalization in subjective
wellbeing. As globalization deepens, interdependence between countries has increased
immensely through exchanges of goods, technology or ideas. Advanced information
technology, global capital mobility, international trade and an emerging norm of cosmopolitanism combine to forge a global society (Held and McGrew 2000; Perrons 2004;
Ritzer 2010). At individual level, traveling and networking across borders also expand
simultaneously and become a critical aspect of life experience in contemporary society.
Transnational activities and connections between various populations reflect the deepeningof social integration among people across countries. The global society perspective tends tosee these mobility and networking of individuals as another indicator showing the phenomenal architecture of an ever-expanding globalization.
M.-C. Tsai (&)  H.-H. Chang  W. Chen
Department of Sociology, National Taipei University, 151 University Road, Sansia,
New Taipei City 23741, Taiwan
e-mail: mtsai@mail.ntpu.edu.tw123Author's personal copy
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M.-C. Tsai et al.

While this macro-structural argument is well taken, we propose that individual globalization as such be conceived as an element of ‘‘extended capacities’’, a set of humanagency and freedom that can substantially enhance one’s wellbeing. This addition ofindividual globalization enriches the current theorizing of influences on wellbeing. We use
a revised version of the human capacities theory (Sen 1999) to specify the hypothesized
association between micro level globalization and wellbeing, and conduct empirical testingby way of pooled data from multiple national surveys.
This research will be conducted in several stages. We first discuss the general ideas ofcapacities and elaborate a notion of ‘‘expanded capacities’’ from Sen’s approach. We argue
that individual globalization can represent an expanded capacity whose increasing
importance deserves research attention in the field of wellbeing studies. This will befollowed by a section on methodology in which we describe measurement of micro levelglobalizations and other variables used in our research design as well as explain the usageof multilevel modeling in analysis of a pooled data from 14 Asian countries. Then wereport the empirical findings. In the concluding section we summarize our research outcomes and make suggestions for future research about global behaviors and wellbeing.

2 Micro Level Globalization: Extended Capacities and Wellbeing
2.1 The Idea of Capacities
In proposing the capacities approach to reframe the complex relationship between income,non-income factors and quality of life (QOL), Amartya Sen recognizes the importance ofdeterminants that range beyond the sheer command of economic resources. Market-based
goods or services are not the sole determinants of life satisfaction. There are two major
reasons that the role of income in QOL can be reduced. On the one hand, income enhances
quality of life, especially subjective wellbeing, only to a certain extent, thus carrying adiminishing marginal effect.1 On the other hand, income’s influence likely happens in acontext of relative standing. Social comparison explains why certain high income groups
are not as happy as predicted. People’s comparative base may be ‘‘upgraded’’ as they
accumulate more wealth, consequently feeling not happier with what they have possessed.
The resistance to overconcentration on material possessions shifts attention towards possibilities and opportunities that an individual can access in various social institutions andcontexts. Sen (1999) proposes a general theory of human capacities not only to account for
puzzles derived from the above-mentioned empirical observations but to offer the fundamental ground of new theorizing of human capacities and welfare.
The idea of capability centers in Sen’s idea of wellbeing. We use a framework ofmeans-end to effectively represent his main arguments. There can be little disagreementthat a better quality of life is justified as the primary goal of human beings. ‘‘Having a
joyful life cannot but be among the various objectives we have reason to value.’’ (Sen
2002:82). For Sen, ‘‘quality of life’’ reflects a person’s life capable of various doings andbeings, that is, the diverse aspects of life conditions people value or deem desirable (Sen1985). This is termed the functionings aspect of QOL. Subjective wellbeing (in a state ofbeing) represents a critical dimension of human functionings: This claim parallels his
critique of concentration on the distribution of resources rather than on distribution of
welfares. For Sen, human functionings depend much on a person’s capability, which refer1

See also Ball and Chernova (2008); Hagerty et al. (2001); Sirgy et al. (2006).

