IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jjrfmx/v14y2021i10p459-d644417.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Road from Money to Happiness

Author

Listed:
  • Gabriela Mihaela Mureșan

    (Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Babeş-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, 400591 Cluj-Napoca, Romania)

  • Melinda Timea Fülöp

    (Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Babeş-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, 400591 Cluj-Napoca, Romania)

  • Cristina Ciumaș

    (Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Babeş-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, 400591 Cluj-Napoca, Romania)

Abstract

Nowadays, companies must be concerned with the levels of satisfaction and happiness of employees. Hence, this paper proposes to investigate the links between salary and happiness through an exploratory study with a quasi-experimental design. The sample included 376 respondents, and we employed structured equation modeling (SEM) in ADANCO. Prior to evaluating the structural model, the goodness of fit shows moderate/excellent values. Our empirical results show a positive relationship between salary and happiness, salary and life satisfaction, salary and financial satisfaction, financial satisfaction and life satisfaction, and financial satisfaction and happiness. Thus, we consider that our research contributes to the literature by analyzing the relationship between income and happiness in a developing country such as Romania. Congruent with previous findings, we consider that our results provide evidence of the road from salary to happiness in developing countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Gabriela Mihaela Mureșan & Melinda Timea Fülöp & Cristina Ciumaș, 2021. "The Road from Money to Happiness," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-13, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:14:y:2021:i:10:p:459-:d:644417
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/14/10/459/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/14/10/459/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Betsey Stevenson & Justin Wolfers, 2013. "Subjective Well-Being and Income: Is There Any Evidence of Satiation?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(3), pages 598-604, May.
    2. Azwadi Ali & Mohd Rahman & Alif Bakar, 2015. "Financial Satisfaction and the Influence of Financial Literacy in Malaysia," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 120(1), pages 137-156, January.
    3. Bruno S. Frey & Alois Stutzer, 2002. "What Can Economists Learn from Happiness Research?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(2), pages 402-435, June.
    4. Easterlin, Richard A. & O’Connor, Kelsey J., 2020. "The Easterlin Paradox," GLO Discussion Paper Series 743, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    5. Esther Maddux, 2002. "A Behavioral Model to Optimize Financial Quality of Life," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 60(1), pages 155-177, December.
    6. van Praag, Bernard M. S., 2004. "The Connexion between Old and New Approaches to Financial Satisfaction," IZA Discussion Papers 1162, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Sonja Lyubomirsky & Heidi Lepper, 1999. "A Measure of Subjective Happiness: Preliminary Reliability and Construct Validation," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 46(2), pages 137-155, February.
    8. Van Praag, Bernard, 1971. "The welfare function of income in Belgium: An empirical investigation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 337-369.
    9. Esperanza Vera-Toscano & Victoria Ateca-Amestoy & Rafael Serrano-Del-Rosal, 2006. "Building Financial Satisfaction," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 77(2), pages 211-243, June.
    10. Peggy Schyns, 2001. "Income and Satisfaction in Russia," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 2(2), pages 173-204, June.
    11. KNIGHT, John & SONG, Lina & GUNATILAKA, Ramani, 2009. "Subjective well-being and its determinants in rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 635-649, December.
    12. Adam Okulicz-Kozaryn & Lonnie Golden, 2018. "Happiness is Flextime," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 13(2), pages 355-369, June.
    13. Guy Mayraz & Jürgen Schupp & Gert G. Wagner, 2009. "Life Satisfaction and Relative Income: Perceptions and Evidence," CEP Discussion Papers dp0938, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    14. Ruut Veenhoven, 1991. "Is happiness relative?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 1-34, February.
    15. Mansi Jain & Gagan Deep Sharma & Mandeep Mahendru, 2019. "Can I Sustain My Happiness? A Review, Critique and Research Agenda for Economics of Happiness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-36, November.
    16. Paul Frijters & John P. Haisken-DeNew & Michael A. Shields, 2004. "Money Does Matter! Evidence from Increasing Real Income and Life Satisfaction in East Germany Following Reunification," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(3), pages 730-740, June.
    17. Easterlin, Richard A., 1974. "Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot? Some Empirical Evidence," MPRA Paper 111773, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Ed Diener & Shigehiro Oishi & Louis Tay, 2018. "Advances in subjective well-being research," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 2(4), pages 253-260, April.
    19. Sondra G. Beverly & Marianne A. Hilgert & Jeanne M. Hogarth, 2003. "Household financial management: the connection between knowledge and behavior," Federal Reserve Bulletin, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), issue Jul, pages 309-322.
    20. Jing Xiao & Chuanyi Tang & Soyeon Shim, 2009. "Acting for Happiness: Financial Behavior and Life Satisfaction of College Students," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 92(1), pages 53-68, May.
    21. Michael Hagerty & Ruut Veenhoven, 2003. "Wealth and Happiness Revisited – Growing National Income Does Go with Greater Happiness," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 64(1), pages 1-27, October.
    22. Chang-ming Hsieh, 2004. "Income and Financial Satisfaction among Older Adults in the United States," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 66(3), pages 249-266, May.
