Studying employee well-being: moving forward

In this article, we attempt to integrate the commentaries to our position paper on intra-individual models of employee well-being (EWB; Ilies, R., Aw, S. S. Y., & Pluut, H. (2015). Intraindividual models of employee well-being: What have we learned and where do we go from here? European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, Advance online publication) of Bakker (2015. Towards a multilevel approach of employee well-being. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, Advance online publication) and Cropanzano and Dasborough (2015. Dynamic models of well-being: Implications of affective events theory for expanding current views on personality and climate. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, Advance online publication) with our original suggestions into a discussion and a set of recommendations aimed at moving theory and research on EWB forward. We hope that this effort, along with our position paper and the two commentaries, will lead to the development of a more comprehensive model of EWB and will stimulate new and interesting research on the topic.     

Well-being during the coronavirus pandemic: The effect of big five personality and COVID-19 beliefs and behaviors

This study examined the relationship between personality traits, COVID-specific beliefs and behaviors, and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. In July 2020, at the onset of a second major lockdown, Australian adults (n = 1453) completed measures of Big Five personality, COVID beliefs and behaviors (i.e., belief in a rapid recovery, perceived risk, compliance, change in exercise, and change in interpersonal conflict), subjective well-being and COVID-specific well-being. Personality correlates of COVID-specific well-being differed from those with general life satisfaction. The benefits of conscientiousness were elevated whereas the benefits of extraversion and agreeableness were reduced. Neuroticism was related to greater perceived risk from the pandemic, elevated interpersonal conflict during the pandemic, and more pessimistic views about the rate at which society would recover from the pandemic. In contrast, conscientiousness was notably related to greater compliance with directions from public health authorities. While regression models showed that general well-being was largely explained by personality, COVID factors provided incremental prediction, and this was greatest when predicting COVID-specific well-being and lowest for global evaluations of life satisfaction. The observed prediction by beliefs and behaviors on well-being beyond personality, provides potential opportunities for targeted interventions to support the management of future novel stressors.     

What’s in a face? Perhaps some elements of both eudaimonic and hedonic well-being

The idea that eudaimonic well-being (EWB) should be distinguished from the more widespread notion of hedonic well-being (HWB), has stirred up disagreement among happiness researchers. Siding with EWB researchers, this study provides theoretical and empirical arguments supporting the distinctiveness and usefulness of a EWB dimension. A path model with data from Norwegian university students (N?=?184) showed that, when requested to draw both a happy face and a sad face, indicators of HWB were associated with a preference for working with the happy rather than the sad face. Indicators of EWB were uncorrelated with this hedonic bias. Eudaimonic feeling states were associated with the level of creativity involved in the drawings, while hedonic feelings were not. Finally, participants who draw bigger faces also felt more pleasure during the act of drawing. Eudaimonic feelings were unrelated to the size of the drawing.     

本土心理资本与职业幸福感的关系

职业幸福感是国内外学者和管理实践者关注的重要问题, 本文综合资源保存理论、工作要求-资源模型和本土心理资本理论, 构建并检验了本土心理资本对职业幸福感的影响模型。研究一通过访谈、问卷调查等方法研制了信效度较好的问卷, 1566名教师的调查结果表明, 本土心理资本包含事务型心理资本(希望、乐观和坚韧)与人际型心理资本(自谦、感恩、利他、情商/情绪智力和信心/自我效能)。研究二使用2280名教师的有效数据, 通过控制了其他变量影响后进行结构方程建模及交叉验证分析, 结果表明：(1)职业幸福感(工作投入、工作倦怠、离职意愿和工作满意度)的积极情感体验(工作投入)与认知评价(工作满意度)存在增益螺旋过程; (2)心理资本通过能量补充和动机激发双过程促进职业幸福感; (3)人际型心理资本通过一级、二级能量补充与动机激发过程影响职业幸福感; 事务型心理资本也通过一级、二级动机激发过程影响职业幸福感, 但是只通过二级能量补充过程影响职业幸福感。在中国文化背景下, 人际型心理资本对职业幸福感的作用更大。     

Uses of music and psychological well-being among the elderly

A questionnaire was sent to a random sample of 500 community living older adults in Sweden (aged 65–75 years). The questionnaire assessed uses of music in everyday life: frequency of listening, situations where music is encountered, emotional responses to music, and motives for listening (i.e., listening strategies). Also, different facets of psychological well-being (e.g., affective well-being, life satisfaction, and eudaimonic well-being) and selected background variables (e.g., education level, health status, activity level, and Big-5 personality characteristics) were assessed. Results showed that listening to music is a common leisure activity encountered in many everyday situations, and that listening to music is a frequent source of positive emotions for older adults. Also, the participants reported using a variety of listening strategies related to emotional functions (e.g., pleasure, mood regulation, and relaxation) and issues of identity, belonging, and agency. The associations between listening strategies and well-being were explored through correlation and multiple regression analyses where the influence of background variables was controlled for. Health status and personality were the most important predictors of well-being, but some listening strategies were also significantly associated with psychological well-being. The results give important insights into older adults’ uses of music in everyday life and give clues regarding possible relationships between musical activities and well-being.     