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to a person’s ‘‘opportunity to achieve valuable combinations of human functionings—whata person is able to do or be’’ (Sen 2005:153). To see opportunities in terms of capacities,
Sen forcefully contends, allow an informative distinguishing between what a person
actually is able to freely function (that is, the ultimate goal) and the needed means,
instruments, or permissions to pursue the valued doing and being (Sen 2005:153).
Note that capacities, conceptually, differ from actual achievements. The same level ofnutrition owing to fasting and starving, for instance, clearly does not indicate equality inthe resultant achievements (Fleurbaey 2006). This shows how unequal capacities are
critical in determining choices and conditions in life. The capacities theory does notsuggest that researchers of QOL disregard the notion of achievement. Rather, it alerts andjustifies a critical vector of opportunities and freedom through which wellbeing and joyful
life can be obtained.
2.2 Individual Globalization as Extended Capacities
We now turn to the issue of operationalization: what constitutes a capacity in a certain
context? As societies with variable wealth constitute different contexts for certain selective
capacities to meaningfully function, Sen has been careful not to offer a ‘‘fixed forever’’ listof capabilities. Indeed, the flexibility inherent in the idea of capacity implies a breadth inmeasurement. It can relate to things near to survival (availability of clean drinking water)
as well as to those less central (travel for pleasures) (Alkire 2005). But a ‘‘minimal list’’ ofcapacities to get at a decent quality of life, if chosen by Sen, would largely overlap withwhat has been termed as ‘‘basic needs’’ (income, education, health) (Streeden et al. 1982;
Jolly 2010). Indeed, there seems to be a consensus on the ‘‘basic capacities’’ for better
QOL. But this is not what this study’s major interest. We seek to introduce some capacities
beyond the ‘‘basics’’ and test their effects on subjective wellbeing. Conceptually,‘‘expanded capacities’’ as such refer to desirable context-specific opportunities other thanincome and other basic abilities (literary and physical strength) that help fulfill human
functionings. Our focus is on certain capacities that relate to an individual’s involvement in
the global economy or global society. We consider these global involvements withtransnational linkages built up consequently to be a distinctive category of capacities that
impact subjective wellbeing.
Globalization is an omnipresent phenomenon of transnational processes involving
growing multidirectional flows of people, objects and information (Perrons 2004; Ritzer
2010). Such large scale exchanges and interdependence between countries have generated
various impacts on national structures as well as daily lives. Neoliberals make claims ofincreased efficiency and resultant greater benefits from an expanding world market. Critiques of economic liberalism highlight numerous harmful outcomes by arguing that an
unconstrained global market is responsible for increasing social inequality, systemic
instability, reduced wage, as well as weakened states to deal with these problems that arerooted at the global systems beyond governmental interventions. The great globalization
debate continued over a decade (Held and McGrew 2000; Hirst and Thompson 1999;
Petras and Veltmeyer 2001; Sklair 2002; Stiglitz 2002). These grand narratives and thearguments for and against globalization can be more well-rounded and influential if further
attention is paid to the detailing of the capacities and opportunities of individuals being
connected in various ways to the ‘‘outside world’’ and the impacts resultantly incurred on
their life chances and wellbeing. We elaborate this argument of micro level globalization
as follows.

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Border crossing behavior and transnational connection can be conceived as a duo of‘‘expanded capacities’’ representing core elements of individual globalization. Crossing
borders on erstwhile unfamiliar territories that await one’s corporal presence may carrydifferent purposes. It might fulfill business purposes; or it occurs as leisure travel. A classic
example of such border crossing is the so-called ‘‘Grand Tour’’, in which affluent landedclasses from Europe were attracted to Italy to search in person the Renaissance andauthentic antiquity (Towner 1985; Wilton-Ely 2004). Paralleling Grand tours that reachedits zenith in the Eighteenth century, contemporary cultural tourism, more popular acrossvarious classes, also has an educational mission of quest for knowledge by way travelingacross the continents, though in a more ‘‘playful’’ mood (Urry 2002). In general, bordercrossing in modern society is much diversified in genres and motivations. In the wake ofthe second World War, business trips dominated for a short period before mass tourism
became overwhelming, with family holidays conducted in ways of ethnic tourism(‘‘multicultural’’), game tourism (‘‘nature-loving’’), sports tourism (‘‘healthy’’). For somepeople, stepping into another territory means more than visual gazes at spectacular grandcapital cities: sights are mixed up with sun, sand and sex (Crick 1996; Urry 2002). Despite
these complex representations of mobility across the globe, one fundamental feature of thisincreasingly popular behavior is a splendid combination of fun, exploration, and imagination. Mobile people thus have privileged access to experiments, pleasures and opportunities deriving from corporal (rather than virtual) exploring into one’s ‘‘newfoundlands’’.
Transnational networking constitutes another critical element of micro level globalization. Networking has been considered as an important resource that helps achievecertain goals, according to the theory of social ties and social capital (Coleman 1988;
Granovetter 1983; Lin 2002). Interpersonal relationships established with overseas friends
or colleagues are a helpful source in careers. Kennedy’s (2004) study of transnational
professionals in the building design industry shows that international professional workers
were capable of constructing in situ transnational social ties. They participated in localized
networks built around occupational links. Their intense inter-firm links helped establish
transnational work-based networks across global cities. Another investigation of transnational managerial elites working in the financial sector of New York City similarly evidence the importance of stretching networking activities over national boundaries either
via virtual communication or by real time ‘‘co-presence’’ (Beaverstock 2005; see also
Conradson and Latham 2005; Larsen et al. 2006 for similar studies of professionals in
Western societies). In the East Asian context, Ong’s (1999) ethnographic study documents
the diasporan Chinese whose strategic usage of guanxi (interpersonal relations) networks
allows them to circumvent or even benefit from different nation-state regulations and to reposition their families and capital in chosen global cities in Western countries. Interpersonal linkages are not limited of this genre within family members. Those from outside kin
also help overcome obstacles in cross-border mobilities as well as establish businesses(Tseng 2000; Tzeng’s 2010). Emerging out of the literature of ‘‘global mobility’’ is aconsensus over the power of social networking across borders in helping pursue various
goals.
As this study focuses on Asian people, their mastering of a global lingua franca cannot
be emphasized too much. In this region, English dominates when it comes to the mostlearned and used language for international communication. The spread of English has
been fostered by many governments in the region as English is designated as the firstforeign language in formal educational curriculum. Most Asian countries are positioned inwhat Kachru (Kachru and Nelson 1996) has termed the ‘‘expanding circle,’’ in which
English has been widely studied for specific functions such as accessing the knowledge of123

