R E S E A R C H P A P E R
The Connection Between Happiness and Service
Businesses: A Preliminary Study
Hung-Chang Chiu•Yi-Ching Hsieh•Huey-Jiuan Yeh•
Chien-Liang Kuo•Monle Lee•Der-Jang Yu
Published online: 29 October 2010
Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010
Abstract Happiness may be one of the most important goals that many people pursue in
the world. This study adopts a qualitative approach to investigate the determinants of happiness for Taiwanese/Chinese people. Further, we investigate related service oppor-tunities for happiness via a field survey of 808 respondents. This study identifies four happiness segments for people in Taiwan/China: Influential & Outgoing, Adequately Settled, Pleasure Seeking, and Young & Restless. These four happiness segments differ markedly in terms of characteristics and potential service opportunities. The findings of
H.-C. Chiu
Institute of Technology Management, National Tsing Hua University, 101, Section 2, Kuang-Fu Rd., Hsinchu, Taiwan
e-mail: hcchiu@mx.nthu.edu.tw Y.-C. Hsieh
Department of Information Management, National Central University, 300, Jhongda Rd., Jhongli City, Taoyuan County, Taiwan
e-mail: ychsieh@mgt.ncu.edu.tw H.-J. Yeh
Creativity Laboratory, Industrial Technology Research Institute, 195, Section 4, Chung Hsing Rd., Hsinchu City, Taiwan e-mail: barbrayeh@itri.org.tw
C.-L. Kuo
School of Continuing Education, Chinese Culture University, 231, Sec. 2, Chien-Kuo S. Rd., Taipei, Taiwan
e-mail: clkuo@sce.pccu.edu.tw M. Lee (&)
School of Business and Economics, Indiana University South Bend, 1700 Mishawaka Ave., South Bend, IN 46615, USA
e-mail: mlee@iusb.edu D.-J. Yu
Institute of Applied Arts, National Chiao Tung University, 1001 University Rd., Hsinchu, Taiwan
e-mail: djyu@scenariolab.com.tw DOI 10.1007/s10902-010-9230-x
Keywords Happiness Happiness segments Services Culture
1 Introduction
Happiness reveals a positive evaluation of how well one likes the life one lives (Brulde 2007; Layard2005; Veenhoven2001), and may be one of the most important goals most people pursue. Many people believe that it is ultimately happiness that makes a life worth living; and that the quality of a person’s life is dependent on how happy that person is
(Brulde2007).
In previous literature from happiness studies, most research focuses on the scope and
antecedents of happiness (e.g., Brulde2007; Dolan et al.2008; Griffin2007; Wallis2005).
For example, happiness has to do with both one’s situation (one is fortunate) and one’s state of mind (one is glad, cheerful, content). On the central use of ‘‘happiness,’’ to be happy is to be glad or satisfied or content, which suggests subjectivity, and with having a good measure of what is important in life, which suggests objectivity. We find the same suggestion of both subjectivity and objectivity in the list of what enhances the quality of
life (Griffin2007). Dolan et al. (2008) review past literature and summarize the following
factors which make people happy. These are income, personal characteristics, socially developed characteristics, how we spend our time, attitudes and beliefs towards self/others/ life, relationships, and the wider economic, social and political environment. Similarly, Tkach and Lyubomirsky (2006) propose eight happiness-increasing strategies based on US undergraduate students: affiliation, partying, mental control, goal pursuit, passive leisure, active leisure, religion, and direct attempts at happiness. Despite these advances, there is still much to learn about happiness. Two issues are notable.
First, what are the antecedents for Chinese happiness? Although some happiness
antecedents have been conceptually discussed in previous literature (e.g., Claudia 2005;
Dolan et al.2008), the perspectives on happiness may be different across cultures. Tkach
and Lyubomirsky (2006) identify three general categories of happiness predictors. They are: (1) life circumstances and demographics, (2) traits and dispositions, and (3) intentional behaviors. However, the word happiness in the English language may not always mean the
same thing as words used in other languages to translate it (Griffin2007). For example,
self-esteem is a better predictor of subjective wellbeing or happiness in nations with
individualist cultures than in those of collectivist cultures (Diener and Diener1995). For
Chinese, the primary characteristic appears to be a more collectivistic orientation, whereas
North American culture is typically characterized as individualistic (Hofstede 1980;
Williams et al.1998). The western happiness concept should not be superimposed on other
cultures (Lu and Gilmour2004). Hence, strategies used to increase happiness may differ in
different cultural contexts and it has been proposed that future research should be done to investigate happiness-increasing strategies in different cultures (Tkach and Lyubomirsky 2006). In the recent results of the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2010 published
in Switzerland (Garelli 2010; available online at: http://www.imd.ch/), Singapore, Hong
Kong, Australia, Taiwan, and Malaysia rank in five of the top ten in the world competi-tiveness scoreboard. It is noted in the IMD Press Release that Australia, Taiwan, and Malaysia all benefit from the current strong demand in Asia. For Taiwanese, the annual working hours per person are 2,156 h in 2009, similar to Hong Kong’s 2,287 h, much
higher than Japan’s 1,722 and US’s 1,742 h (The Business Times2010). Thus, research is needed to explore the antecedents of happiness for the Taiwanese/Chinese, especially as these results show Asia becoming one of the fastest growing and hardest working econ-omies in the world, providing an opportunity from a business perspective to develop happiness-related services.
