IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i6p3174-d516573.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Revisiting the Happy-Productive Worker Thesis from a Eudaimonic Perspective: A Systematic Review

Author

Listed:
  • José M. Peiró

    (IDOCAL, University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain
    IVIE, 46020 Valencia, Spain)

  • David Montesa

    (IDOCAL, University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain)

  • Aida Soriano

    (IDOCAL, University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain)

  • Malgorzata W. Kozusznik

    (IDOCAL, University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain
    Research Group Organizational and Occupational Psychology and Professional Learning, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium)

  • Esther Villajos

    (Business Department, Universidad Internacional de Valencia, 46002 Valencia, Spain)

  • Jorge Magdaleno

    (IDOCAL, University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain)

  • Nia Plamenova Djourova

    (IESE Business School, 08034 Barcelona, Spain)

  • Yarid Ayala

    (Business School, Tecnologico de Monterrey, 64849 Monterrey, NL, Mexico)

Abstract

The happy-productive worker thesis (HPWT) is considered the Holy Grail of management research, and it proposes caeteris paribus , happy workers show higher performance than their unhappy counterparts. However, eudaimonic well-being in the relationship between happiness and performance has been understudied. This paper provides a systematized review of empirical evidence in order to make a theoretical contribution to the happy-productive worker thesis from a eudaimonic perspective. Our review covers 105 quantitative studies and 188 relationships between eudaimonic well-being and performance. Results reveal that analyzing the eudaimonic facet of well-being provides general support for the HPWT and a much more comprehensive understanding of how it has been studied. However, some gaps and nuances are identified and discussed, opening up challenging avenues for future empirical research to clarify important questions about the relationship between happiness and performance in organizations.