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science and technology. In contrast, Singapore and India are situated in the ‘‘outer circle’’in reference to Kachru’s (Kachru and Nelson 1996) model of expanding world Englishes(the ‘‘core’’ being the UK, USA, Australia, etc.). English in these outer circle countries has
been long institutionalized and stands as a language of wide importance in governance aswell as social life. English fluency, for Asian people, serves as a critical cultural capacity
through which desirable resources, knowledge, and influences can be obtained. Surveys
indicate that people in East Asia have a consensus that mastering English, more than otherlanguages, is essential in international communication (Sasaki et al. 2006). English can beconceived as a ‘‘linguistic network capital’’ (Urry 2007:197) that represents an individual’s
specific capacity to make mobility onto other countries and sustain cross borer relationships therein with greater ease, even within the region of Asia.
English ability and transnational experiences represent a set of ‘‘expanded capacities’’
whose advantages increase as globalization accelerates in contemporary Asia. By expanded
capacities we stress the benefits derived from the opportunities and freedom to be mobile
across border and establish overseas networks—these capacities clearly lie beyond aminimal list of basic needs or basic capacities that many QOL researches had concerned.
Researchers also have elaborated human capacities in other lines. Nussbaum (2001) focuses
on a totality of body, affect and reasoning ability. Social security and social inclusion
arguably can be added to the list of expanded capacities (Gasper 2007). Different social
conditions and evaluative purposes thus may suggest distinctive capacities to investigate
advantages and adversities across peoples. Indeed, Even Sen (2005:160), in evaluating thedevelopmental context of India, holds that access to the internet should be an important
capacity, because of the need to effectively communicate across the this country andbeyond. A fixed or predetermined list of capacities might not work in real worlds (Sen2005). The need to develop certain lists of capacities for wide-ranging applications should
be considered not a weakness, but a strength and flexibility of the capacities approach. Notethat border crossing, transnational networking and acquired English fluency as expanded
capacities conceptually have to be distinguished from the achievements of an agency(mostly measured by material possessions). These expanded capacities reflect more of
freedom or choice of an individual than affluence or goods with high market prices. There isno denying that achievements are a strong determinant of wellbeing. The main point is that
expanded capacities, beyond basic ones, should be taken seriously for a fuller understandingof how people promote their functionings with adequate choices and how these freedoms
constitutes a solid ground of happiness and joyful life (Sen 2002).2

3 The Current Research and Hypothesis
Our emphasis in micro level globalization as a representation of capacities differs substantially from previous research interests. Previous studies regularly surveyed how various
demographic characteristics associated with subjective wellbeing. Overall, women reporthigher levels of happiness or life satisfaction than men (Blanchflower and Oswald 2004).
Married people are happier than those of other marital statuses (Yang 2008; Stack andEshleman 1998; Haller and Hadler 2006; Shin and Inoguchi 2009), though anotherinterpretation of this correlation is that happy people are more likely to get married or staymarried (Stutzer and Frey 2006). Some studies report U-shaped age effects, which suggests
2

Critiques of Sen also highlight its insufficient attention to distribution and equality of actual abilities, a
research question which, unfortunately, is beyond the scope of this study (see Fleurbaey 2006).

