This study empirically tested the reciprocal associations between work-life conflict and subjective wellbeing (life satisfaction, domain satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect) using 21 waves of the Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey. Responses collected from working adults who responded to the work-family questions at least once were selected for the analysis (N ≈ 11,007). The study results demonstrate temporal within-person associations between work-life conflict and subjective wellbeing suggesting a feedback loop: an increased level of work-life conflict is associated with reduced subjective well-being in the following year while the reduced subjective well-being is linked to increased work-life conflict in the year to come. In addition to temporal effects, the results suggest contemporaneous within-person associations: in years when a person experiences higher-than-usual work-life conflict, they simultaneously report lower-than-usual well-being, and vice versa. Furthermore, the results also suggest moderate between-person associations between work-life conflict and subjective well-being. Overall, these findings highlight the immediate and long-term associations between work-life conflict and subjective wellbeing. Policy implications are discussed along with study limitations and suggestions for future research.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the construct of phygital experiences and provide ideas that may spur future research on phygital consumer experiences in relation to consumer well-being using qualitative research methods. Design/methodology/approach - With the increase in consumers' online and offline interactions, there is a greater need for marketers to prompt integrated consumer experiences (i.e. integrated customer experiences through online and offline interactions). The authors developed this essay based on a literature review of phygital experiences and consumer well-being. Findings - This commentary provides suggestions on how to expand the conceptual boundaries of phygital experiences by examining the effects of consumer phygital experiences in relation to consumer need satisfaction, consumer happiness and benefits to the firm. The commentary also includes several methodological suggestions that can guide future qualitative research. Originality/value - The value of this commentary involves insights about research methods stimulated by the current research on consumer well-being.

Reflecting a recent guideline for operationalizing subjective wellbeing (OECD, 2023), this study tested a model that shows how work-life conflict, one of the key dimensions that detracts from wellbeing outcomes. It does so through a mediating mechanism involving domain satisfaction (i.e., family and work wellbeing), subjective wellbeing, and eudaimonic wellbeing. Specifically, we theorize that work-life conflict detracts from both family and work wellbeing, which in turn decreases subjective wellbeing. In turn, decreases in subjective wellbeing serve to decrease eudaimonic wellbeing. We also argue that work-life conflict has direct adverse effects on both subjective wellbeing and eudaimonic wellbeing. Data collected from the 2016 European Quality of Life Survey were used to test the model; the sample included 18,137 respondents from 33 European countries. The results from multi-level modeling were supportive of our hypotheses. Policy implications were discussed, along with study limitations and suggestions for future research.

This study develops and tests a model of subjective indicators of national wellbeing that can be applied across countries worldwide. Using data from over 160,000 respondents in 137 countries from the 2019 Gallup World Poll, we examine how citizens’ satisfaction with national institutions and various environments (physical, political, economic, and social) affects their subjective wellbeing. Based on bottom-up spillover theory, we hypothesize that satisfaction with concrete country conditions affects overall life satisfaction and affective wellbeing. Results from Bayesian multilevel modeling support our hypotheses and show significant positive relationships between citizens’ satisfaction with national institutions, political, economic, and social environments and their subjective well-being. Satisfaction with the physical environment showed no significant effect in the full model but was significant when analyzed separately. This research provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the factors that influence national wellbeing in different global contexts and offers fresh insights for policymakers and researchers in assessing and improving quality of life at the national level.

We report on a study that examines the effects of type of leisure passion (harmonious vs. obsessive passion) on leisure engagement diversity, which in turn contributes to leisure wellbeing. This study also tests whether the relationship between engagement diversity and leisure wellbeing is moderated by participants’ age. Our study involved a survey of leisure sport participants in Korea (n = 501), and the results indicate that harmonious passion increases diversity in leisure engagement, which enhances wellbeing, especially for the young. This study also demonstrated that obsessive passion decreases diversity in leisure engagement which, in turn, decreases leisure wellbeing, especially for the young. Decreased diversity did not have a significant negative impact on leisure wellbeing for the old. The study findings also indicate that satisfaction in other life domains (family, job, and health) spills over unto leisure life to influence leisure wellbeing, as predicted. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