Second, previous literature indicates that the psychological state and behavior of one
customer segment differs significantly from that of other segments (Ganesh et al.2000;
Weathers et al. 2007). For example, people with higher self-esteem seem less likely to
suffer from depression (Dolan et al. 2008). Therefore, identifying different customer
happiness segments and developing related services in accordance with these segments could provide opportunities to develop and market new services. From a business per-spective, understanding Taiwanese/Chinese happiness and designing/providing new potential services designed for individuals in different happiness segments is important, especially for firms that intend to enter this market.
To fill the aforementioned gap in the literature, this study aims to identify the experi-ences which increase Taiwanese/Chinese happiness; and identify potential services in connection with different Taiwanese/Chinese happiness segments. In the following
sec-tions, this study adopts the following steps (Fig.1). First, we reviewed related literature to
identify happiness determinants. We then collected and analyzed happiness determinants via Grounded Theory methodologies. Once happiness determinants were analyzed, a field
Theoretical review
Collecting happiness determinants via qualitative approach - Source of data
- Relevant data isolated - Open coding of phenomenon - Axial coding
Happiness determinants analysis
Cluster analysis to generate Taiwanese happiness Field survey from a sample of 808 individuals
Conclusion
2 Theoretical Review
Happiness can be defined in different ways. Happiness can be broadly defined as the degree to which a person evaluates the overall quality of his present life-as-a-whole positively;
and happiness represents how much one likes the life one leads (Veenhoven 2001).
Happiness can be also defined as the emotion with which one experiences feelings ranging
from contentment and satisfaction to bliss and intense joy (Seligman2002).
Happiness is concerned with both one’s situation (one is fortunate) and one’s state of
mind (one is glad, cheerful, content) (Griffin2007); it is the experience of more frequent
positive affective states than negative ones (Tkach and Lyubomirsky2006), as well as the
perception that one is progressing toward important life goals (Diener et al.1999; Tkach
and Lyubomirsky2006).
In addition to the definition of happiness, the factors which make people happy need to be discussed. Recently, Dolan et al. (2008) reviewed 153 papers from economic and psychology journals and summarized the following factors which make people happy. These include relative income, personal characteristics (age, gender, ethnicity, personal-ity), socially developed characteristics (education, health, type of work, unemployment), how we spend our time (hours worked, commuting, caring for others, community involvement and volunteering, exercise, religious activities), attitudes and beliefs towards self/others/life (attitudes towards our circumstances, trust, political persuasion, religion), relationships (marriage and intimate relationships, having children, seeing family and friends), and the wider economic, social and political environment (income inequality, unemployment rates, inflation, welfare system and public insurance, degree of democracy, climate and the natural environment, safety and deprivation of the area, urbanization).
In the study of Tkach and Lyubomirsky (2006), they investigated 500 undergraduate students and identified eight happiness-increasing strategies via factor analysis techniques. These are affiliation, partying, mental control, goal pursuit, passive leisure, active leisure, religion, and direct attempts at happiness. From a business perspective, if a company develops related services in accordance with happiness-increasing strategies, it can create new opportunities.
Despite these findings, however, happiness may not always mean the same thing across cultures. For Chinese, happiness is a harmonious homeostasis within the individual as well as between the individual and the surroundings; however, the concepts such as harmony and balance were seldom cited in the Americans’ accounts of happiness (Lu and Gilmour 2004). Kwan et al. (1997) argue that self-esteem is a strong predictor for the subjective well-being of Americans; while both self-esteem and relationship harmony are equally important for the subjective well-being of the Chinese. Hence, strategies used to deliver
happiness may also differ in different cultures (Griffin 2007; Tkach and Lyubomirsky
2006). From a business perspective, it is worth exploring happiness-increasing strategies for the Taiwanese/Chinese culture (Study one). Also, designing and providing new potential services in accordance with different Taiwanese/Chinese happiness segments is important, especially for firms that intend to enter Chinese market. Therefore, it is nec-essary to identify potential services that relate to different Taiwanese/Chinese happiness segments (Study two).
3 Study One
3.1 Collecting and Analyzing Happiness Determinants Via Qualitative Approach To explore the happiness determinants for Taiwanese/Chinese people, this study began from a qualitative approach. From the qualitative research methodologies, grounded theory was chosen for this study because of its specific objective of building theory from
quali-tative data and interpretation (Strauss and Corbin 1990). Also, it inductively derives
frameworks by directly studying the phenomenon of interest (Glaser and Strauss1967) and
focuses on understanding human processes occurring in specific situations (Flint and
Woodruff 2001). Through coding and categorizing data at a level of analysis closely
associated with the phenomenon, the resulting inductive framework better fits the realities
of the phenomenon (Gilliland2003). Hence, it is an appropriate approach for this study. In
this article, we followed the procedure of Gilliland (2003) and Strauss and Corbin (1990); and employed four steps of grounded methodologies to explore Taiwanese/Chinese hap-piness: Source of data, Relevant data isolated, Open coding of phenomenon, and Axial coding.
3.1.1 Source of Data
The data was gathered through two approaches: happiness diaries and happiness activity reports. For the happiness diaries, we hired twenty people in Taiwan and asked them to keep a dairy for a week. The reasons for choosing Taiwan was that Taiwan is regarded as an excellent experimental pilot place for western businesses to enter China and Asia. Not only is Taiwanese culture greatly influenced by Confucius, but Taiwan provides excellent hardware and software infrastructures (e.g., Taiwan provides 90% of notebooks to the world).
