Beyond the Resource Drain Theory: Salary satisfaction as a mediator between commuting time and subjective well-being

Abstract Introduction Understanding the mechanism between commuting time and subjective well-being is of great importance in formulating policies. In previous research, the negative impact of long commuting time on subjective well-being was mainly explained by the Resource Drain Theory which claims that the main reason for the impact was inadequate health-related and social activities in the commuters’ life. However, this theory neglects the mediating roles of salary and residence satisfaction proposed by the Ecological Framework of Commuting Stress. According to this framework, commuting stress generated by prolonged commuting time may cause low satisfaction towards salary and residence and hence low life satisfaction. Using health, social support, satisfaction with salary, and satisfaction with residence in a mediation framework, this study aims to integrate the Resource Drain Theory and the Ecological Framework of Commuting Stress by analysing the direct and indirect effects of commuting time on subjective well-being. Methods We used data on 813 commuters from the first wave of the Hong Kong Panel Survey for Poverty Alleviation. Health was operationalised in terms of physical health (obesity measured by BMIs), psychological health (mental distress measured by the Chinese Health Questionnaire-12) and general health (measured by self-rated health). Social support is measured by using the Oslo 3-item Social Support Scale (“OSS-3”). Subjective well-being is measured by the satisfaction with life scale (SWLS-5). A bootstrapping-based multiple mediation analysis is used in this study. Results Significant direct and indirect effects on subjective well-being with indirect effects resulted in 23.1% of the effect of commuting time on well-being. It is also discovered that salary satisfaction is the only significant mediator of the association between commuting time and subjective well-being. Conclusion Policymakers need to consider not only the direct effects but also the indirect effects between commuting time and subjective well-being. The negative impact of commuting time on subjective well-being may be alleviated by improving the commuter's salary satisfaction.