Valuing Less. Investigating Meaning, Intrinsic Motivation and Wellbeing in Sufficiency Behaviour

To enable human living within planetary boundaries is among the biggest challenges of our time. In this context the question emerges how consuming less can go along with subjective wellbeing. Analysing meaning construction of pro-environmental behaviour might offer insights regarding this relationship. Based on the hierarchical model of meaning the current study aimed to investigate meaning construction of behaviours that mitigate resource consumption which we call sufficiency behaviour. Therefore, we analyzed survey data with N = 544 participants. Path-analysis revealed intrinsic motivation for repairing, curtailment and sharing to be related to hedonic wellbeing and behaviour frequency mediated by ascribed behavioural meaning. Intrinsic motivation did partially regress on altruistic and biospheric values. We found no significant relationship between sufficiency behaviour and life satisfaction or presence of meaning in life. We conclude that finding meaning in behaviour is important for behaviour frequency as well as experienced behavioural wellbeing. Choosing alternatives to buying new products seems to be perceived as meaningful when it is intrinsically motivated. Biospheric and altruistic values might constitute sources for the intrinsic motivation to develop. Taken together, these results illustrate how less consumption might positively connect to wellbeing. Future research should explore ways how meaningfulness of sufficiency behaviour can be fostered.