Time wealth: Measurement, drivers and consequences

Abstract

Wealth in time is thought to be instrumental for being more satisfied with one´s life while at the same time allowing time for sustainable consumption behavior. As a lack of theory-based measurement instruments has impeded thorough testing of those hypotheses, the current paper offers both a comprehensive definition and measurement. Reviewing the versatile debate on time wealth as an alternative concept for human welfare, a holistic definition of time wealth is suggested, with sufficient time as the foundation of four more dimensions: unhurried pace, plannability, sovereignty and synchronization. To add empiric evidence on drivers and consequences of such time wealth, we propose a new 12-item short scale, tested and validated in a representative study from February 2020 (n = 2015) in Germany. Main drivers of sufficient time turned out to be the mismatch between desired and actual working time, care obligations and daily temporal routines according to one´s chronotype. Further, negative relationships between time efficient practices and subjectively experienced time wealth were detected for multitasking and filling pauses, while speeding up activities in general seem to increase time wealth. With regards to the predictive validity of time wealth dimensions for sustainable consumption and life satisfaction, mainly unhurried pace and synchronization play a positive role, while plannability is negatively related. The measurement instrument is proposed for diverse research questions about general time wealth in everyday life.

Keywords

• Time wealth
• Measurement
• SEM
• Subjective time-rebound effect
• Time efficient practices
• Sustainable consumption