Money and subjective well-being: It's not the money, it's the motives.

Abstract

Past researchers have argued that the relative importance a person attaches to money is negatively related to subjective well-being (SWB). However, the past research suffers from the theoretical problem of not including the diferent motives for making money. With a sample of 240 business students, the authors developed a set of scales to measure motives for making money. They used a sample of 492 business students to confirm the factor structure of these motives. With another sample of 266 business students, the authors found that the negative relationship between money importance and SWB was due to the two variables being the result of a common cause; namely, the motives of social comparison. seeking power, showing off, and overcoming self-doubt. This finding was replicated with a sample of 145 entrepreneurs.

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   Vansteenkiste, Maarten, Simons, Joke, Lens, Willy, Sheldon, Kennon M., Deci, Edward L. · 2004 · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
3. Will Money Increase Subjective Well-Being?
   Diener, Ed, Biswas-Diener, Robert · 2002 · Social Indicators Research
4. Normative, Gain and Hedonic Goal Frames Guiding Environmental Behavior
   Lindenberg, Siegwart, Steg, Linda · 2007 · Journal of Social Issues
5. Intrinsic Versus Extrinsic Goal Contents in Self-Determination Theory: Another Look at the Quality of Academic Motivation
   Vansteenkiste, Maarten, Lens, Willy, Deci, Edward L. · 2006 · Educational Psychologist

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