Which Factors are Related to Voluntary Simplicity Lifestyle? Green Values,
Materialistic Values or Anything Else?
Presentation by:Hakan KIRACI
Dumlupinar University, Turkey
““Social Business Conference" Social Business Conference"
Eskisehir, Turkey Eskisehir, Turkey
June 11-13, 2015. June 11-13, 2015.
The concept of voluntary simplicity (VS)
respresents voluntarily limiting using all kinds of resources and adoption of a nonmaterialistic lifestyle
Sides of Sides of
Voluntary Simplicity Voluntary Simplicity BehaviorsBehaviors
Limiting the use natural resources
Freely choosing the eco-friendly consumption
Paying spiritual well-being importance
Carrying capacity of nature
Very important movement in terms of the future of our World
Overconsumption
Dominant Consumer Culture
hyperconsumption
Environmental degradation
Injustice income distribution
We need We need solutionssolutionsVoluntary Voluntary
SimplicitySimplicity
Voluntary Voluntary SimplicitySimplicity
Values
Demographic factors
Buying behaviors
Environmental involvement
Paying spiritual well-being importance
Environmental attitudes
Life-style
Religious beliefs
ExamplesExamples
• Prefering organic and local products • Repairing instead of buying a new one• Walking or riding a bike instead of getting on
the bus or driving a car• Hiring or sharing the products instead of
buying them• Prefer using his mobile phone for 3-5 years
rather than renew it annually or biennially
METHOD
The main aim of the study is
• to analyse the relationship between specific factors and the frequency of voluntary simplicity behaviors
Hypotheses of the study
VSVS
Green Values
Frugality
Materialistic Values
Impulse Buying
Obsessive Buying
H1
H2
H3
H4
H5
• Population: Class Teachers working in Tekirdağ, Turkey
• Sample: 463 Class Teachers• Data collection method: Questionnaire• Used a 5 point scale• Analyse Pearson Correlation
Scales of the study are
• Voluntary simplicity behaviors (Leonard-Barton, 1981; Huneke, 2005; Iwata, 2006)
• Materialistic values (Rishins, 1987)
• Frugality tendency (Lastovicka et al.,1999)
• Compulsive buying behaviors (Ridgway et al., 2008)
• Green values (Haws et al., 2014)
FINDINGSFINDINGS
Sample Characteristics
• 58.5% of respondents were female, 41.5% were male,
• 70.7% were in 26-45 age-group• 75.6% had monthly income between
2001-5000 Turkish Liras• The most crowded group was the group
of 2001-3000 TL with 146 respondents (31.5%)
No Practices Mean Response1 I Make gifts instead of buying 2,312 I ride a bicycle for exercise or recreation 2,363 I recycle newspapers used at home 3,724 I recycle glass, jars or bottles used at home 3,845 I have gotten instruction in skills to increase self-reliance, for example, in carpentry, car tune-up and
repair, or plumbing2,97
6 I buy furniture at a second-hand store 1,707 I make furniture or clothing for the family 2,118 I contribute to ecologically-oriented organizations (such as Greenpeace, TEMA, etc.) 2,68
9 I grow the vegetables the family consumes during the summer season 2,5810 I do not impulse buying 3,5911 When I shop, I decide to do so after serious consideration of whether an article is necessary to me or
not3,92
12 I am more concerned with mental growth and fulfillment than with material affluence 3,93
13 Except for travelling, I enjoy my leisure time without spending too much Money 3,49
14 Material affluence is very important to me (-) 3,4715 I prefer products with simple functions to those with complex functions 3,7316 I am the type of person who continues using something old as long as it can be still be used 3,75
17 I try to use articles which I bought as long as possible 4,1418 If I am surrounded by what I have bought, I feel fortunate 3,3119 I want to buy something new shortly after it comes out, even if I have a similar thing already (-) 3,88
20 I want to live simply rather than extravagantly 3,9321 Since a simple life is miserable, I do not want to live such a life (-) 3,8122 I limit to exposure to ads 3,1723 I buy from socially responsible producers 3,7924 I buy from local merchants 3,5925 I limit or eliminate to watch TV 3,1626 I maintain a spiritual life 3,6427 I buy organic foods 3,58All Practices
3,343,34
Mean Response Regarding The Scales of The Study
Scales Mean ResponseGreen Values 3,96Frugality Tendecy 3,73Impulse Buying 2,17Obsessive Buying 2,00Personal Materialism 3,22Voluntary Simplicity 3,34
Self-determinationSelf-determination 3,823,82
Self-sufficiencySelf-sufficiency 2,112,11
RecyclingRecycling 3,783,78
Ecological awarenessEcological awareness 3,653,65
Limit to TV/AdsLimit to TV/Ads 3,163,16Cronbach Alpha Values >.70
Analysing Pearson Correlation
Voluntary simplicity behaviors
VSVS
Green Values 0,557 **Frugality 0,466 **Personal materialism -0,143 **Impulse buying -0,385 **Obsessive buying -0,277 **
* * p<0,05
Five Subtypes of VSVS1VS1 VS2VS2 VS3VS3 VS4VS4 VS5VS5
Green Values 0,474 0,147 0,419 0,4900,490 0,168
Frugality 0,4870,487 ---- 0,323 0,300 0,144
Personal materialism -0,197 ---- ---- ---- ----
Impulse buying -0,514-0,514 ---- -0,234 -0,210 ----
Obsessive buying -0,474-0,474 -0,131 -0,194 ---- ----
p<0,05
Black cells: p>0,05
VS1: Self-determinationVS2: Self-sufficiencyVS3: RecyclingVS4: Ecological awarenessVS5: Limit to TV / Ads
CONCLUSIONCONCLUSION
• A great number of study shows the importance of VS behavior for future of the World
• The results of this research exposed that it required to be strive to increase the frequency of some of VS behaviors such as “buying second-hand products” and making gift or clothing.
• Green values and tendecy of frugality were positively related to VS behavior
• Personal materialistic values, impulse buying behavior and obsessive buying behavior were negatively related to VS
• Green values are related to all subtypes of VS behaviors
• Personal materialistic values are negatively related to only «self-determination»
• Green values are the most important factor in variables of model of the study
CONCLUSION (2)CONCLUSION (2)
ReccommendationsReccommendations
• This study can be detailed and covered with huge and different segments of society and proved its findings.
• At the same time, VS behavior can be analyzed within the different perspectives such as economic, ecologic, social and psychologic dimensions.
• We did not explored all kind of value, belief and other factors that may affect VS. In our study, VS was studied by measuring frequency of behaviors.
• More research is needed to confirm the findings and results of present study.
Thank you