Religiousness,spirituality, and eudaimonic and hedonic well-being

This study tested a conceptual model of religiousness/spirituality (R/S) and hedonic well-being (HWB; measured by life satisfaction and positive affect) by including eudaimonic well-being (EWB; measured by meaning in life) as a mediator. Given the multidimensionality of R/S, we examined whether and how the magnitudes of direct and indirect relationships varied for various aspects of R/S: organizational religious practices, private religious practices, daily religious/spiritual experiences, and subjective spirituality. Web survey data of 450 US American adults were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results showed that EWB partially mediated the relation of daily religious/spiritual experiences and HWB; however, the other three aspects of R/S had no indirect relationships with HWB. Additionally, private religious practices and subjective spirituality indicated negative direct relationships with HWB. Approximately 68% of the variance in HWB was accounted for by the variables included in this model. Implications for research and clinical practice are discussed.     

Toward a Tripartite Factor Structure of Mental Health: Subjective Well-Being,Personal Growth,and Religiosity

According to recent research findings, the domain of psychological well-being may be represented by 2 basic factors: subjective well-being (e.g., happiness, life satisfaction) and personal growth (e.g., self-actualization, a sense of meaningfulness). This study tested the hypothesis that in addition to those 2 factors, a 3rd basic factor is necessary to adequately describe the ways in which people search for well-being. That factor is a type of religiosity that is based on other-centeredness and self-renunciation. A sample of 242 undergraduate and graduate students completed 10 measures of psychological well-being that resulted in 21 scales and subscales. Principal components analyses provided initial support for a tripartite model of psychological well-being. Results also suggested that current measures of personal growth may measure either the autonomy or mature social relationships components of the construct.     

Personality,health, wealth,and subjective well-being: Testing a integrative model with retired and working older adults

The current study tests an integrative model based on resource theories of retirement examining the relationships among personal resources (i.e., health and wealth), the Big Five, and subjective well-being in late life. We used a subsample (N = 2,518) of participants across two cohorts from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). All participants were working at Time 1 and a subsample retired between Time 1 and Time 2. A multi-group structural equation model compared the relationships among personality, health, wealth, and well-being between those who continued working and those who retired. Results suggest that wealth and health are related to personality traits (i.e., conscientiousness, neuroticism, and agreeableness), but provide no evidence that the relationships are different for retired and working adults.     

How challenging was your work today? The role of autonomous work motivation

The main aim of this study was to investigate whether autonomous motivation for work can explain the distinctive associations between hindrance and challenge demands and work-related well-being (i.e., positive affect and work engagement) on a within-person level. Autonomous work motivation represents the degree to which motivation for putting effort in work is intrinsic (i.e., with a sense of volition and personal choice) or has been internalized (i.e., without feelings of internal or external pressure). In order to test our hypotheses, we employed a diary methodology and followed 153 secondary school teachers throughout five consecutive working days. The results of multilevel modelling provided support for the hypothesized research model. On days when teachers experienced more challenges, they also experienced more positive affect and more engagement in their work on the same day, and this relationship could be explained by (higher) autonomous work motivation on that day. In contrast, on days when teachers experienced more hindrance demands, they experienced less positive affect and less work engagement, and this process was explained by (reduced) autonomous work motivation that day. Our findings add to the literature by showing that daily autonomous motivation as a motivational process can explain why daily challenge and hindrance demands are differentially related to positive well-being at work.     

歧视知觉对城市流动儿童幸福感的影响：中介机制及归属需要的调节作用

采用整群取样法对选自北京市的1551名流动儿童进行测查, 探讨歧视知觉对城市流动儿童的个体和群体幸福感的影响机制, 即内群体认同和群体地位感在其中的中介作用, 以及不同归属需要下内群体认同和群体地位感的中介作用差异。结果表明：(1)公立学校小学流动儿童的个体和群体幸福感相对较高; 流动男生比流动女生具有较高的生活满意度, 流动女生比流动男生具有较高的群体幸福感。(2)歧视知觉对城市流动儿童的个体和群体幸福感存在直接显著的负向预测作用, 并通过内群体情感认同和群体地位感的中介作用负向预测群体幸福感。(3)不同归属需要下歧视知觉对个体和群体幸福感的作用机制存在差异。在高归属需要组, 歧视知觉对个体幸福感存在直接显著的负向预测作用, 并通过群体地位感和群体幸福感的双重中介消极地影响个体幸福感; 歧视知觉完全通过群体地位感的中介消极地影响群体幸福感。在低归属需要组, 歧视知觉对个体幸福感既存在直接的负向预测作用, 也通过内群体情感认同和群体地位感的中介发挥间接性的积极作用; 歧视知觉对群体幸福感只存在间接的消极影响, 内群体情感认同和群体地位感在其中发挥完全中介作用。这表明, 内群体情感认同和群体地位感在流动儿童歧视知觉与幸福感之间的中介效应受到归属需要的调节影响。     