This study selected these 20 people according to two factors: their stage of life and happiness status. The life stage contains six categories: student, single, DINK (double income no kids), the eldest Child under 6, the eldest Child between 7 and 19, and the eldest Child above 20. For happiness status, participants were asked ‘‘Were you always happy in the past year?’’ in advance, to ensure that a wide range of happiness states was covered: Each participant circled only one of the following three answers: ‘‘Yes, I was always happy.’’ ‘‘Sometimes I was happy.’’ ‘‘No, I was not happy.’’ The sample profile of these 20
participants is in Table1.
During the data collection process, each participant was paid a fee and asked to keep a diary for a week. From 9:00 to 21:00, this study sent text messages to participant’s mobile
Table 1 Sample profile of the participants of diaries of happiness
Life stage Student
(age: 18–30) Single (age: 20–40) DINK (age: 20–50) The eldest child under 6 (age: 20–50) The eldest child between 7–19 (age: 30–60) The eldest child above 20 (age: 60–70) Were you always happy in the past year?
Yes, I was always happy 1 2 1 3 1 2
Sometimes I was happy 1 1 2 0 1 2
phones every 2 h and reminded him/her to write down things and circumstances which made him/her happy during those 2 h. Each participant was asked daily to send related
records and photos of their diary to our website designated for this research (Fig.2). Since
long-term happiness is a relatively stable level of positive well-being that one experiences
over a specific time period, such as 3 or 6 months (Lyubomirsky2001; Tkach and
Ly-ubomirsky2006), this study decided to compensate for the shorter period of the seven-day
happiness diary by asking participants to remember happy and unhappy experiences during the past year and write those down on the website.
Further, to create a happiness activity report, seven colleagues in our research center were asked to describe activities or services which made them frequently happy in their daily lives. The purpose of this report was to explore happiness determinants; and more importantly, indicate potential service-business opportunities which make people happy. 3.1.2 Relevant Data Isolated
Isolating relevant data means identifying possible happiness statements represented in the raw data. To isolate relevant data, six project members were employed to read, analyze and identify individual happiness statements from happiness diaries and happiness activity reports. Then, after careful discussions among members, this study identified happiness statements which indicate what makes people happy. For example, if a diary mentioned that ‘‘I had a very good sleep during my holidays’’, the statement was included in the data set for further analysis. After rectifying minor discrepancies, the authors determined whether each statement represented a potential increase in happiness.
3.1.3 Open Coding of Phenomenon
To explore the Taiwanese/Chinese happiness determinants, an open coding procedure was
conducted as follows (Gilliland2003; Glaser and Strauss1967). First, each statement was
conceptualized and assigned a label; the next unit of data was then analyzed and compared with the first incident; if similar, it was assigned the same label; if not, it was coded as a different concept. When all the incidents were coded, they were categorized by grouping the incidents around similar phenomenon. For example, similar incidents such as ‘‘I had a good sleep’’ and ‘‘No one disrupted my sleep’’ were grouped under the label ‘‘a good sleep’’. This process continued until all incidents were categorized, leaving 52 unique incidents of happiness.
3.1.4 Axial Coding
The categories of happiness determinants were created and finalized in the axial coding
stage (Strauss and Corbin 1990). Here, happiness categories were created by careful
examination of the control facets inherent in happiness. For instance, ‘‘coming home,’’ ‘‘relatives care about me,’’ and ‘‘meeting old friends’’ were placed in a category of ‘‘caring’’. Also, some elements (e.g., devotion) were placed into two categories because most of the team members agreed they were relevant after discussion. In all, the 52 elements were grouped into 8 general happiness categories.
To identify potential service-business opportunities which make people happy, seven colleagues in our research center were invited to describe activities or services which made them frequently happy. At this stage, 28 happiness-increasing service opportunities were identified which are often enjoyed by Taiwanese people. They were: watching TV, lis-tening to music, seeing a movie/drama, chatting with friends, getting together with boy/girl friend, a trip with family, playing pokers/chess/mahjong, beauty, singing, cooking/gar-dening, shopping, doing exercise, pets, one day trips, short term trips, long distance trips, enjoying cuisine, surfing the internet, playing games, playing an instrument, getting good sleep, collecting, gambling, volunteering, cultivating personal moral behavior, re-experi-encing past good times, aesthetics, and learning.
3.2 Happiness Determinants Descriptions and Associated Elements
Table2shows the eight happiness determinants and their associated 52 elements after the
grounded approach.
The word ‘‘caring’’ is associated with ‘‘a loving feeling’’ (see Webster’s online
dic-tionary, http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/caring); it is a combination
of feelings and actions that provide responsively for an individual’s personal needs or
well-being, in a face-to-face relationship (Cancian and Oliker 2000; England 2005). In this
study, caring refers to ‘‘receiving attention from or paying attention to relatives, friends or others (e.g., pets)’’; and its associated happiness elements are ‘‘coming home’’, ‘‘caring for my kid(s)/pets’’, ‘‘relatives care for me’’, ‘‘meeting old friends’’, and ‘‘relative reunion’’. Caring can be regarded as an important happiness determinant because it builds affiliations,
or warm and trusting relations with others (Ryff 1989; Tkach and Lyubomirsky2006).