Suggested Citation

  • José M. Peiró & David Montesa & Aida Soriano & Malgorzata W. Kozusznik & Esther Villajos & Jorge Magdaleno & Nia Plamenova Djourova & Yarid Ayala, 2021. "Revisiting the Happy-Productive Worker Thesis from a Eudaimonic Perspective: A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-27, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:6:p:3174-:d:516573
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/6/3174/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/6/3174/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jessica Van Wingerden & Joost Van der Stoep, 2018. "The motivational potential of meaningful work: Relationships with strengths use, work engagement, and performance," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(6), pages 1-11, June.
    2. Wilmar Schaufeli & Marisa Salanova & Vicente González-romá & Arnold Bakker, 2002. "The Measurement of Engagement and Burnout: A Two Sample Confirmatory Factor Analytic Approach," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 71-92, March.
    3. Christopher Peterson & Nansook Park & Martin Seligman, 2005. "Orientations to happiness and life satisfaction: the full life versus the empty life," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 25-41, March.
    4. Yarid Ayala & José Ma. Peiró Silla & Núria Tordera & Laura Lorente & Jesús Yeves, 2017. "Job Satisfaction and Innovative Performance in Young Spanish Employees: Testing New Patterns in the Happy-Productive Worker Thesis—A Discriminant Study," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 18(5), pages 1377-1401, October.
    5. Josette Dijkhuizen & Marjan Gorgievski & Marc Veldhoven & René Schalk, 2018. "Well-Being, Personal Success and Business Performance Among Entrepreneurs: A Two-Wave Study," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 19(8), pages 2187-2204, December.
    6. Violet T. Ho & Sze‐Sze Wong & Chay Hoon Lee, 2011. "A Tale of Passion: Linking Job Passion and Cognitive Engagement to Employee Work Performance," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1), pages 26-47, January.
    7. Macey, William H. & Schneider, Benjamin, 2008. "The Meaning of Employee Engagement," Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 3-30, March.
    8. Chen, Hao & Richard, Orlando C. & Dorian Boncoeur, O. & Ford, David L., 2020. "Work engagement, emotional exhaustion, and counterproductive work behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 30-41.
    9. B.M. Nwibere, 2014. "Interactive Relationship between Job Involvement, Job Satisfaction, Organisational Citizenship Behaviour, and Organizational Commitment in Nigerian Universities," International Journal of Management and Sustainability, Conscientia Beam, vol. 3(6), pages 321-340.
    10. Dorothea Wahyu Ariani, 2013. "The Relationship between Employee Engagement, Organizational Citizenship Behavior, and Counterproductive Work Behavior," International Journal of Business Administration, International Journal of Business Administration, Sciedu Press, vol. 4(2), pages 46-56, March.
    11. B.M Nwibere, 2014. "Interactive Relationship between Job Involvement, Job Satisfaction, Organisational Citizenship Behaviour, and Organizational Commitment in Nigerian Universities," International Journal of Management and Sustainability, Conscientia Beam, vol. 3(6), pages 321-340.
    12. Veronika Huta & Richard Ryan, 2010. "Pursuing Pleasure or Virtue: The Differential and Overlapping Well-Being Benefits of Hedonic and Eudaimonic Motives," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 11(6), pages 735-762, December.
    13. Guido Alessandri & Laura Borgogni & Wilmar Schaufeli & Gian Caprara & Chiara Consiglio, 2015. "Erratum to: From Positive Orientation to Job Performance: The Role of Work Engagement and Self-efficacy Beliefs," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 811-811, June.
    14. Ed Diener & Derrick Wirtz & William Tov & Chu Kim-Prieto & Dong-won Choi & Shigehiro Oishi & Robert Biswas-Diener, 2010. "New Well-being Measures: Short Scales to Assess Flourishing and Positive and Negative Feelings," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 97(2), pages 143-156, June.
    15. Felicia Huppert & Timothy So, 2013. "Flourishing Across Europe: Application of a New Conceptual Framework for Defining Well-Being," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 110(3), pages 837-861, February.
    16. Guido Alessandri & Laura Borgogni & Wilmar Schaufeli & Gian Caprara & Chiara Consiglio, 2015. "From Positive Orientation to Job performance: The Role of Work Engagement and Self-efficacy Beliefs," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 767-788, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. María Bastida & Belén Bande Vilela & Luisa H. Pinto & Sandra Castro-Gonzalez, 2023. "“Be Happy†While You Can: How Expatriates’ Accomplishments Affect Their Subjective Well-Being and Job Satisfaction," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(3), pages 21582440231, July.
    2. Baltasar González-Anta & Virginia Orengo & Ana Zornoza & Vicente Peñarroja & Nuria Gamero, 2021. "Sustainable Virtual Teams: Promoting Well-Being through Affect Management Training and Openness to Experience Configurations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-22, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Adnan Ahmed Sheikh & Aneeq Inam & Anila Rubab & Usama Najam & Naeem Ahmad Rana & Hayat Muhammad Awan, 2019. "The Spiritual Role of a Leader in Sustaining Work Engagement: A Teacher-Perceived Paradigm," SAGE Open, , vol. 9(3), pages 21582440198, July.
    2. Tilahun Kidane Diko & Shabnam Saxena, 2023. "Antecedents and outcome of employee engagement: Empirical study of Ethiopian public higher education institutions," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 3(8), pages 1-30, August.
    3. Hezhi Chen & Zhijia Zeng, 2023. "Seeking Pleasure is Good, but Avoiding Pain is Bad: Distinguishing Hedonic Approach from Hedonic Avoidance Orientations," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 24(7), pages 2377-2393, October.
    4. Maria Luisa Giancaspro & Antonino Callea & Amelia Manuti, 2022. "“I Like It like That”: A Study on the Relationship between Psychological Capital, Work Engagement and Extra-Role Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-17, February.
    5. Hazrat Bilal & Naveed Farooq & Kauser Hayat, 2019. "Empirically Investigating the Impact of Employee Engagement on Counterproductive Work Behavior of Academic Staff," Global Regional Review, Humanity Only, vol. 4(1), pages 120-127, March.
    6. Alexandra Ganglmair-Wooliscroft & Ben Wooliscroft, 2019. "Well-Being and Everyday Ethical Consumption," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 141-163, January.
    7. Indy Wijngaards & Owen C. King & Martijn J. Burger & Job Exel, 2022. "Worker Well-Being: What it Is, and how it Should Be Measured," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(2), pages 795-832, April.
    8. Holli-Anne Passmore & Andrew J. Howell & Mark D. Holder, 2018. "Positioning Implicit Theories of Well-Being Within a Positivity Framework," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 19(8), pages 2445-2463, December.
    9. Esther Villajos & Núria Tordera & José M. Peiró, 2019. "Human Resource Practices, Eudaimonic Well-Being, and Creative Performance: The Mediating Role of Idiosyncratic Deals for Sustainable Human Resource Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-20, December.
    10. Johannes Alfons Karl & Paul Verhaeghen & Shelley N. Aikman & Stian Solem & Espen R. Lassen & Ronald Fischer, 2022. "Misunderstood Stoicism: The negative Association Between Stoic Ideology and well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(7), pages 3531-3547, October.
    11. Julia Krasko & Sabrina Intelisano & Maike Luhmann, 2022. "When Happiness is Both Joy and Purpose: The Complexity of the Pursuit of Happiness and Well-Being is Related to Actual Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(7), pages 3233-3261, October.
    12. Ayman Alshaabani & Farheen Naz & Róbert Magda & Ildikó Rudnák, 2021. "Impact of Perceived Organizational Support on OCB in the Time of COVID-19 Pandemic in Hungary: Employee Engagement and Affective Commitment as Mediators," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-21, July.
    13. Marta G. Pancheva & Carol D. Ryff & Mario Lucchini, 2021. "An Integrated Look at Well-Being: Topological Clustering of Combinations and Correlates of Hedonia and Eudaimonia," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(5), pages 2275-2297, June.
    14. Sabina Baniya Chhetri, 2017. "Antecedents and Consequences of Job Engagement: Empirical Study of Bank Employees," Business Perspectives and Research, , vol. 5(2), pages 167-179, July.
    15. Hezhi Chen & Zhijia Zeng, 2021. "When Do Hedonic and Eudaimonic Orientations Lead to Happiness? Moderating Effects of Orientation Priority," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-12, September.
    16. Mariola Laguna & Wiktor Razmus, 2019. "When I Feel My Business Succeeds, I Flourish: Reciprocal Relationships Between Positive Orientation, Work Engagement, and Entrepreneurial Success," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(8), pages 2711-2731, December.
    17. Woocheol Kim & Soo Jeoung Han & Jiwon Park, 2019. "Is the Role of Work Engagement Essential to Employee Performance or ‘Nice to Have’?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-16, February.
    18. Ricardo Crespo & Belén Mesurado, 2015. "Happiness Economics, Eudaimonia and Positive Psychology: From Happiness Economics to Flourishing Economics," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 931-946, August.
    19. Laura Giuntoli & Federica Condini & Francesco Ceccarini & Veronika Huta & Giulio Vidotto, 2021. "The Different Roles of Hedonic and Eudaimonic Motives for Activities in Predicting Functioning and Well-Being Experiences," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 1657-1671, April.
    20. Léandre Alexis Chénard-Poirier & Robert J. Vallerand & Jérémie Verner-Filion & Nathalie Houlfort & Jacques Forest & Natalie Rinfret, 2023. "Optimal Functioning in Society: A Conceptualization, a Measure, and a Look at Determinants," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 857-892, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:6:p:3174-:d:516573. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.