An Empirical Approach to the Study of Well-being Among Rural Men and Women in Ghana

Arku, Frank S.; Filson, Glen C.; Shute, J. C. M.

doi:10.1007/s11205-007-9197-0

Cited by 25 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 19 publications

(27 reference statements)

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“…As established in previous studies (Arku, Filson, & Shute, 2008;Tiliouine, Cummins, & Davern, 2006), the study also affirms the assertion that development even for the rural poor is normally misleadingly presented in terms of meeting economic needs and accumulation of wealth. It is established here, for instance, similar to the developed countries, such as Australia (Cummins, Eckersley, Pallant, van-Vugt, & Misajon, 2003), that despite the limited economic resources the rural poor also value the social aspects of interaction with family and friends.…”

Section: Qol Definitionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Perceptions of the role of ICT on quality of life in rural communities in Uganda

Kivunike

Ekenberg

Danielson

et al. 2011

Information Technology for Development

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The role of information and communication technology (ICT) in enabling various development goals including the millennium development goals and ultimately human development is no longer disputed. Emphasis is now being placed on optimizing ICT benefits on the quality of life (QoL) of people, especially in developing countries. To address this need, this paper reports a study that applied Sen's capability approach to explore how individuals in rural communities in Uganda perceived the importance of ICT toward their QoL and how this perception influenced ICT adoption. It was established that while perception was inclined to social benefits, ICT uptake and use toward improved QoL is still limited. One reasonable conclusion is therefore that state and policymakers should adopt a pluralistic approach to ICT provision: one that does not only focus on availability and affordability, but also considers expanding people's awareness and agency for development benefit. ICT investments otherwise have a high risk of being severely underutilized.

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Section: Qol Definitionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Perceptions of the role of ICT on quality of life in rural communities in Uganda

Kivunike

Ekenberg

Danielson

et al. 2011

Information Technology for Development

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“…Empirical evidence on the effects of relative income/consumption on subjective well-being in poverty-stricken areas however, is mixed (cf. Arku 2008 ; Biswas-Diener and Diener 2001 ; Guillén-Royo 2008 ; Lever 2004 ). Kuegler ( 2009 ) shows that in Venezuela, people who perceive their own income higher as their siblings’ income report higher levels of life satisfaction.…”

Section: Relative and Conspicuous Consumptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fifthly, we control for possible differences in subjective well-being between men and women (Helliwell 2003 ). Gender effects are largely dependent on the specific context (Arku 2008 ). In Scandinavian countries, women are happier compared to men whereas in the former Soviet Union the opposite holds true.…”

Section: Relative and Conspicuous Consumptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Subjective Well-being in Rural India: The Curse of Conspicuous Consumption

2010

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Using data on 697 individuals from 375 rural low income households in India, we test expectations on the effects of relative income and conspicuous consumption on subjective well-being. The results of the multi-level regression analyses show that individuals who spent more on conspicuous consumption report lower levels of subjective well-being. Surprisingly an individual’s relative income position does not affect feelings of well-being. Motivated by positional concerns, people do not passively accept their relative rank but instead consume conspicuous goods to keep up with the Joneses. Conspicuous consumption always comes at the account of the consumption of basic needs. Our analyses point at a positional treadmill effect of the consumption of status goods.

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“…By the 2004 round of the study, however, while race still largely predicted one's QOL, some differentiation was beginning to show (Møller, 2004b). Similarly, there were challenges in comparing results of QOL studies done in other developing countries, as QOL indicators often vary greatly from country to country due to cultural differences (Arku, Filson and Shute, 2008). Fadda and Jirón (1999) argued that gender was another predictor variable that needs to be taken into consideration in QOL research.…”

Section: Predictors Of Quality Of Lifementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Add to that the cultural diversity in the form of ethnicity, religion and language, and one has a 'social laboratory for studying quality of life' (Møller, 2004c, p.1). Scholars therefore often reason that the South African situation provides a unique landscape for QOL research to investigate why, despite major economic and political changes, marginalized groups such as the poor and disabled continue to experience poor QOL (Arku, Filson and Shute, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quality of Life in Post-Apartheid South Africa

Davids¹,

Gaibie

2011

Politikon

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This study investigated how far the post-apartheid government has progressed in creating a better life for all South Africans. Secondary data analysis was employed using the 2008 South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS) of 3321 randomly selected adult respondents. A series of general linear models examined the impact of race, gender, age, geographic location, education level, living standard measure (LSM), satisfaction with basic services, and fear of crime on quality of life (QOL) as measured respectively by subjective well-being indicators, namely happiness, life-satisfaction and optimism. 1 The main findings were that: 1) Those respondents who feared crime less, had higher LSM levels, and were satisfied with basic services reported higher levels of happiness. 2) Those respondents who had a higher LSM, feared crime less, and were more satisfied with the basic services reported higher lifesatisfaction. 3) Those respondents who were black African with lower levels of education, feared crime less, and were most satisfied with basic services displayed the most optimism about the future. We concluded that government interventions need to focus more on black Africans, the least educated, the low LSM group, those living in the urban informal areas, and those who fear crime to significantly improve South Africans' QOL. Introduction and background

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An Empirical Approach to the Study of Well-being Among Rural Men and Women in Ghana

Abstract: Community development, Sustainable livelihood, Rural, Ghana, Economic, Social, Religious, Education,

Cited by 25 publications

References 19 publications

Perceptions of the role of ICT on quality of life in rural communities in Uganda

Perceptions of the role of ICT on quality of life in rural communities in Uganda

Subjective Well-being in Rural India: The Curse of Conspicuous Consumption

Quality of Life in Post-Apartheid South Africa

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