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a nonlinear trend that goes downward first and upward later through life courses andreaches the bottom around middle age (Gerdtham and Johannesson 2001; Yang 2008;
Blanchflower and Oswald 2008). Education is another oft-cited factor, with higher educational attainment being asserted a strong predictor of subjective wellbeing (Blanchflower
and Oswald 2004; Easterlin 2001; Yang 2008). Additionally, a bulk of research identifies
the negative impact of unemployment (Clark and Oswald 1994; Frey and Stutzer 2002;
Blanchflower and Oswald 2004). Health no doubt is one of the most important sociodemographic determinants of wellbeing (De Mello and Tiongson 2009; Clark and Oswald
2002; Michalos and Zumbo 2000). Taking advantage of longitudinal data, Oswald andPowdthavee (2008) indicates that a negative impact on mental wellness may continue evenafter a considerable recovery of health. While studies as reviewed above contribute to ourunderstanding of general patterns of wellbeing, they as a whole offer less information to
the question of how an individual’s wellbeing can be improved by way of strengthening an
individual’s life chances or opportunities.
Our research also stands in contrast to conventional researches on Asian population that
tend to engage in the debate of material versus cultural factors in determining subjective
well-being (Diener 2000). For instance, Inoguchi and Shin (2009) argue that for Confucian
Asia such as Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, values that emphasize social relationships,
family, community, harmony and trust help explain how happiness and life satisfaction isachieved in Asian countries (Shin and Inoguchi 2009; Tokuda et al. 2010; Tan andTambyah 2010). Chen’s comparative study of East Asian populations shows that education
brought about extensive social networks and connections, both domestic and overseas,
which contribute significantly to happiness (Chen forthcoming). In a study on Singapore
people, relations with significant others help achieve better quality of life (Tambyah et al.
2009). Lack of interpersonal trust is a major factor of unhappiness in Japan (Tokuda andInoguchi 2008). Liao et al. (2005) additionally demonstrate that the high level of perceived
fairness in socioeconomic condition contributes to one’s happiness and quality of life fromsamples of Taiwan and Hong Kong. Despite certain merits from a cultural approach tounderstanding life satisfaction of Asian people, there is a paucity of consideration ofrelationships between capacities and wellbeing in the population of Asia.
In sum, we propose a hypothesis that individual globalization is a positive factor ofindividual’s wellbeing, as it is an expanded capacity that enhances one’s opportunities in a
globalizing world. In the following, we offer evidence from empirical analyses of pooled
Asian populations in support of the capacities theory.

4 Data and Methods
The data were drawn from the AsiaBarometer (AB) survey, which is a collaborative projectcurrently based in University of Niigata Prefecture, Japan (www.asiabarometer.org). We
used the recently released 2006 and 2007 data covering East and Southeast Asia. The AB
survey project was initiated in 2003 to collect information on social lives and culturalvalues of Asian people. The techniques of multistage stratified sampling were applied to
conduct face to face interviews of respondents who aged between 20 and 69.3
3

In some situations quota sampling was used as supplementary methods to obtain a sample comparablewith that of a country. There were some compromises, however. For Viet Nam, major urban populations
were sampled. Some proportions of the population, for example, people in isolated islands or rural areas,
were excluded due to practical constraints in the field.

