Understanding associations between Big Five personality traits, multiple dimensions of wellbeing and sustainable development

Sustainable development (SD) has been the focus of environmentalists, academicians, policymakers and, economists in designing innovative thinking instead of traditional methods to be ecologically sensitive and adaptive. SD and wellbeing together have been closely interlinked in the past literature but the relationship between multiple dimensions of wellbeing and SD in presence of personality traits is missing. The conceptual framework presented provides directionality between three dimensions of wellbeing (hedonic, eudaimonic and social) and SD. The framework proposes a bidirectional relationship between SD and wellbeing of an individual. The paper also points to the role of academia and higher education teachers in process of SD. Personality traits come out to be a strong predictor of all dimensions of wellbeing as well as sustainability efforts from an individual level. The findings have relevance in designing sustainable public policy, education curriculum at institute level, personality modulation programs and community-oriented indices.