Revisiting the relationship between maximizing and well-being: An investigation of eudaimonic well-being

Research on the relationship between maximizing (i.e., the general tendency to seek only the best option and not settle for "good enough" options) and subjective well-being has led to conflicting findings. Although earlier studies suggested that maximizing is associated with lower well-being, more recent studies have challenged this conclusion arguing that it is based on improper measurement of the maximizing construct. Unlike prior research that has looked for answers to the maximizing well-being question by addressing measurement issues of maximizing, this article offers an alternative perspective by addressing measurement issues of well-being. Specifically, the central proposition of this article is that research on maximizing and well-being needs to consider not only hedonic well-being, as has been the case so far, but also eudaimonic well-being (i.e., well-being derived from the development of one's best potential and the fulfillment of self-expressive goals). This research proposes and finds that maximizing is positively associated with eudaimonic well-being (Study 1) and this holds even after accounting for hedonic well-being (Study 2). These findings suggest that eudaimonic well-being is a useful construct that explains unique variance in maximizing. Implications for theory and research on maximizing, decision making and well-being are discussed. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.