Positivity and the Construction of Life Satisfaction Judgments: Global Happiness is not the Sum of its Parts

The present study investigated how reports of satisfaction with specific versus global domains can be used to assess a disposition towards positivity in subjective well-being reports. College students from 41 societies (N = 7167) completed measures of life satisfaction and ratings of global and specific aspects of their lives. For example, participants rated satisfaction with their education (global) and satisfaction with their professors, textbooks, and lectures (specific). It was hypothesized that global measures would more strongly reflect individual differences in dispositional positivity, that is, a propensity to evaluate aspects of life in general as good. At both the individual and national levels, positivity predicted life satisfaction beyond objective measures. Also, positivity was associated with norms about ideal life satisfaction such that countries and individuals who highly valued positive emotions were more likely to display positivity. The difference between more global versus more concrete measures of satisfaction can be used as an indirect and subtle measure of positivity.     

破解“通勤悖论”:通勤时间如何影响幸福感

本文从社会过渡带和心理过渡带两个方面对"通勤悖论"进行解析,构建了通勤时间影响幸福感的理论模型。通过对广州市白领的追踪调查和多项式回归分析,结果发现:(1)婚姻状态(社会过渡带)具有调节作用,未婚员工通勤时间负向影响生活满意度,已婚员工通勤时间对生活满意度和快乐度有曲线影响;(2)恢复体验(心理过渡带)具有交互效应,心理解脱调节了未婚员工通勤时间与通勤效用的关系,放松体验调节了未婚员工通勤时间与快乐度的关系;(3)已婚员工通勤时间与通勤效用和快乐度的关系受放松体验调节,与生活满意度的关系受心理解脱调节;(4)通勤时间对生活满意度和快乐度的影响,以及婚姻状态和恢复体验的交互效应,以通勤效用为中介;(5)员工在"通勤时间陷阱"(1.75~2.75小时)的效用均衡。结论有助于分析"通勤悖论"的深层原因,对城市管理、企业管理和个人都具有积极启示。     

The role of core self-evaluations in the relationship between religious involvement and subjective well-being: a moderated mediation model

This study examined whether core self-evaluations (CSE), a personality-based construct, mediates the association between religious involvement and subjective well-being (i.e., physical and psychological). Furthermore, investigates whether the indirect relation of religious involvement to well-being through CSE is conditional on age group (elderly vs. adults). Two different samples were examined: an elderly (N?=?300) and an adult community sample (N?=?294). To determine whether the strength of these effects depend on (moderated by) age group, we used multiple regression analyses and bootstrapping framework to probe conditional indirect (i.e., moderated mediation) effects. The results showed that CSE mediates the relationship between religious involvement (i.e., religious attendance and intrinsic religiosity) and both aspects of subjective well-being. However, the moderated mediation models revealed that this mechanism exists only for elderly. Implications of these results for improving the quality of life in elderly are discussed and directions for future research are provided.     

National Differences in Subjective Well-Being: The Interactive Effects of Extraversion and Neuroticism

Extraversion and neuroticism interact to affect subjective well-being (SWB) at the individual level of analysis, so that introverted neurotics tend to be particularly miserable. The goal of this study is to determine if this interaction can also be detected at a national level. Findings based on data from 30 countries confirmed that the interaction between extraversion and neuroticism was an extremely strong predictor of satisfaction with life and affect, and a similar though not significant effect was observed with happiness. Neuroticism lowered satisfaction with life and affect among all nations, but more so among introverted nations than among extraverted ones. These findings further confirm that personality traits can be used to extend our understanding of national differences regarding SWB. They also further validate national SWB scores, as they relate to personality in a complex but theoretically meaningful manner.     