Building warm and trusting relations with others leads to a positive mood state and makes
people happy (Brulde 2007). Hence, caring an be regarded as an important
happiness-enhancing strategy (Tkach and Lyubomirsky2006).
Environment is ‘‘the totality of surrounding conditions.’’ (see Webster’s online
dictio-nary, http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/environment). There is an
increasing consensus to define environment as ‘‘a dynamic and evolving system of natural and human factors in which living organisms operate or human activities take place, and which has a direct or indirect, immediate or long-term effect or influence on these living
Table 2 Cate gories of happi ness determinant s and associ ated elements Elements H appiness de termin ants Cari ng Envi ronment Balancing O wning Playing Being rewarded Interac tion Sel f-realization 1. Co ming home V 2. Cari ng for my kid(s )/pets V 3. Rel atives care for me V 4. Mee ting old frie nds V V 5. Rel ative reu nion V V 6. Beaut iful sce nery V 7. Seei ng my ido l V 8. Everyb ody laug hing V 9. Co mfortabl e w eather V 10. A wonderful party V V 11. See a good show V 12. Stock marke t is boomi ng V V 13. A good sleep V 14. Work on my hobb ies V 15. Ste al a momen t o f leisure V 16. Str ess lowered V 17. Sta y alone V 18. Holida ys V 19. Good res ults of for tune tel ling V 20. De votion V V 21. Co llecting V 22. Sho pping V 23. Findi ng useful informat ion V
Table 2 cont inued Elements Ha ppiness determ inants Cari ng Envir onment Bala ncing Ownin g Playin g Bei ng rewarded Interac tion Sel f-realization 24. Excel lent food V 25. Phy sical hea lth V 26. Skin care V 27. Unexpe cted gifts or mo ney V 28. Better body figu re V 29. Fun ny things V 30. Lear ning in a funny wa y V 31. Pla y toys/ga mes V 32. Sight seeing V 33. DIY things VV 34. Diffi cult gam e(s) breakth rough V V 35. Receive att ention V 36. Mon etary reward V 37. Kids do well V 38. Receive aw ard VV 39. Share se crets V 40. Re-exp erienc e past good times V V 41. Make ne w friends V 42. Va luable dis cussions V 43. Bu ild consensus V 44. Encou rage others V 45. Perf orm relig ious activities V 46. Innov ate new things V
Table 2 cont inued Elements Happiness determinants Caring Environm ent Bal ancing Ow ning Playin g Bei ng rewar ded Interaction Sel f-realization 47. Pursu e career goals V 48. Become an exper t V 49. Map out a brigh t fu ture V 50. Impro ve ski lls V 51. Ha ve self-cont rol V V 52. Org anize life and goals V V
beings or on human actions at a given time, and in a circumscribed area’’ (Kulkarni2000, p. 216). In this study, environment refers to ‘‘perceiving positive feedback from the nearby conditions’’ and it contains happiness elements such as ‘‘beautiful scenery’’, ‘‘everybody laughing’’, ‘‘comfortable weather’’, ‘‘a wonderful party’’, and ‘‘stock market is booming’’. In the literature, environment can be viewed as an important predictor of life satisfaction (Dolan et al. (2008)). Poor perceptions of financial circumstances are usually associated
with lower life satisfaction (Graham and Pettinato2001); it is also evident that pollution
has a detrimental impact on overall happiness (Welsch 2006). Hence, environment is
important to determine happiness.
Balancing is ‘‘bringing into balance or equilibrium.’’ (see Webster’s online dictionary, http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/balance); it is a state in which opposite forces or influences exist in equal measure. In this study, balancing means to relax and to have the equilibrium in one’s life and it contains happiness elements such as ‘‘a good sleep’’, ‘‘work on my hobbies’’, ‘‘steal a moment of leisure’’, ‘‘stress lowered’’, ‘‘good results of fortune telling’’, and ‘‘devotion’’. Balancing is important for happiness because happiness is a judgment of balance, taking everything into account in your life (Brulde 2007). In previous studies, good sleep (Tkach and Lyubomirsky 2006), having hobbies
(Tkach and Lyubomirsky2006), lower stress levels (Tkach and Lyubomirsky2006), and
doing exercises (Dolan et al.2008; Tkach and Lyubomirsky2006) lead to a higher
hap-piness status. Therefore, balancing is also important for determining haphap-piness.
Owning is to have ownership or possession of something (see Webster’s online
dic-tionary,http://www.websters-online-dictionary.com/definition/own). In this study, owning
means possessing physical things, or having good health and it contains happiness ele-ments such as ‘‘collecting’’, ‘‘shopping’’, ‘‘finding useful information’’, ‘‘excellent food’’, ‘‘physical health’’, ‘‘skin care’’, and ‘‘unexpected gifts or money’’. Previous literature indicates that shopping or enjoying excellent food/alcohol makes people happy (Tkach and
Lyubomirsky2006). Also, studies consistently show a higher relationship between
phys-ical health and happiness (Borooah2006; Dolan et al.2008; Graham2008). Hence, owning
physical things or health is also important to increasing happiness.
