Consequences of Materialism and Temporal Orientation: Altruism, Environmentalism and Happiness

Sammanfattning: The aim of the study was to explore how much materialism and temporal orientation influence how altruistic, ecologically conscious and happy individuals are. The current study builds upon and furthers research previously done by Kasser and colleagues  (1993; 1996), Self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985) and construal level theory (Trope & Liberman, 2010). At a medium-sized university in southern Sweden, 173 students were asked to participate in the study. A questionnaire, based on previous measurements, was used to collect self-report data. Analysis of a correlation matrix showed that materialism did not significantly relate to altruism or pro-ecological behavior. Materialism did however significantly relate to happiness. Temporal orientation did not significantly relate to altruism or happiness. Temporal orientation did however relate to a facet of environmentalism, pro-ecological concern. Multiple regressin analyses was conducted to test predictions. Temporal orientation and materialism together did not significantly predict any of the dependent variables. The results are likely influenced by cultural aspects, due to Sweden being fairly different from other western nations regarding social and economic policies. The practical implications of this study are that corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been found to be related to both materialism and temporal orientation and hence it should be taken into account in CSR practices in organizations