The purpose of this study is to empirically test Sirgy, Uysal, & Kruger’s (2017) benefits theory of leisure wellbeing in the March 2017 issue of the Applied Research in Quality of Life . The theoretical model posits that leisure activities contribute to leisure wellbeing by satisfying a set of basic needs (benefits related to safety, health, economic, sensory, escape, and sensation) and growth needs (symbolic, aesthetic, moral, mastery, relatedness, and distinctiveness), moderated by corresponding personality variables (safety consciousness, health conscious, price sensitivity, hedonism, escapism, sensation seeking, status consciousness, aestheticism, moral sensitivity, mastery seeking, extroversion, and need for distinction, respectively). The model was tested using data collected in South Korea using a sample of 502 adult leisure activity participants. The study results supported the theoretical notion that leisure activities contribute to leisure wellbeing through perceived benefits pertaining to safety, health, economic, sensory, escape, and sensation (benefits related to basic needs) as well as perceived benefits pertaining to symbolic, aesthetic, moral, mastery, relatedness, and distinctiveness (benefits related to growth needs). The results also indicate that personality variables influence the perception of leisure benefits, which in turn has a direct effect on leisure wellbeing. In other words, the results largely support the mediation, not moderation, effects of personality variables on leisure wellbeing. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

In this introductory chapter we address the research that identifies three stakeholder groups most relevant to QoL-tourism scholars: tourists, residents of destination places, and employees of tourism firms. We then discuss the growth of tourism as an academic discipline as well as the growth of research in tourism and QoL. We explore the drivers underlying these trends. The research on both the positive and negative impact of tourism development is briefly reviewed, followed by a discussion of indicators capturing this impact. We make the distinction between process and outcome indicators in terms of tourism impact. Studies involving subjective indicators of QoL are also discussed in the context of tourism’s impact on the QoL of tourists and destination residents. We turn our attention to the research on tourism, QoL, and sustainability issues. The current handbook is then compared and contrasted to other popular books related to QoL in tourism, leading to a description of the handbook chapters and its authors.

This chapter constitutes the epilogue of the handbook. The chapter is designed to place much of the content of the handbook into four categories, namely quality of life (QOL) research in relation to tourists, host communities, hospitality and tourism providers, and information and communication technologies. We then developed a theoretical framework for each category and discussed the handbook chapters to provide the reader with a better appreciation of the “big picture” related to tourism and QOL. Within each framework, we discussed the research in this handbook, its preceding 2012 volume, and concomitant research in terms of independent and dependent variables, as well as moderators and mediators. We also discussed emerging trends in tourism and QOL: smart growth, positive tourism, and cross-cultural research. We concluded by advancing new ideas to spur future research.

Based on the recently published Springer book with the same title, the talk will involve a discussion by renowned well-being experts on the impact the pandemic has had on the health, safety, and socioeconomic well-being of communities around the world. The panelists will look at how community well-being has been impacted by the most significant crises of our time, the COVID-19 pandemic. Key takeaways from the discussion will be: lessons learned from the experiences in these countries and recommendations on mitigating the impact of future pandemics on the well-being of communities.

This chapter offers a systemic exploration of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The authors focus on key catalytic institutions responsible for community well-being. These institutions and their stakeholders were vulnerable to major shocks. Their responses to the crisis were greatly affected by a politically polarized population, a significant portion of which had lost trust in the government and its institutions. We explore how a weakened public health system, the federalist structure of the nation, a politicized citizenry, and a president who failed to lead in a national crisis with a coordinated response left communities throughout the United States, one of the most advanced countries in the world, to suffer one of the highest infection rates. We examine Operation Warp Speed (OWS), the successful development of three successful COVID-19 vaccines, and challenges associated with vaccine distribution and vaccination acceptance and administration, including the impact of the political environment and misinformation that created a distrustful and vaccine-hesitant segment of the population, which in turn fueled a national surge of the deadly virus. The authors conclude with lessons learned and implications for policy and future research.

