Evaluation of sustainable happiness with Sustainable Development Goals: Structural equation model approach

Abstract

The concept of sustainable development has become the focal point of modern debates. The purpose of sustainable development is to improve the quality of life of people of the world. It could only be possible to talk about sustainable welfare and happiness for all when and if we achieve sustainable development. In 2015, the United Nations developed the Sustainable Development Goals. In order to ensure the welfare and happiness of countries in the future, it is argued that these objectives should be achieved. In this study, it has been investigated whether the dimensions of sustainable development are effective in explaining the sustainable happiness that provides welfare and life satisfaction. For example, does economic freedom also lead to higher levels of happiness? Do environmental impacts have a direct impact on happiness beyond the effects on human health? Can social sustainability bring satisfaction to happiness in society? In this context, three dimensions of sustainable development were analyzed with respect to sustainable happiness by using the structural equation model. According to the analysis results, it was found that the environmental dimension of sustainable development has a positive correlation with sustainable happiness. Furthermore, another finding was that improvements in social sustainability have a positive effect on sustainable happiness. On the other hand, there were no statistically significant correlations between the economic dimension and sustainable happiness. The results support previous work and emphasize that sustainable development should be taken into account clearly to ensure sustainable happiness.

Quantifying differences in alternative food network supply chain activities and their relationship with socio-economic outcomes

“…With regards to happiness, our regression results seem to suggest more idealistic individuals across the AFNs (cf. Aksoy and Bayram Arli, 2020). Unlike previous research, profitability did not explain an increase in happiness (Blanchflower and Oswald, 1992).…”

“…Even if AFNs are heralded as a way for smaller producers to diversify their income sources and achieve better profit margins (i.e. potential economic outcomes), many are motivated by social factors or outcomes (Bosworth and Willet, 2011;Ilbery and Maye, 2005) such as altruism (Tregear, 2011), cooperation, supporting local economic development, closer geographical and social relations between producers, processors and consumers (Article 2 of Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013 (EU, 2013)), developing sustainable food communities (Berti and Mulligan, 2016) and happiness (Aksoy and Bayram Arli, 2020;Basiago, 1998). Variation in underlying motivations suggests that measuring sustainability (solely) through economic outcomes is problematic (cf.…”

“…For example, previous AFN research highlights the importance SCM activities have on financial performance (Todorovic et al, 2018; EIP-AGRI Focus Group, European Commission 2015), yet ignores outcome measures related to happiness that can mediate performance or reflect the motivations that matter to individuals. This is an important omission because work-related happiness is an important dimension of sustainability (Aksoy and Bayram Arli, 2020) known to contribute positively to performance, health, lower turnover rates and absenteeism (Archor, 2011;Argyle, 1989;Warr, 2011). Moreover, differences in motivations such as the desire to be happy at work may help to explain differences in the structural properties of AFNs that in turn influence economic outcomes.…”

Innovation Ecosystem framework directed to Sustainable Development Goal #17 partnerships implementation

“…There is a growing literature within the SDGs (Dawes, 2020). The SDGs' implementation aims to promote purpose alignments and coherence among governments, civil society, private sector, and other actors (Aksoy & Bayram Arlı, 2020). They mark a shift for the United Nations toward sustainable development, after a long history of trying to integrate economic, social, and environmental issues (Maier et al, 2016;Iqbal & Ahmad, 2020).…”

Toward better measurement of sustainable development and wellbeing: A small number of SDG indicators reliably predict life satisfaction

“…Even if all the SDG indicators were to be easily measured by all countries in the world, they would not provide a good measure of sustainable wellbeing due to omission of some important measures, misspecification of others, and an overall unbalanced distribution of social, environmental, and economic factors (Aksoy & Bayram Arlı, 2020;Costanza, Daly, et al, 2016;Giannetti et al, 2020). For example, although goal 10 is "Reduce Inequality," the indicators associated with this goal do not translate into capturing progress toward reducing inequality, particularly within countries (Winkler & Satterthwaite, 2017).…”