Money and time in sustainable consumption : a well-being perspective

Abstract

Humanity faces intertwined ecological and social crises that demand deep systemic transformation. Despite global awareness and political efforts such as the Paris Agreement, dominant responses to these crises remain locked within a growth-dependent economic system that reinforces systemic overconsumption and inequality. This dissertation conceptually and empirically examines money and time as key resources in sustainable consumption through the lens of sufficiency, exploring how their interplay can support well-being without increasing material throughput.

In response to gaps in the literature on sustainable consumption, particularly the limited attention paid to the systemic role of money in driving overconsumption and overlooking time as an essential resource for well-being, this study investigated the following two research questions: (1) What role does money play in enabling or constraining sustainable consumption? and (2) How does sufficiency-oriented quality time promote human well-being? Guided by these questions, the research employed a qualitative, interdisciplinary design. Two conceptual studies critically reviewed the systemic influence of money and offered a categorisation of time’s representations in sustainable consumption. Building on these insights, an empirical study employed in-depth interviews to explore quality time as a way of using time that satisfies human needs.

The findings indicated that while certain monetary mechanisms align with sufficiency goals, they remain inadequate for transformative change without deeper institutional restructuring of monetary and value systems. On the other hand, sufficiency-orientated quality time functions as a satisfier, enabling well-being beyond monetary transactions and consumption and highlighting the qualitative value of time that extends beyond measurable dimensions.

This work contributes to sustainable consumption by integrating conceptual insights into money and time with empirical evidence of need satisfaction through fulfilling experiences at the individual level. It advances theoretical clarity on these dimensions and offers practical implications for sufficiency-oriented planning, including incorporating quality time as a potentially low-material and low-energy satisfier that simultaneously fulfil multiple human needs. Future research should expand the focus to societal-level provisioning and explore intersections with labour, relational identity and institutional change, particularly in contexts shaped by rapid sociotechnological transformations driven by the widespread use of AI across all sectors.