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The questionnaire was first formulated in English. This common questionnaire was thentranslated into local languages by local survey companies. Local language questionnaires
were checked through back translation. The sample was 1,000 for each country except
China, where 2,000 respondents were interviewed. This study will select only respondents
that currently held a job and aged between 20 and 64 in analysis. That is, the retired,students or houseworkers (mostly wives) are excluded.
4.1 Individual Globalization
The 2006 and 2007 AB surveys provided information of English fluency and global
behaviors which we adopted to measure expanded capacities of an individual. English
fluency is a self-rated ability on four point scale, from ‘‘speaking fluently’’ (coded 4) to‘‘not at all’’ (1). To measure individual global experiences, we used three indicators fromthe Survey: (1) whether a respondent ‘‘traveled abroad at least three times in the past
3 years, on holiday or for business purposes’’; (2) responses to ‘‘I have friends from othercountry who are in [respondent’s country]’’; and (3) ‘‘I often communicate with people inother countries via the Internet or email’’. The three proxies combine to constitute a
composite index of ‘‘global exposure’’, covering both border crossing experiences andglobal connections. As the three highly correlated measures were binary in design(1 = yes, 0 = no), we calculated their average scores as a summary indicator.
In addition, we mobilized a binary indicator of job-related global contact: ‘‘My job
involves contact with organizations or people in other countries’’. We did so because wewill consider the evaluation of achievement to be one of our dependent variable.
We use three different measures of subjective wellbeing as our dependent variables. The
first one is work satisfaction (five point scale from very satisfied (coded 5) to very dissatisfied (coded 1)) (See Table 1 for aggregate statistics at country level). The second measureconcerns an overall evaluation of one’s life achievements: ‘‘How much do you feel you areaccomplishing what you want out of your life?’’ The responses are of four categories: a greatdeal, some, very little and none (coded from 4–1). The last measure is perhaps the mostoften used measure in soliciting level of subjective wellbeing: ‘‘All things considered,would you say that you are happy these days?’’ The happiness measure is of five point scale:very happy, quite happy, neither happy nor unhappy, not too unhappy, very unhappy (codedfrom 5 to 1). Table 1 shows descriptive statistics of the three outcomes across 14 surveyedcountries. The obtained coefficients of intraclass correlation (approximately .10) from theintercept-only model (Raudenbush and Bryk 2002) show that for the three subjective
wellbeings, variations across countries are modest (see the last entry).
4.2 Control Variables
We consider a comprehensive range of control variables in estimation. A respondent’s
gender (male = 1, female = 0); age; education (a set of dummies of ‘‘college and above’’,‘‘senior high school’’ and ‘‘junior high school or less’’, with the last group being a reference); family income (z scores computed in individual countries).4 We also included
occupational status. The AB survey prelisted a dozen of job categories in soliciting
information about jobs. This design, while it falls short in gathering details such as skill
4

We use family income to explore the influence of a family’s economic resources; information of personal
income was not collected in the AB survey. Our way of operationalization allows us to capture the effects ofrelative economic status within a country.

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Table 1 Job satisfaction and life accomplishment in 14 Asian countries (%)
Job satisfaction
SomewhataVery satisfied

Life accomplishmentb

Some

A great deal

Happiness
Quite happyc

Very happy

East Asia

33.3

6.9

52.2

5.3

39.8

13.5

China

22.3

8.4

54.9

6.0

38.5

17.9

Hong Kong

42.2

3.0

49.5

6.2

45.0

6.0

Japan

48.4

9.9

58.1

5.6

41.6

13.8

Korea

31.9

6.1

47.7

3.4

42.4

9.8

Taiwan

34.8

5.4

47.1

4.2

33.8

14.1

Southeast Asia

43.5

21.5

58.8

15.5

47.4

22.5

Cambodia

32.5

24.4

51.4

4.3

26.6

3.2

Indonesia

33.4

20.5

58.4

24.3

52.9

12.6

Laos

49.9

19.8

71.8

19.5

58.4

18.2

Malaysia

58.7

17.8

57.7

24.3

53.8

33.2

Myanmar

45.8

10.0

50.6

3.0

49.2

11.0

Philippines

44.6

28.8

52.2

23.7

46.9

38.3

Singapore

51.7

24.0

61.3

16.0

52.7

25.1

Thailand

47.3

28.3

66.9

8.3

58.8

21.3

Vietnam

27.2

18.0

56.6

17.4

26.7

38.8

All Asia

39.5

15.8

56.2

11.5

44.4

19.0

Intraclass correlation
a

.068

.099

.102

Measured on five point scale; three lower categories not shown to save spaceb

Measured on four point scale; two lower categories not shown to save spacec

See 1 above

levels, nevertheless allows us to identify major categories of occupation. The resultant
occupational status scheme contrasts the following five groupings: agricultural workers,
business owners, white collar workers (largely skilled office workers), blue collar workers(lower-grade skills and work in manufacturing sector), as well as the unemployed. We
chose the blue collar workers as our reference group in order to capture their different levelof joy from professional workers as well their gap with those currently not hired in labormarket. Health, a robust factor of subjective wellbeing, was included (on five point scale).
Trust in other people5 is our last control. Its influence on subjective wellbeing had beeninterpreted as optimist attitudes toward people in general. An alternative view is that the
respondents’ answers relate to those people they interacted in sub-national communities(Hwlliwell 2003), thus reflecting strength of social capital at local neighborhoods.
4.3 Estimation
We pooled respondents from fourteen participating countries for empirical estimation. As
our data involve both individual and national units, the conventional least square techniques are inadequate due to the assumption of independent observations from a
5

The original question is: Generally, do you think people can be trusted or do think that you can’t be too
careful in dealing with people? The responses are binary: most people can be trusted (= 1); or can’t be too
careful in dealing with people (= 0).