Playing is the action of taking part in a game or sport or other recreation (see Webster’s
online dictionary, http://www.websters-online-dictionary.com/definition/playing). In this
study, playing means experiencing funny or joyful things and it contains happiness ele-ments such as ‘‘funny things’’, ‘‘learning in a funny way’’, ‘‘play toys/games’’, ‘‘sight-seeing’’, and ‘‘difficult game(s) breakthrough’’. Previous studies indicate sightseeing, having vacations, parting, or new experiences, often makes people happy (Tkach and
Lyubomirsky 2006; Wallis 2005). This reveals playing is also important to increasing
happiness.
Being rewarded is to receive payment in return for a service rendered (see Webster’s
online dictionary, http://www.websters-online-dictionary.com/definition/reward). In this
study, being rewarded means receiving physical or spiritual compensations from others and it contains happiness elements such as ‘‘receive attention’’, ‘‘monetary reward’’, and ‘‘kids do well’’. Receiving attention, monetary rewards or awards, leads to happiness because it
makes people glad and cheerful (Griffin2007). Therefore, being rewarded is important to
happiness.
Interaction is a mutual or reciprocal action (see Webster’s online dictionary, http://www.websters-online-dictionary.com/definition/interaction). It refers to ‘‘generating dialogue with others and receiving sympathetic responses’’ and it contains happiness elements such as ‘‘share secrets’’, ‘‘re-experience past good times’’, ‘‘valuable discus-sions’’, and ‘‘encourage others’’. In previous literature, interacting with friends is positively
know the people around them (Ali et al. 2005). Thus, when we share secrets with close friends or build consensus with them–this interaction increases social affiliation, which in turn improves happiness.
Finally, self-realization is the fulfillment of one’s capacities (see Webster’s online
dic-tionary, http://www.websters-online-dictionary.com/definition/self-realization). It means
self-fulfillment, growth, and maturity and it contains happiness elements such as perform religious activities, innovate new things, pursue career goals, and improve skills. Past studies suggests regular engagement in religious activities, which belongs to a kind of
self-realiza-tion, is positively related to happiness (e.g., Dolan et al.2008; Helliwell2003; Tkach and
Lyubomirsky2006). Similarly, personal growth such as becoming an expert and developing
one’s potential, increases individual’s happiness (Dolan et al.2008; Tkach and Lyubomirsky
2006; Ryff1989). Thus, self-realization can be regarded as an important factor for happiness. The above eight factors and associated 52 elements are not quite the same as findings in previous literature. Compared to the findings of Tkach and Lyubomirsky (2006) for US students, environment and interaction are more important for Chinese in enhancing
hap-piness. Compared to the studies of Dolan et al.2008, which focused primarily on economic
and political factors, balancing and interaction factors are revealed as more important in the current study. Thus, interactions which share secrets and re-experiencing past good times with close friends, are more important to the Chinese as compared with western people. According to Hofstede (1980), the primary characteristic of Chinese culture appears to be a more collectivistic orientation, whereas North American culture is typically characterized as individualistic. People in collective societies give more attention to social relations and spend a great deal of time getting to know the people around them (Ali et al. 2005). From an Asian’s perspective, the fulfillment of role obligations in social relation-ships and searching for interpersonal connections are important core issues of subjective
well-being (Lu and Gilmour2004). Thus, interaction is important to enhance happiness for
the Chinese.
4 Study Two
4.1 Sample and Data Collection
To further investigate the service opportunities of happiness for each Taiwanese/Chinese happiness segment, 808 respondents were drawn using a quota sampling technique from Taiwan. Among them, 402 were chosen from northern, 202 from central, and 204 from southern Taiwan to fit the general population structure. The sample was composed equally of women and men (n = 404) and ranged in age from 15 to 65 years (mean = 37.4 years, median = 37 years). Therefore, this study can be considered substantially representative. 4.2 Measures
According to Brulde (2007) and Chekola (2007), happiness is an attitude, a satisfaction, and a positive evaluation of how well one likes the life one lives; that one’s life measures up favorably against one’s expectations; and the quality of a person’s life is dependent on how happy that person is. In previous literature, satisfaction or service quality stems from a
Parasuraman et al. 1985,1988). Hence, this study measures each of the eight happiness determinants in Study One as ‘‘the gap of one’s perception and expectation’’ (i.e., per-ception minus expectation). Perper-ception is the happiness status for an individual; it indicates the extent of happiness that an individual possesses. Expectation, however, is the desire an
individual has (Parasuraman et al.1988); it indicates what the person expects happiness
should be. In the questionnaire, participants were asked to circle their perceptions and expectations about the eight happiness determinants using a 0–100 scale (0: the lowest; 100: the highest). For example, to measure the happiness score of ‘‘caring’’, this study asked ‘‘The extent you feel you are receiving from or paying attention to relatives, friends, or others’’ to measure the perception; and asked ‘‘The extent you expect to receive from or
pay attention to relatives, friends, or others’’ to measure the expectation (Table3).
4.3 Analysis and Results
The results of the happiness gap between perception and expectation are shown in Table4.
In Table4, the scores of happiness perceptions are significantly lower than expectations
(p \ .05) in all eight happiness-increasing determinants. The largest happiness gap is owning (-17.5) and the smallest one is interaction (-14.0).
