Associations between life satisfaction, time use and exploratory buying behavior - Quantitative exploratory study among Finnish business students

Abstract

Purpose of the study:

This study contributes to the research on life satisfaction, time use and customer behavior by studying the associations between life satisfaction, use of time and exploratory buying behavior. Data used for this study is collected among the business students of Aalto University and consequently an interesting insight on how satisfied students are with their lives is revealed. Furthermore, relations of other variables such as mental health, spending, working while studying or spare time to the main variables and to each other are analyzed. Finally, this study argues for importance of studying life satisfaction and time use further. This could give plenty of useful information to marketers about consumers' behavior.

Methodology:

The data for the study was collected in 2013 using an online questionnaire. A total of 132 responses were obtained and the data was representative of business students of both genders. The data was analyzed with quantitative research methods including correlation analysis and regression analysis.

Findings:

The findings of the study suggest that there is a relationship between life satisfaction and polychronic-monochronic tendency. Exploratory consumer buying behavior did not correlate with life satisfaction or polychronic-monochronic time use. In addition, relations of 14 more variables' to the main variables and to each other were analyzed. The regression models constructed revealed that spending, spare time, age and mental problems explained life satisfaction. Surprisingly, spare time correlated negatively to life satisfaction. Additionally, working while studying had positive relation to life satisfaction. Furthermore, spending and working explained polychronic- monochronic time use, and exploratory buying behavior was explained by gender and spending.