The balanced life is a state of equally moderate-to-high levels of satisfaction in important and multiple life domains that contribute to overall life satisfaction. This book strives to improve the reader's understanding of what the balanced life is, and how it can be both achieved and maintained. Its primary goal is therefore to identify the major principles of life balance, and to introduce a comprehensive construct of the balanced life reflective of these principles. It discusses how life balance substantially contributes to subjective well-being – defined as life satisfaction, a preponderance of positive over negative feelings, and absence of ill-being – and explores strategies to attain life balance. It argues that achieving life balance, through manipulating one's thoughts and taking concrete action, will lead to increased personal happiness. Aimed at professional, academic, and lay audiences, this book is grounded in scientific studies related to work-life balance and the balanced life.

This book is the seventh volume in a series covering best practices in community quality of life indicators. The case studies and analysis in this volume demonstrate how community indicators projects

This chapter discusses effective interventions to mitigate and moderate the ill-being effects of COVID-19 based on lessons learned from 28 countries, representing all continents affected by the pandemic. First, we focus on effective interventions in mitigating the spread of COVID-19. Second, we focus on additional health externalities and identified factors moderating effectiveness of interventions. Third, we then identify and discuss effective interventions in mitigating the adverse economic and social impact of the virus. Finally, we conclude with some thoughts regarding the Shultz, Rahtz, and Sirgy framework and its evolution. In doing so, we emphasize the imperative of constructive engagement by catalytic institutions in response to crisis and in ways that facilitate coordinated and cooperative initiatives to mitigate the distresses of pandemic, and potentially other crises. We contend that engaging constructively should fundamentally ensure that well-being is enhanced for as many stakeholders as possible, so that people, countries, and local and global communities can flourish.

After reading this chapter, the student should be able to answer the following questions:

There are varied conceptualizations of happiness, subjective wellbeing, and positive mental health based on need satisfaction concepts. In this chapter, I describe these conceptualizations in terms of needs for having, loving, and being; needs for being, belonging, and becoming; physical, social, and self-actualization needs; needs for subsistence, protection, affection, understanding, participation, idleness, creation, identity, and freedom; the need for self-determination (competence, autonomy, and relatedness); the needs for a pleasant life, an engaged life, and a meaningful life; The PERMA model; the human need to flourish; and the need for a purposeful life.

This commentary updates much of the research related to the various constructs and metrics of consumer well-being. Specifically, I review the research to date concerning several conceptualizations and metrics of consumer well-being from both public and academic sectors. Public sector metrics include Cost of Living, Total Consumption Expenditure, Consumer Complaint, and Quality. Selected contributions to consumer well-being metrics from the academic sector include Shopping Satisfaction, Shopping Well-Being, Possession Satisfaction, Acquisition/Possession Satisfaction, Consumption Life Cycle, Community, Need Satisfaction, Perceived Value in Life, and Bottom-up Spillover. I then provide some thoughts about how these metrics can be improved and ideas that may spur future research. In doing so, I address issues related to construct validity to public sector metrics by demonstrating association with human development measures. Metrics from the academic sector can also be improved by testing association with newly established constructs of well-being (e.g., eudaimonia, social well-being) and introducing moderating effects of individual differences (e.g., consumer involvement, consumer lifestyle) as well as product-related differences (e.g., experiential versus material consumption; marketplace activities related to luxury versus nonluxury goods and services; and products beneficial to society versus “sin” products).

This chapter focuses on the research on wellbeing related to children and youth. Several definitions of these subjective aspects of quality of life are discussed in relation to children of pre-school age, elementary school age, middle-school age, adolescents, and college students. There are at least three major theories employed by wellbeing researchers to explain how these different population groups experience a sense of wellbeing. These include social development theory, attachment theory, and ecological theory. The chapter also highlights factors affecting the sense of wellbeing of these population groups—situational factors, personality factors, demographic and psychographic factors, and socio-economic and socio-cultural factors. The chapter concludes with a discussion of indicators of children wellbeing and public policy implications.