Subjective well-being, social network, financial stability and living environment of the displaced community: Implications for an inclusive society

Abstract

This study examines the state of subjective well-being (SWB), living and social environment of the displaced community in Putrajaya, Malaysia. The study also explores the determinants of SWB through a survey of 141 households and interviews. The results show that almost half of the household heads have low SWB. The community faces disadvantages in terms of physical living conditions, neighbourhood environment and financial stability. SWB has been shown to correlate strongly with social networks such as family and neighbourhood relationships. In addition, long-term financial stability (rather than income) and a stable living environment contribute significantly to higher SWB. We argue that more prudent policies to promote the well-being of the displaced community are needed to achieve the inclusive development that the government seeks. In particular, intervention programmes are crucial to improve the social network, living conditions and financial stability of the displaced community. The study contributes to uncovering the lack of comprehensive knowledge on the problems of SWB, especially regarding the development of the displaced community, to generate policy insights.

Keywords:

• subjective well-being
• displaced community
• Malaysia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Standard Deviation

2 The score can be calculated as an overall average by dividing the total score by the number of questions (in this case 4 items) or the total value of the 4 items.

3 We conducted and explored various demographic variables such as age, education and employment status. However, we found no evidence of those variables impacting SWB. The results reported in Tables 7 and 8 are the final results after dropping some of the demographic variables.

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to acknowledge the funding support (grant number PD006-2018) from the Centre for Poverty and Development Studies (now known as Ungku Aziz Centre for Development Studies), Universiti Malaya. The funding was instrumental in supporting the fieldwork.