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homogenous sub-population. Nonindependence as such tends to give smaller standard
errors and ‘‘spuriously significant’’ results when the conventional least square method isapplied (Hox 2002; Raudenbush and Bryk 2002). For remedy, we use hierarchical linear
modeling to simultaneously estimate individual and contextual effects as this method allows
flexible specification of multilevel information and error structures at different levels.
The specification of individual level modeling using job satisfaction as example is:Yij ¼ b0j þ b1j ðMaleÞ þ b2j ðAgeÞ þ b3j ðAge squareÞ þ b4j ðSenior H: SchoolÞ
þ b5j ðCollegeÞ þ b6j ðMarriedÞ þ    þ rij
where Yij is the predicted score of job satisfaction for the respondent i from country j, andrij is individual level error. Our multilevel modeling allows country differences to vary,which usually is referred as the random-intercept model (Raudenbush and Bryk 2002). The
specification of country-level influence is:b0j ¼ c00 þ u0j
where c00 is the average outcome for the used whole population and u0j denotes a countryspecific effect.
Our preliminary analysis considered a possibility that economic development anddemocracy at societal level generate favorable influences on country level of subjective
wellbeing, as some literature had suggested (Diener and Oishi 2000; Easterlin 2005; Tsai
2009; Frey and Stutzer 2000; Inglehart and Klingemann 2000). However, our test of bothgross national income per capita and a popular democratization index6 did not reachsignificance, probably because of the smaller degree of freedom in our pooled data. Our
research design nevertheless takes into account the aggregate differences between the 14
countries.

5 Empirical Analysis
Our analysis begins with estimation results of job satisfaction by multi-level modeling. The
first equation on Table 2 reports estimation results from socio-demographic controls. We
found that among respondents from 14 countries, the higher educated, married, and uppermiddle classes (business owners and professionals) tend to rate themselves higher in job
satisfaction. Income, health and trust also generate significant influences. These outcomes
replicated previous studies as cited in Session 3. In Eq. 2 we added three expanded
capacities to examine their influence net of controls. English fluency reaches significancelevel and generates the expected positive effects. Global exposure also produces afavorable influence. However, foreign contact due to job has only a trivial effect, though
its positive sign is as expected. This weak influence might be due to its lower incidents
as most workers (over 95%) in lower income countries in the region reported no suchcontacts.7 Another explanation is that this measure indicates ‘‘sheer contacts’’ for many6

National income, measured in year of 2005, was drawn from the web of the World Bank (www.
worldbank.com). A composite democracy index was drawn from the Freedom House (www.
freedomhouse.org). It was an average score of 2004–2006 to even out possible fluctuations in certain
countries.
7

Not surprisingly, Singapore registers the highest percentage (23.8%) as this country’s financial andproductive sectors are deeply embedded in global markets. Hong Kong ranks the second, but lags far behindwith its statistic of 9.3%.

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Table 2 Job satisfaction in 14 Asian countries: multi-level analysis
All sample(1)
Male(=1; female = 0)

(2)

Male

Female

(3)

(4)

-.029

-.033

Age

.011

.010

-.001

.024

Age square/100

.008

.007

.006

-.022

Education (Junior H. = 0)
Senior H.

