The objective of the present study is to examine the psychological
characteristics of individuals who sometimes choose to put leisure activities
first, despite a general tendency to prioritize work over leisure. Based on
existing research, it may be assumed that an individual’s level of subjective
happiness is related to his or her decision to prioritize leisure over work. To
validate this hypothesis, an online survey was conducted among 216 office
workers with regard to their overall happiness, their experience with
prioritizing leisure over work within the past three months, the individual(s)
with whom they spent leisure time, if any, and their work-to-leisure ratio.
Results showed that 85 respondents who confirmed an experience of
prioritizing leisure over work revealed that those individuals maintained a
higher level of happiness and a lower level of work-leisure imbalance than
the remaining 131 respondents. In addition, among the same 85 respondents,
54 spent leisure time together with others, which implies a connection
between leisure priorities and sharing leisure time with others. In summary,
individuals who sometimes prioritized leisure over work were happier than
those who did not, and they also tended to spend leisure time with others.
Results of the present study are significant because they clarify the
inter-connectedness of happiness, work-leisure balance, maintenance of good
relationships and leisure time, and the characteristics and priorities of
countries in which the level of happiness is higher than the level of
economic power.