Social Business Conference Eskisehir Turkey June 11 -13

“Social Business Conference" Eskisehir, Turkey June 11 -13, 2015. Which Factors are Related to Voluntary Simplicity Lifestyle? Green Values, Materialistic Values or Anything Else? Presentation by: Hakan KIRACI Dumlupinar University, Turkey

The concept of voluntary simplicity (VS) respresents voluntarily limiting using all kinds of resources and adoption of a nonmaterialistic lifestyle

Sides of Voluntary Simplicity Behaviors Limiting the use natural resources Paying spiritual wellbeing importance Freely choosing the eco-friendly consumption

Very important movement in terms of the future of our World hyperconsumption Overconsumption Injustice income distribution We need solutions Voluntary Simplicity Environmental degradation Dominant Consumer Culture Carrying capacity of nature

Values Buying behaviors Paying spiritual wellbeing importance Life-style Voluntary Simplicity Environmental involvement Environmental attitudes Demographic factors Religious beliefs

Examples • Prefering organic and local products • Repairing instead of buying a new one • Walking or riding a bike instead of getting on the bus or driving a car • Hiring or sharing the products instead of buying them • Prefer using his mobile phone for 3 -5 years rather than renew it annually or biennially

METHOD

The main aim of the study is • to analyse the relationship between specific factors and the frequency of voluntary simplicity behaviors

Hypotheses of the study Obsessive Buying Green Values H 1 Frugality H 2 H 5 VS H 3 Materialistic Values H 4 Impulse Buying

• Population: Class Teachers working in Tekirdağ, Turkey • Sample: 463 Class Teachers • Data collection method: Questionnaire • Used a 5 point scale • Analyse Pearson Correlation

Scales of the study are • Voluntary simplicity behaviors (Leonard. Barton, 1981; Huneke, 2005; Iwata, 2006) • Materialistic values (Rishins, 1987) • Frugality tendency (Lastovicka et al. , 1999) • Compulsive buying behaviors (Ridgway et al. , 2008) • Green values (Haws et al. , 2014)

FINDINGS

Sample Characteristics • 58. 5% of respondents were female, 41. 5% were male, • 70. 7% were in 26 -45 age-group • 75. 6% had monthly income between 2001 -5000 Turkish Liras • The most crowded group was the group of 2001 -3000 TL with 146 respondents (31. 5%)

No 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Practices Mean Response I Make gifts instead of buying 2, 31 I ride a bicycle for exercise or recreation 2, 36 I recycle newspapers used at home 3, 72 I recycle glass, jars or bottles used at home 3, 84 I have gotten instruction in skills to increase self-reliance, for example, in carpentry, car tune-up and 2, 97 repair, or plumbing I buy furniture at a second-hand store 1, 70 I make furniture or clothing for the family 2, 11 I contribute to ecologically-oriented organizations (such as Greenpeace, TEMA, etc. ) 2, 68 2, 58 3, 59 3, 92 12 I grow the vegetables the family consumes during the summer season I do not impulse buying When I shop, I decide to do so after serious consideration of whether an article is necessary to me or not I am more concerned with mental growth and fulfillment than with material affluence 13 Except for travelling, I enjoy my leisure time without spending too much Money 3, 49 14 15 16 Material affluence is very important to me (-) I prefer products with simple functions to those with complex functions I am the type of person who continues using something old as long as it can be still be used 3, 47 3, 73 3, 75 17 18 19 I try to use articles which I bought as long as possible If I am surrounded by what I have bought, I feel fortunate I want to buy something new shortly after it comes out, even if I have a similar thing already (-) 4, 14 3, 31 3, 88 20 I want to live simply rather than extravagantly 21 Since a simple life is miserable, I do not want to live such a life (-) 22 I limit to exposure to ads 23 I buy from socially responsible producers 24 I buy from local merchants 25 I limit or eliminate to watch TV 26 I maintain a spiritual life 27 I buy organic foods All Practices 3, 93 3, 81 3, 17 3, 79 3, 59 3, 16 3, 64 3, 58

Mean Response Regarding The Scales of The Study Scales Mean Response Green Values 3, 96 Frugality Tendecy 3, 73 Impulse Buying 2, 17 Obsessive Buying 2, 00 Personal Materialism 3, 22 Voluntary Simplicity 3, 34 Self-determination 3, 82 Self-sufficiency 2, 11 Recycling 3, 78 Ecological awareness 3, 65 Limit to TV/Ads 3, 16 Cronbach Alpha Values >. 70

Analysing Pearson Correlation

Voluntary simplicity behaviors VS Green Values 0, 557 * Frugality 0, 466 * Personal materialism -0, 143 * Impulse buying -0, 385 * Obsessive buying -0, 277 * * p<0, 05

Five Subtypes of VS VS 1 VS 2 VS 3 VS 4 VS 5 Green Values 0, 474 0, 147 0, 419 0, 490 0, 168 Frugality 0, 487 ---- 0, 323 0, 300 0, 144 Personal materialism -0, 197 ---- Impulse buying -0, 514 ---- -0, 234 -0, 210 ---- Obsessive buying -0, 474 -0, 131 -0, 194 ---- p<0, 05 Black cells: p>0, 05 VS 1: Self-determination VS 2: Self-sufficiency VS 3: Recycling VS 4: Ecological awareness VS 5: Limit to TV / Ads

CONCLUSION • A great number of study shows the importance of VS behavior future of the World • The results of this research exposed that it required to be strive to increase the frequency of some of VS behaviors such as “buying second-hand products” and making gift or clothing. • Green values and tendecy of frugality were positively related to VS behavior • Personal materialistic values, impulse buying behavior and obsessive buying behavior were negatively related to VS

CONCLUSION (2) • Green values are related to all subtypes of VS behaviors • Personal materialistic values are negatively related to only «selfdetermination» • Green values are the most important factor in variables of model of the study

Reccommendations • This study can be detailed and covered with huge and different segments of society and proved its findings. • At the same time, VS behavior can be analyzed within the different perspectives such as economic, ecologic, social and psychologic dimensions. • We did not explored all kind of value, belief and other factors that may affect VS. In our study, VS was studied by measuring frequency of behaviors. • More research is needed to confirm the findings and results of present study.

Thank you