Investigating occupational well-being and leadership from a person-centred longitudinal approach: congruence of well-being and perceived leadership

The overall objective of this longitudinal study was to investigate the association between perceived leadership and employee well-being from a person-centred approach utilizing the principles of the conservation of resources theory (Hobfoll, S. E. (1989). Conservation of resources: A new attempt at conceptualizing stress. American Psychologist, 44, 513–524; Hobfoll, S. E. (2002). Social and psychological resources and adaptation. Review of General Psychology, 6, 307–324). First, we aimed to identify latent classes (i.e., subgroups) of employees that demonstrated similar mean levels of stability and change in occupational well-being (i.e., vigour and emotional exhaustion) across a mean time-lag of 14 months. Second, we ascertained whether employees in the latent well-being classes differed in their ratings of transformational, authentic, and abusive leadership behaviours across time. Self-report data were obtained from Finnish employees (N = 262, 88% women) working in a variety of municipal jobs. Using factor mixture modelling, four latent well-being classes were identified, indicating good (79%), low (10%), improving (8%), and deteriorating (3%) well-being. Congruence in both level and change of well-being and perceived leadership was found. That is, employees with better well-being across time reported more favourable leadership behaviours at both time points, and changes in employee well-being were reflected as changes in perceived leadership. The close relationship between perceived leadership and well-being is discussed from both a leader-centric (leadership as a resource) and a follower-centric (well-being as a resource) perspective.     

What good are character strengths beyond subjective well-being? The contribution of the good character on self-reported health-oriented behavior,physical fitness,and the subjective health status

Character strengths were tested in relation to subjective (life satisfaction) and physical (self-evaluated health and physical fitness) well-being (440 adults). Health-behaviors and the mediating role of health-behaviors in explaining the relationship between character and well-being were also considered. Emotional, intellectual strengths and strengths of the heart were positively associated with life satisfaction and physical fitness. Emotional strengths correlated positively with the self-evaluation of feeling healthy. All strengths (except for modesty and religiousness) were related to health-behaviors; e.g. healthy eating and watching ones food consumption were associated with self-regulation and intellectual strengths. Health behaviors partially mediated the relation of broader strengths factors on subjective and physical well-being. The largest indirect effects were found for leading an active way of life. The study suggests that there are positive relations between character strengths and subjective but also physical well-being. Furthermore, potential mechanisms, which might account for these relations (i.e. health-behaviors) are assessed.     

Enduring stress: A quantitative analysis on coping profiles and sport well-being in amateur endurance athletes

Endurance athletes experience physical and psychological stress during training and competition that can inhibit performance and promote negative health implications (i.e., lower well-being) without proper coping mechanisms (McCormick et al., 2018; Sakar & Fletcher, 2014). Additionally, these athletes that train at an amateur level have received limited attention regarding coping with stress and how it impacts well-being (McCormick et al., 2018). The purpose of this study was threefold: to (a) determine common coping profiles of trained amateur endurance athletes, (b) explore the relationship between sport well-being and these coping profiles, and (c) examine the potential roles that appraisals might play in the coping-well-being relationship. The results yielded five distinct coping profiles: Mixed Adaptive Copers (MAC), Mixed Maladaptive Copers (MMC), Engaged Copers (EC), Avoidant Copers (AC), and Social Copers (SC). Coping profiles differed across various variables including sport well-being, appraisals, and demographic factors. Overall, MAC and EC had higher levels of sport well-being. MAC viewed stressors as a challenge (i.e., opportunity) compared to EC and AC. These findings suggest the complex nature of coping in sport and that athletes should develop an assortment of coping strategies that provide different strategies for various stressful situations.     

The Beck Depression Inventory as a Measure of Subjective Well-Being: A Cross-National Study

The present study examined the question whether the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), which is one of the most widely used instruments to assess depression, can be used to measure differences in subjective well-being at national level. In order to establish the meaning of depression scores at country level, the functional equivalence (i.e., similarity of meaning) of depression scores at individual and country level was examined. Studies using the BDI in normal populations from 28 countries were collected. Depression showed the same correlates at individual and country level, which supports the functional equivalence of the BDI at the two levels. BDI scores and subjective well-being were then correlated with a number of country characteristics in order to test three theories of cross-national differences in subjective well-being. Livability theory stresses the importance of objective living conditions, comparison theory focuses on relative living conditions, and folklore theory states that cross-national differences can be explained by some national trait (e.g., beliefs and values concerning happiness). Cross-national differences in depression and subjective well-being could be explained by livability theory and folklore theory. BDI scores were negatively correlated with subjective well-being and other happiness-related variables. These findings suggest that depression had the same meaning at individual and country level and that depression is an adequate measure of (a lack of) subjective well-being at country level.     

Impact of Self-Orientations and Work-Context–Related Variables on the Well-Being of Public- and Private-Sector Turkish Employees

The authors (a) explored the impact of individual differences in self-orientations (i.e., relatedness and individuation) of 383 Turkish public- and private-sector employees on their basic need satisfaction at work and their well-being (i.e., life satisfaction and psychological well-being); (b) considered differences in perceived autonomy- and relatedness-supportiveness of the work contexts; and (c) tested a model in which the relationship between self-orientations and well-being is partially mediated by the perceived supportiveness of the work context and the need satisfaction of employees at work, using structural equation modeling. Results suggest that self-orientations of employees predict their well-being both directly and indirectly through the mediation of perceived supportiveness and need satisfaction provided by the work context, which seem to vary according to sector type.