How Green Self Image Affects Subjective Well-Being: Pro-Environmental Values as a Social Norm

Arbeitspapier

Recent literature has found that individuals holding a greener self-image display higher levels of life satisfaction. We extend the single-country setting of that research to a transnational perspective and explore whether a relationship exists between green self-image (GSI) and life satisfaction (LS), both European-wide and at the national level. In order to explain differences in the GSI-LS relationship across nations and time, we study the role of pro-environmental values as a shared social norm. We find a significantly positive GSI-LS relationship in a pool of 35 European countries and in the majority of individual countries. In addition, we show that the well-being benefit of holding a green self-image is greater in societies that are less divided with respect to environmental attitudes, that is, where being green is a shared social norm.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Oldenburg Discussion Papers in Economics ; No. V-404-17

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; General Welfare; Well-Being ; Environmental Economics: General ; Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification
• Subject: green self-image ; subjective well-being ; life satisfaction ; social norm ; social division

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Welsch, Heinz ; Kühling, Jan
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): University of Oldenburg, Department of Economics
• (where): Oldenburg
• (when): 2017

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/171170
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET