Chinese study finds helping proactively improves employee wellbeing

Abstract

Purpose The study was intended to find out if there was a difference between reactive and proactive helping in terms of developing wellbeing. Design/methodology/approach There were two studies. Study One involved doing interviews with employees in Chinese businesses, then creating a scale that was used to test a series of hypotheses in Study Two. Findings The results showed that proactive helping behavior has a significantly positive effect on employees’ well-being. But the coefficients of reactive helping behavior toward work well-being were not significant. Finally, the results showed the significant effect of meaningfulness as a mediator for employees’ wellbeing for both proactive and reactive helping. Originality/value The authors felt their research had practical implications for both employees and managers. Specifically, their insights into the nature of different forms of helping could help them manage their careers. Many previous research papers have shown that those who help others are more likely to have successful careers. But the paper suggests that employees who help proactively may gain much more benefit than those helping reactively.