Further, a cluster analysis was adopted for this study using the Ward’s method with
squared Euclidean distances as prescribed in marketing research literature (Singh1990) to
analyze the respondent profiles related to happiness. This study entered not only the summated happiness gap score into the cluster analysis, but also gender, age, marriage, education, occupation, and income because these demographics also influence happiness
(Dolan et al.2008). The results indicate four segments were appropriate and these four
segments were stable when we employed K-means cluster analysis under setting k = 4. This article names the four segments as: Influential & Outgoing, Adequately Settled,
Table 3 The measures of happiness determinants (perception minus expectation) Happiness
determinants
Perception Expectation
Caring The extent you feel you are receiving attention from or paying attention to relatives, friends or others
The extent you expect to receive from or pay attention to relatives, friends, or others
Environment The extent you feel positive feedback from the nearby conditions
The extent you expect positive feedback from the nearby conditions
Balancing The extent you feel relaxed and have equilibrium in your life
The extent you expect to relax and to have equilibrium in your life Owning The extent you feel you possess physical
things, or having good health
The extent you expect to possess physical things, or to have good health Playing The extent you feel you experience funny
or joyful things
The extent you expect to experience funny or joyful things
Being rewarded The extent you feel you receive physical or spiritual compensations from others
The extent you expect to receive physical or spiritual compensations from others Interaction The extent you feel you generate dialogue
with others and receive sympathetic responses
The extent you expect to generate dialogue with others and to receive sympathetic responses
Self-realization The extent you feel fulfilling self-fulfillment, growth, and maturity
The extent you expect to fulfill self-fulfillment, growth, and maturity
Pleasure Seeking, and Young & Restless. The characteristics of these four happiness
segments are in Tables5and6.
To demonstrate the service opportunities in each segment, this study measured the extent of adopting each happiness-increasing service ‘‘now’’ and the willingness of adopting it ‘‘in the future’’ using a 0–100 scale (0: the lowest; 100: the highest) for all 808 respondents. We then calculated the gap score between the willingness of using each service ‘‘in the future’’ minus ‘‘now’’ to demonstrate the opportunity for each service in
each segment (Table7). Hence, the higher the gap score is, the higher the potential the
particular increasing service has; because the gap score of each happiness-increasing service represents the extent to which respondents intend to use it more in the
future. In Table7, this study highlights the services whose gap scores are higher than 20.
For the overall sample, exploring myself (32), re-experiencing past good times (31), aesthetics (29), volunteering (26), learning (26), a long distance trip (26), beauty (21), and playing an instrument (21), were relatively high.
According to Tables5,6, and7, the present study finds that the four happiness segments
differ markedly in terms of characteristics and potential service opportunities. For Influ-ential & Outgoing consumers, their happiness scores tend to be higher (64% higher than average and 39% higher than Q3); slightly more men than women (57:43), 67% older than 40 years, most are married (90%), higher education level (60% above college), occupa-tions mainly office workers; running own business, managerial employee, and civil ser-vant; and monthly household income tends to be higher (45% higher than $3,334 and 38%
lies in $2,334–$3,333) (Table5). The happiness gap scores (perception–expectation) tend
to be lower in most happiness determinants (except Interaction Table6). Table7indicates
males show high interest in using the services of exploring one’s self, re-experiencing past good times, aesthetics, learning, volunteering, and pets; females show high interest in using the services of aesthetics, learning, exploring one’s self, re-experiencing past good times, playing an instrument, and playing pokers/chess/mahjong. Also, both men and women are willing to pay for happiness: males are willing to pay US $349; females are willing to pay US $287 monthly.
For Adequately Settled consumers, their happiness scores tend to be lower (62% lower than Q2 and 38% lower than Q1), slightly more women than men (60:40), 76% older than 40 years, most are married (84%), a lower education level (94% under senior high school), occupations are mainly office workers and unemployed/at home, and monthly household income tends to be lower (38% lower than $1,666 and 42% lies in $1,667–$2,333). The happiness gap scores tend to be higher in caring and environment. Males show high interest
* p \ .05 Caring 71.5 85.6 -14.1* Environment 70.0 86.2 -16.2* Balancing 68.9 86.1 -17.2* Owning 67.2 84.7 -17.5* Playing 66.2 83.2 -17.0* Being rewarded 67.9 84.7 -16.8* Interaction 71.9 85.9 -14.0* Self-realization 68.4 85.3 -16.9* Average 69.0 85.2 -16.2*
Table 5 Characteristics of four happiness segments Influential & Outgoing (n = 272) Adequately Settled (n = 218) Pleasure Seeking (n = 175)
Young & Restless (n = 143) n % n % n % n % Happiness scorea Lower than Q1 32 12 83 38 45 26 42 29 Between Q1 and Q2 65 24 52 24 45 26 40 28 Between Q2 and Q3 69 25 59 27 38 22 36 25 Higher than Q3 106 39 24 11 47 27 25 17 Gender Male 155 57 87 40 87 50 75 52 Female 117 43 131 60 88 50 68 48 Age Under 19 0 0 0 0 3 2 89 62 20–29 9 3 9 4 108 62 54 38 30–39 83 31 41 19 51 29 0 0 40–49 97 36 73 33 10 6 0 0 50–59 68 25 66 30 3 2 0 0 Above 60 15 6 29 13 0 0 0 0 Marriage Single 11 4 9 4 172 98 143 100 Married 244 90 184 84 2 1 0 0 Divorced 17 6 25 11 1 1 0 0 Education
Junior high school 2 1 67 31 1 1 16 11
Senior high school 107 39 137 63 46 26 46 32
College or University 152 56 13 6 113 65 73 51 Master or Ph.D. 11 4 1 0 15 9 8 6 Occupation Student 0 0 0 0 0 0 143 100 Office worker 113 42 66 30 128 73 0 0 Managerial employee 32 12 0 0 3 2 0 0
Running own business 44 16 36 17 5 3 0 0
Blue-collar worker 14 5 37 17 14 8 0 0
Civil servant 30 11 6 3 10 6 0 0
Retired 17 6 14 6 0 0 0 0
Unemployed/at home 22 8 59 27 15 9 0 0
Monthly household income (US$)
0–1,000 1 0 26 12 3 2 10 7
1,001–1,666 10 4 56 26 35 20 31 22
1,667–2,333 36 13 92 42 46 26 56 39
2,334–3,333 102 38 39 18 48 27 24 17
in using the services of exploring one’s self, volunteering, long distance trips, doing exercise, and shopping; females show high interest in using the services of exploring one’s self, re-experiencing past good times, aesthetics, learning, beauty, long distance trips, cooking, playing an instrument, singing, and volunteering. They are not as willing to pay for happiness because their household income is relatively lower: males are willing to pay US $201; females are willing to pay US $188 monthly.
