Attitude toward Consumption and Subjective Well‐Being

The current study looked at the effects of attitude toward consumption (positive or negative) on subjective well-being. This research studied attitude toward consumption at both the personal (micro) level and societal (macro) level and subjective well-being in terms of cognitive well-being and affective well-being. Results indicated that micro attitudes, whether positive or negative, were positively related to a consumer's subjective well-being. In contrast, macro attitudes were negatively related to subjective well-being. We posit that these findings could be due to micro attitudes enhancing the person's feeling of autonomy and control. In contrast, macro attitudes may create concerns beyond the person's control. For those who wish to impact societal-level consumption, these findings provide empirical support for the idea that focusing on the personal benefits of anticonsumption may be more effective than emphasizing larger societal concerns. We explore the potential implications of these findings for mandated vs. voluntary approaches to reducing consumption. ********** Well-being is a broad field which has been studied from many different perspectives. For example, there are studies which define well-being in terms of macro-economic variables, social health, or sound environmental practices. Such approaches build from the idea that people are better off when living with a stable economy and a healthy social and ecological environment. Perhaps the most widely studied approach to exploring well-being is the field of subjective well-being. Diener and Scollon (2014) have noted that, in recent years, over 10,000 articles per year have been published on the topic of subjective well-being. This approach looks at people's own perceptions of their well-being. They explore both whether people think that they are doing well (cognitive well-being) and whether they feel good at this point in their life (affective well-being). The various approaches to studying well-being need not be totally distinct. For example, Diener, Kesebir, and Lucas (2008) proposed that measures of subjective well-being be included alongside more traditional economic measures to assess macro-economic health. Consumer researchers are increasingly concerned about well-being. The study of consumer well-being reflects a wide diversity of ways to look at well-being (Mick et al. 2012). Sirgy and Lee (2006) in their study have developed a comprehensive measure of consumer well-being that not only accounts for consumer benefits but also includes the benefits to society at large. Further research on consumer well-being by Sirgy et al. (2008) has validated the relationship between consumer well-being and other constructs such as life satisfaction in a cross-cultural setting. More recently, Devezer et al. (2014) recently looked at consumer well-being within the contexts of consumer overspending, environmentally friendly behaviors, and charitable donations. Although some of this research has focused on subjective well-being (Ahuvia 2002; Ahuvia and Friedman 1998; La Barbera and Giirhan 1997; Silvera, Lavack, and Kropp 2008), this aspect of well-being appears to be underrepresented in the larger context of consumer well-being, especially given how widely it is studied elsewhere. In the current research, we look at whether attitudes toward consumption affect a person's subjective well-being. Studies exist which explore the relationship of subjective well-being and proconsumption attitudes such as materialism and consumer passions. Although somewhat complex, these studies have generally found a negative relationship between proconsumption attitudes and subjective well-being. A recent meta-analysis between materialism and well-being supports this negative relationship (Dittmar et al. 2014). It is interesting to note that Dittmar et al. (2014) found that the relationship differs based on what aspect of well-being is being studied. The largest effects were associated with risky health and consumer behaviors and for negative self-appraisals. …