Catching a Glimpse of Meaningfulness. Understanding Volunteering Holidays from a Eudaimonic Perspective

This research project explores how commodified experiences could contribute to human flourishing. By means of (n)ethnographic methods, we study volunteering tourism as a commodified version of altruistic acts in which people pay significant amounts of money to engage for a limited time period in pro-social projects at exotic destinations. We suggest that the great interest in volunteering tourism is rooted in its potential to fulfill important aspects of Eudaimonic well-being and reveal dimensions interacting with well-being outcomes

Greening up a materialistic world

The present paper extends existing research on materialism by uncovering a new layer of materialistic consumption. Not only product features but also the signaling capacity of rare personality traits by means of consumption can be used to explain materialistic consumer choice. This mechanism might even apply to domains traditionally considered to be incompatible with materialism such as green consumption, the purchase and use of environmentally friendly and ethical products. Across two studies, we document the role of perceived scarcity of attributed personality traits. That is, materialists that perceive "green personality traits" to be rare show a stronger preference towards green products

Pay, travel, work - an exploration of volunteering tourism from an eudaimonic perspective

The present paper proposes an alternative approach to explore the growing interest and the personal benefit for people who oftentimes pay significant amounts of money to work in physically and mentally challenging volunteering projects. By means of qualitative interviews and a review of mass culture representations that are interpreted through the lens of Eudaimonia as philosophy of human flourishing we offer explanations that account for the rising interest in volunteer tourism and the personal benefits of the volunteer tourists

Measuring materialistic mindsets: Development of an Implicit Measure of Materialism.

Extant research on materialism has generally used explicit measures. This approach assumes that a) respondents are aware of their motivations and beliefs, and if so, b) they will honestly report them. Both assumptions are questionable. Accordingly, we present research designed to develop an implicit measure of materialism and present evidence supporting its validity. Our research has the potential to provide a better understanding of key consequences of materialistic mindsets, such as decreased well-being and addictive behavior, such as compulsive buying

Transformative Stories: A Framework for Crafting Stories for Social Impact Organizations

This paper provides a framework to guide the construction of transformative stories by Social Impact Organizations (SIOs) including nonprofit organizations, public policy entities, and for-profit social benefit enterprises. This framework is built from the integration of the academic literature on narratives and narrative construction relevant to SIO story construction. In this transformative story construction framework, we outline how SIOs can assemble and craft authentic and effective stories that convey an SIO's impact, engage audiences, and call those audiences to action as well as develop and manage a portfolio of such stories. The framework also puts forth recommendations to guide the marketplace practice of transformative story construction by SIOs. Finally, the paper outlines questions to engage SIOs in collaborative research to refine the practice of constructing stories with the power transform

Materialism: the good, the bad, and the ugly

Materialism has a generally held connotation that is associated with character deficiencies, self-centeredness, and unhappiness, and most extant research views materialism as having a negative influence on well-being. In this article, we review and synthesise research that supports both positive and negative outcomes of behaviours associated with materialism. We conceptualise materialism in terms of the motives underlying materialistic behaviour, and situate our review and synthesis of materialism research within this context. In doing so, we document the utility of a motives-based view of materialism and propose research agendas that arise from this motives-based perspective