For Pleasure Seeking consumers, their happiness scores are uniformly distributed; equal numbers of men and women (50: 50), 91% range from 20 to 39 years, most are single (98%), have a higher education level (74% above college), the occupations are mainly office workers, and monthly household income is on the average. Their happiness gap scores lie in the middle among the four segments. Males show high interest in using the services of volunteering, re-experiencing past good times, gambling, exploring one’s self, and playing an instrument; females show high interest in the services of exploring one’s self, beauty, gambling, re-experiencing past good times, aesthetics, learning, volunteering, one day trips, and long distance trips. They are also willing to pay for happiness: males are willing to pay US $301; females are willing to pay US $270 monthly.
For Young & Restless, 57% of happiness scores are lower than average, almost equal men and women (52:48), young (all younger than 29 years), single (100%), higher edu-cation level (57% above college), and all are students. Their happiness gap scores tend to be higher in the following happiness determinants: balancing, owning, being rewarded, and
self-actualization (Table6). Males show high interest in using the services of long distance
trips, re-experiencing past good times, aesthetics, volunteering, playing an instrument, one
Table 6 Gap scores (perception–expectation) of the happiness determinants in each segment Influential & Outgoing
(n = 272)
Adequately Settled (n = 218)
Pleasure Seeking (n = 175)
Young & Restless (n = 143) Caring -12.6 -16.6 -14.0 -14.4 Environment -13.1 -18.6 -17.4 -16.9 Balancing -14.9 -17.1 -17.4 -20.6 Owning -13.9 -18.7 -18.8 -20.4 Playing -13.7 -18.1 -18.6 -18.8 Being rewarded -14.0 -17.3 -16.8 -20.4 Interaction -14.5 -11.6 -15.1 -16.0 Self-realization -14.8 -17.9 -15.8 -20.3 (n = 272) (n = 218) (n = 175) (n = 143) n % n % n % n % Above 5,001 35 13 0 0 18 10 6 4 a
day trips, getting together with boy/girl friend, beauty, pets, short term trips, cooking/ gardening, gambling, learning, exploring one’s self, collecting, singing, and enjoying cuisine; females show high interest in the services of long distance trips, re-experiencing past good times, volunteering, exploring one’s self, beauty, learning, short term trips, one day trips, pets, aesthetics, cooking/gardening, playing an instrument, collecting, and gambling. They are not willing to pay for happiness: males are willing to pay US $167; females are willing to pay US $180 monthly.
Table 7 Willingness to use each service more in the future and to pay for them Happiness-increasing service Overall sample Influential & Outgoing Adequately Settled Pleasure Seeking Young & Restless Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
Watching TV -7 -6 -6 -7 -8 -5 -9 -9 -5
Listening to music -9 -10 -8 1 0 -20 -19 -11 -8
Seeing movie/drama 1 0 1 9 9 -5 -8 6 -5
Chatting with friends -5 -6 1 2 -2 -11 -6 -9 -14
Getting together with boy/girl friend
9 6 6 14 4 -1 4 37* 15
A trip with my family -3 -3 -5 -7 -1 -2 2 -14 2
Playing pokers/chess/mahjong 12 10 22* 8 11 4 16 12 10 Beauty 21* 17 16 7 33* 1 27* 36* 37* Singing 15 12 14 23* 23* 12 9 23* 5 Cooking/gardening 16 15 11 5 25* 9 8 32* 30* Shopping 1 4 -5 22* -6 -2 -8 4 -2 Doing exercise 9 7 15 23* 19 -16 7 2 8 Pets 15 21* 15 17 5 -1 6 36* 32*
One day trip 8 -10 4 2 -2 10 20* 38* 34*
Short term trip 6 -10 0 -1 3 4 8 32* 36*
Long distance trip 26* 15 17 24* 27* 19 20* 60* 49*
Enjoying cuisine 3 -6 -2 10 2 8 -4 21* 7
Surfing the internet 5 4 10 17 7 0 1 -3 2
Playing games 8 6 9 14 18 1 3 -4 10 Playing instrument 21* 15 23* 12 23* 22* 14 38* 30* Good sleep 5 2 10 -2 7 -4 5 6 17 Collection 12 11 3 7 17 15 4 26* 22* Gambling 16 10 18 13 1 23* 27* 32* 20* Volunteering 26* 23* 19 24* 22* 29* 20* 39* 44*
Exploring one’s self 32* 37* 30* 32* 41* 22* 28* 26* 39* Re-experiencing past good times 31* 33* 23* 19 39* 23* 25* 45* 47*
Aesthetics 29* 30* 38* 15 35* 14 23* 41* 31*
Learning 26* 25* 33* 19 34* 9 23* 30* 36*
Willingness to pay for happiness monthly (USD)
242 349 287 201 188 301 270 167 180
5.1 Discussion and Managerial Implications
This study adopted a qualitative approach to investigate the determinants of happiness for Taiwanese/Chinese people; further, the present study investigated related service oppor-tunities for happiness via a field survey. The findings produce considerable information for managers seeking to understand Taiwanese/Chinese happiness; and the findings can be viewed as a complement to recent debates on the role of the state in promoting the economic and non-material well-being of citizens.