.107***.070***

.076*

.052

College.210***.135***.100*.175***

Marital status (Single = 0)
Married

.052*

.058*

.070*

.062

Divorced-.122*

-.120

-.024

-.186*

Widowed

-.028

-.006

-.012

-.013

-.022

-.132*

Occupation (Blue-collar = 0)
-.024

.047

Business owner

Agricultural worker.104**.098*.135**.031

White-collar.107***.092***.120***.061

Unemployed-.470***-.514***-.521***-.569***

Income.086***.077***.083***.062***

Health.283***.282***.280***.284***

Trust.094***.096**.089***.075**English fluency.064***.063**.076**

Global exposure

.122*

.126*

.121

Foreign contact due to job

.073

.086

.063

2.024

1.921

2.138

1.631

Variance components-uoj

.068

.059

.053

.067

Residual-rij

.811

.805

.809

Intercept
Random effectModel v2

1,706.7

1,733.3

N

10,153

10,021

998.4
5,831

.798
756.5
4,190

* p \ .05; ** p \ .01; *** p \ .001

workers likely positioned as subordinates that it fails to reflect a true capacity as we haveconceived. Equations 3 and 4 estimated the males and females respectively, to cross check
if our modeling is robust across genders. The outcomes are largely similar. Global
exposure’s influence is somewhat attenuated for females. Alternatively, male workers
benefit more from their global exposure for job satisfaction. We note that female agricultural workers in this region register a substantially lower score on job satisfaction.
Studies of poor female farmers in South Asia documented their disadvantages with regards
to tenure security, access to water, fertilizers, credits and marketing (Quisumbing andPandolfelli 2010). While our data do not allow conducting a detailed research along thisline, future studies should pay attention to this group’s wellbeing level.
We display the estimation results of life accomplishment on Table 3. Education,
occupation, being married, high income, good health, and a high level of trust that reflects

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Table 3 Life accomplishment in 14 Asian countries: multi-level analysis
All sample
(1)

(2)

(3)

Male

Female(4)(5)

Male(=1; female = 0)

-.022

-.026

-.022

Age

-.004

-.003

-.003

-.005

-.002

.009

.009

.008

.010

-.004

Age square/100
Education (Junior H. = 0)
Senior H.

.083***.055**

.041*

.034

.053

College.169***.104***.082***.088**.070*

Marital status (Single = 0)
Married.116***.108***

Divorced-.009.120***-.007.123***

.007

.046

-.017*.125**

Widowed

.014

.026

.042

.034

.065

Agricultural worker

.024

.027

.032

.051

-.004

Business owner

.064*

.051

.039

.028

.054

White-collar.055**

.041*

.029

.038

.019

Unemployed-.081**-.082**

-.015

-.022

-.009

Income.076***.068***.058***.053***.066***

Health.099***.098***.060***.066***.054***

Trust.078***.077***.068***.055**.085**English fluency.055***.047***.049**.042*

Global exposure.159***.149***.165**.123

Foreign contact due to job

.025

.013

.002

.039

.130***.127***.136***

2.193

2.095

1.819

1.798

1.825

Variance components-uoj

.053

.051

.044

.046

.041

Residual-rij

.426

.423

.409

.409

Occupation (Blue-collar = 0)

Job satisfaction
Intercept
Random effectModel v2
N

766.4
10,224813.4
10,093

1,166.3
9,996

693.7
5,814

.410
486.0
4,182

* p \ .05; ** p \ .01; *** p \ .001

a thick norm of belief in others facilitates one’s sense of life accomplishment. Occupational status particularly impacts self-rated fulfillments in that business owner and whilecollar workers, due to their possession of ‘‘means of productions’’ and ‘‘professional
skills’’, enjoy a feeling of achievement more than blue collar workers do. Not surprisingly,
the unemployed register the lowest score herein. When we added three expanded capacities
variables in Eq. 2, English fluency and global exposure both contribute positively to life
accomplishment. However, the effect of foreign contact due to job remains insignificant.
As life accomplish is intimately associated with job conditions, we further add job satisfaction into Eq. 3 as another necessary control factor. Respondents’ with higher job satisfaction indeed enhances a sense of accomplishment. English fluency and exposure’s
effects are not moderated due to addition of this new control. When we explore plausible
gendered patterns in Eqs. 4 and 5, the outcomes show similarities between two sexes.

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Table 4 Happiness in 14 Asian countries: multi-level analysis
All sample
(1)

(2)

(3)

Male

Female(4)(5)

Male(=1; female = 0)-.064*-.067***-.062***

Age

-.011

-.011*-.012*

-.012

-.011

.010

.011

.010

.011

.009

Age square/100
Education (Junior H. = 0)
Senior H.

