Assessing Durban Car Guards’ Happiness Using TheShort Form Oxford Happiness Questionnaire

Abstract

Car guarding remains a means of earning a living in South Africa‘s informalsector. With low earnings and harsh working environments, the assumptionmay be that car guards have low levels of fulfilment and life satisfaction, (whichAfrican Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (AJIE)E-ISSN 2753-314X (Online); ISSN 2753-3131 (Print)Indexed by IBSS, EBSCO and Foster, Chasomeris & Blaauw (AJIE) Vol. 3, (No. 3), December 2024, pp 103-131104is referred to as subjective well-being) (SWB) and are consequently unhappy.Yet studies have shown that people who live in poverty such as informal wastepickers and car guards, may have higher than expected levels of life satisfaction.This study investigates the possible determinants of SWB, in terms of self-reported happiness. The Short Form Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ-SF) was administered to 45 car guards in Durban in 2019. A quantile regressionused secondary data about these same car guards' livelihood characteristics toexamine the possible determinants of SWB. Findings indicate that four variableswere statistically significant (at a 10% level), namely age, age squared, level ofeducation, and race. The age variable exhibited the expected quadraticbehaviour, reaching a minimum point of 40.08, and then increased. Happinesswas greater on average for car guards with only a primary school level ofeducation (including incomplete secondary education) than complete secondaryschool or higher education levels. Although studies show that individuals withhigher education may be happier, socio-economic situations may makeindividuals less happy possibly due to the realisation that higher-educated carguards have not reached their potential. Car guards who were religious hadhigher levels of happiness, with Christians slightly happier, yet due to the smallnumber of respondents, these findings may be skewed. No statisticallysignificant evidence suggests happiness is related solely to earnings