First, the ways to increase Taiwanese/Chinese happiness can be classified into eight factors (caring, environment, balancing, owning, playing, being rewarded, interaction, and self-realization) and 52 elements, which are not quite the same as findings in previous literature. According to Study One, interactions which share secrets and re-experiencing past good times with close friends, is more important for Chinese compared with western people. Also, this study proposes happiness elements, such as re-experiencing past good times (environment and interaction) and good results of fortunetelling (balancing), that would increase Chinese happiness. However, previous literature seldom discussed these happiness elements.
Second, this study identifies potential happiness-increasing services for a business intending to enter Taiwan/Chinese markets. These services, including; exploring myself, re-experiencing past good times, aesthetics, volunteering, learning, long distance trips, beauty, and playing an instrument, are potentially major happiness-increasing services, which respondents indicate they intend to use more in the future. From a business per-spective, the results of this study provide a better understanding of this market.
Finally, this study provides strategic implications for companies that seek to provide potential services in accordance with Taiwanese/Chinese happiness segments. In market-ing practices, there is no ‘‘one size fits all’’ answer—a successful marketmarket-ing campaign is specific to a particular segment. With this research, this study identified four happiness segments for Taiwanese/Chinese people: Influential & Outgoing, Adequately Settled, Pleasures Seeking, and Young & Restless; and these four happiness segments differ markedly in terms of the characteristics and potential service opportunities.
Compared to the other segments, respondents in the segment of Influential & Outgoing are mainly older, married, and have a higher level of education. They have the highest happiness scores and therefore their happiness gap (perception–expectation) scores tend to be lower in most happiness determinants. However, they have the highest monthly household incomes and are very willing to pay for happiness. From a business perspective, these customers provide an opportunity for cultivation because they are willing to pay for happiness; however, they are not easily pleased. Potential services such as exploring one’s self, re-experiencing past good times, aesthetics, and learning can be considered as pro-viding these customers opportunities to increase happiness.
In the segment of Adequately Settled, respondents are mainly older, married, have a lower level of education, and have the lowest happiness scores. They have the lowest monthly household incomes and their willingness to pay for happiness is relatively lower. Therefore, we can expect a company may not earn a lot from each individual in this segment. However, a business could select services such as exploring one’s self and long distance trips for males; and exploring myself and re-experiencing past good times for females in this segment.
In the segment of Pleasure Seeking, respondents are mainly young, single, and with a higher education level. Their happiness gap scores and monthly household incomes lie in the middle among these four segments. Therefore, we can expect this segment to provide a moderate opportunity for cultivation. A business can select services such as re-experi-encing past good times, gambling and exploring one’s self for males; and exploring one’s self, beauty, gambling, and re-experiencing past good times for females in this segment.
In the segment of Young & Restless, respondents are mainly teenagers and students. Their happiness gap scores and monthly household incomes also lie in the middle. Because most of them are students, their willingness to pay for happiness is the lowest. However, the results also indicate individuals in this segment show the highest willingness to use happiness-related services in the future; which demonstrates that a business may also target this segment and provide related services. In this segment, males show high interest in services such as long distance trips, re-experiencing past good times, aesthetics, getting together with boy/girl friend, beauty, and pets; females show high interest in long distance trips, re-experiencing past good times, exploring one’s self, and beauty.
5.2 Limitations and Future Directions
This article acknowledges several limitations of this study. The first pertains to the issue of external validity, namely, the ability to generalize our results outside Taiwan. Another limitation is the problem of sampling. In this study, the sample of 20 persons to keep happiness diaries and 7 persons for happiness activity reports is not representative of the whole population.
Additional research might take some of the following directions. First, it would be interesting to investigate happiness-increasing strategies in different cultures and compare the results from different countries. This would allow researchers to understand the effects of these happiness-increasing strategies and verify their appropriateness in different countries. Second, it would be interesting to explore the relationship among eight happi-ness determinants and other constructs, such as quality of life and subjective well-being. Finally, it would be interesting to develop new concrete services in accordance with the results of this study. For example, re-experiencing past good times and exploring one’s self are two important happiness-increasing services for almost all segments. It is therefore worth exploring the business models and strategies that could be implemented for these services.
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