.068**

.047*

.032

.022

.049

College.114***.071**

.045

.042

.054

Marital status (Single = 0)
Married.148***.152***.143***.127***.166***

Divorced-.223***-.229***-.211***-.220**-.193**

Widowed

.049

.073

.079

.010

.129

Occupation (Blue-collar = 0)
Agricultural worker

.032

.032

.034

.013

.063

Business owner

.022

.015

.000

.008

-.014

White-collar

.040

.030

.016

.029

-.005

Unemployed-.101**-.103**

-.023

-.032

.011

Income.053***.046***.033***.027**.042**

Health

.211***.209***.163***.173***.154***

Trust.134***.133***.119***.140***.083**.046**.036**.051**.018

English fluency
Global exposure

.087

.069

.007

.164*

Foreign contact due to job

.016

.002

.003

.006

.160***.163***.158***

3.012

2.941

2.616

2.483

2.679

Variance components-uoj

.061

.055

.046

.048

.046

Residual-rij

.619

.616

.595

.609

Job satisfaction
Intercept
Random effectModel v2

1,053.7

1,058.4

1,429.3

N

10,244

10,112

10,016

839.6
5,827

.573
599.8
4,189

* p \ .05; ** p \ .01; *** p \ .001

Interestingly, similar to what we found in job satisfaction in Table 2, global exposure isrelatively weak in its influence on female’s sense of accomplishment.
We investigate influences of happiness in Table 4. Most demographics and trust factor
hold in their impacts, and age’s inverted U shape effect appear for the happiness equation.
Yet occupational effects are substantially attenuated. This might be because that happiness,being a measure of psychological affect, responds only slightly to one’s possession of skills
or a business. Equation 2 examines influences of global variables, in which we find English
fluency maintains a strong impact on this avowed wellbeing. The other two microglobalization factors have only thin influence, failing to reach significance level. This result
remains unchanged when we add job satisfaction as additional control in Eq. 3. We also
note that ability of using a global lingua franca particularly boosts males’ happiness, while

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this was not observed among females.8 Our speculation is that English is primarily an
instrument for bettering economic life in Asia. Females, despite their increasing participation in labor market in this region, are less likely to benefit from it as they more likely
occupy relatively marginal positions at the periphery sectors that characterize dead-end,
low-pay, and contingent jobs, especially in lower income countries of this region (Yu andThang 2004). Therefore we obtained only a weak relationship between happinessand language ability. However, for those females that are exposed to more global flows andfluxes, they apparently enjoy a higher level of positive psychology than other females
lacking such capacities (column 5).

6 Conclusion
This study proposes using the idea of ‘‘extend capacities’’ to account for subjective
wellbeing among Asian populations. Amartya Sen’s idea of human capacities serves wellas an inspiring point of departure. Researchers working on particular fields yet have todevelop their distinctive lists of expanded capacities. This means that elaborations ofcertain desirable capacities specific to the analyzed contexts necessarily call for ‘‘local’’theoretical imaginations and innovative measurement. Research questions derived fromthis line of thinking, for instance, are: what specific capacities beyond income and communicative ability are needed to craft a workable intimate relationship between couples toachieve marital satisfaction? What expanded capacities, other than material gains andgeneral education, are helpful in enhancing a person’s ability of appreciating art andderiving happiness from consumption of cultural artifacts? Of course, it is a necessity to
explore how these expanded capacities are distributed in certain ways that some groups
benefit from them while others are unfortunately deprived of. We hope that this study has
set a useful example for this genre of study.
In the context of an increasingly globalized Asia, we contend that the expanded
capacities of English ability, border crossing and transnational networking become
increasingly influential for individuals’ wellbeing. Our multilevel analysis of a large
sample from 14 Asian countries highlight particularly the importance of mastering a global
lingua franca in job satisfaction, feeling of accomplishment, and happiness. This global
language’s effects are robust and consistent, net of the influences of material and cultural
factors identified by major theories. Global exposure also generates some notable effects.
Our empirical testing provides supportive evidence to the individual globalization-wellbeing hypothesis. Simply put, people that are more globalized are more satisfied with theirjob and life.
There exist some limitations for this study. Measures of global exposure as used in thisstudy can be more inclusive. Transnational social capital that an individual develops canunfold into various networking with overseas kin, friends or colleagues. Global cultural
exposure should also be tapped and incorporated by future studies to examine if exposure
to global ideas and consumption of cosmopolitan cultures (Tsai and Appelbaum 2010) can
operate as additional elements of perceived wellbeing for specific social groups. This study
focuses mainly on job- and work-related outcomes. How individual globalization affects

8

It might be because females tend to have lower scores and thus less variation in this language variable,
which it renders our modeling poorly fit. However, this is not the case we found there is no difference inEnglish ability across genders.

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other areas like satisfaction in human relationship or cultural life also needs investigation
to obtain a fuller understanding of its potential impacts.

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