    23. Colin Martin, 2004. "Science in culture," Nature, Nature, vol. 431(7007), pages 401-401, September.
    24. Agus Zainul Arifin, 2018. "Influence Factors toward Financial Satisfaction with Financial Behavior as Intervening Variable on Jakarta Area Workforce," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(1), pages 90-103.
    25. Clay M. Voorhees & Michael K. Brady & Roger Calantone & Edward Ramirez, 2016. "Discriminant validity testing in marketing: an analysis, causes for concern, and proposed remedies," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 119-134, January.
    26. Anonymous, 2009. "Abstract of the discussion," British Actuarial Journal, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(1), pages 202-217, March.
    27. Andrew T. Jebb & Louis Tay & Ed Diener & Shigehiro Oishi, 2018. "Happiness, income satiation and turning points around the world," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 2(1), pages 33-38, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Vuk Mirčetić & Tatjana Ivanović & Snežana Knežević & Vesna Bogojević Arsić & Tijana Obradović & Darjan Karabašević & Svetlana Vukotić & Tomislav Brzaković & Miljan Adamović & Stefan Milojević & Marko , 2022. "The Innovative Human Resource Management Framework: Impact of Green Competencies on Organisational Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-19, February.
    2. Mi-Aie Lee & So-Hee Lim, 2023. "Effects of External Employment Opportunities, Nursing Professionalism, and Nursing Work Environments on Korean Hospital Nurses’ Intent to Stay or Leave," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-12, February.
    3. Lavinia Denisia Cuc & Andrea Feher & Paul Nichita Cuc & Silviu Gabriel Szentesi & Dana Rad & Gavril Rad & Mioara Florina Pantea & Cosmin Silviu Raul Joldes, 2022. "A Parallel Mediation Analysis on the Effects of Pandemic Accentuated Occupational Stress on Hospitality Industry Staff Turnover Intentions in COVID-19 Context," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-20, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Abel Brodeur & Sarah Flèche, 2019. "Neighbors' Income, Public Goods, and Well‐Being," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 65(2), pages 217-238, June.
    2. Fengyu Wu, 2020. "An Examination of the Effects of Consumption Expenditures on Life Satisfaction in Australia," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(8), pages 2735-2771, December.
    3. Yuta J. Masuda & Jason R. Williams & Heather Tallis, 2021. "Does Life Satisfaction Vary with Time and Income? Investigating the Relationship Among Free Time, Income, and Life Satisfaction," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(5), pages 2051-2073, June.
    4. M. Joseph Sirgy, 2018. "The Psychology of Material Well-Being," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 13(2), pages 273-301, June.
    5. Senik, Claudia, 2009. "Direct evidence on income comparisons and their welfare effects," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 408-424, October.
    6. Dajana Barbić & Irena Palić, 2023. "Rich student, happy student: The case study of Croatia," EFZG Working Papers Series 2305, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb.
    7. Jing Xiao & Cheng Chen & Fuzhong Chen, 2014. "Consumer Financial Capability and Financial Satisfaction," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 118(1), pages 415-432, August.
    8. Voerman-Tam, Diana & Grimes, Arthur & Watson, Nicholas, 2023. "The economics of free speech: Subjective wellbeing and empowerment of marginalized citizens," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 260-274.
    9. J. Bonke & M. Deding & M. Lausten, 2006. "Time and Money: Substitutes in Real Terms and Complements in Satisfactions," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_451, Levy Economics Institute.
    10. Andrew E. Clark & Paul Frijters & Michael A. Shields, 2006. "Income and happiness: Evidence, explanations and economic implications," PSE Working Papers halshs-00590436, HAL.
    11. Tinghui Li & Junhao Zhong & Mark Xu, 2019. "Does the Credit Cycle Have an Impact on Happiness?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-19, December.
    12. Jens Bonke & Mette Deding & Mette Lausten, 2009. "Time and Money," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 10(2), pages 113-131, April.
    13. Susanne Elsas, 2021. "Causality in the Link between Income and Satisfaction: IV Estimation with Internal Instruments," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1143, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    14. McBride, Michael, 2010. "Money, happiness, and aspirations: An experimental study," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 74(3), pages 262-276, June.
    15. Jing Xiao & Chuanyi Tang & Soyeon Shim, 2009. "Acting for Happiness: Financial Behavior and Life Satisfaction of College Students," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 92(1), pages 53-68, May.
    16. Castro, Damaris & Bleys, Brent, 2023. "Do people think they have enough? A subjective income sufficiency assessment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    17. Drakopoulos, Stavros, 2011. "Hierarchical Needs, Income Comparisons and Happiness Levels," MPRA Paper 48343, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Caporale, Guglielmo Maria & Georgellis, Yannis & Tsitsianis, Nicholas & Yin, Ya Ping, 2009. "Income and happiness across Europe: Do reference values matter?," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 42-51, February.
    19. Zhang, Yinjunjie & Xu, Zhicheng Phil & Palma, Marco A., 2017. "Misclassification Errors of Subjective Well-being: A New Approach to Mapping Happiness," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258553, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    20. Stavros Drakopoulos, 2008. "The paradox of happiness: towards an alternative explanation," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 9(2), pages 303-315, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    happiness; money; satisfaction; SEM;
    All these keywords.

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:14:y:2021:i:10:p:459-:d:644417. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.