How Voluntary Simplicity Evokes Resilience in Times of Crisis

Forced consumption restrictions during crises cause stress symptoms for many consumers and, as a result, have a detrimental impact on their life satisfaction. This article examines whether consumers practicing certain sufficiency styles react more resiliently than others to the adverse purchasing conditions during crises. The analysis is based on a unique dataset of more than 8,600 consumers, with the data collected over the course of four large-scale surveys between 2020 and 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The article demonstrates how the consciousness of voluntary simplicity can mitigate the adverse psychological impacts of high peaks in forced consumption restrictions. The mixed-methods approach also includes the analysis of two qualitative follow-up studies containing answers from 19 voluntary simplifiers and 37 policy makers. These studies shed light on why the consciousness of voluntary simplicity is beneficial in times of limited consumer options and help derive policy implications. The findings suggest that policy makers should not solely rely on behavioral prohibitions in crisis-related shortage situations, but should instead place more emphasis on promoting the self-responsibility and self-determination of citizens.