Time or money

: do working time mismatch, income, and materialism interact to affect Subjective well-being?

Abstract

Personal preferences, and the degree to which they are met, can have strong effects on one’s well-being. To further develop the scientific literature in this field the current study examined the relationships of the variables working time mismatch, income, and materialism with subjective well-being and gave insights into the way in which working time mismatch interacts with income and materialism in predicting subjective well-being. For a sample of 240 European employees from the third industrial sector, most of them from Germany, a multiple regression model revealed significant negative effects of working time mismatch on both life satisfaction and emotional well-being, where as materialism was only negatively associated with life satisfaction. Income positively predicted life satisfaction but did not have a significant relationship with emotional well-being either. Additionally, moderation analyses showed no significant interactions between working time mismatch and materialism nor income. However, probing of the interaction showed a conspicuous pattern in the relationship between working time mismatch, income, and emotional well-being, which indicates a potential relationship between the variables and requires further research. The findings can be used to aid in individual, organizational, and political decision-making to improve personal and social well-being.

Date of Award	9 Nov 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Leonor Almeida (Supervisor)