The Role and Reprocessing of Attitudes in Fostering Employee Work Happiness: An Intervention Study

Paige Williams,Margaret L Kern,Lea Waters

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00028

Paige Williams, Margaret L Kern + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00028

Copy DOI

Abstract

This intervention study examines the iterative reprocessing of explicit and implicit attitudes as the process underlying associations between positive employee attitudes (PsyCap), perception of positive organization culture (organizational virtuousness, OV), and work happiness. Using a quasi-experimental design, a group of school staff (N = 69) completed surveys at three time points. After the first assessment, the treatment group (n = 51) completed a positive psychology training intervention. Results suggest that employee PsyCap, OV, and work happiness are associated with one another through both implicit and explicit attitudes. Further, the Iterative-Reprocessing Model of attitudes (IRM) provides some insights into the processes underlying these associations. By examining the role and processes through which explicit and implicit attitudes relate to wellbeing at work, the study integrates theories on attitudes, positive organizational scholarship, positive organizational behavior and positive education. It is one of the first studies to apply the theory of the IRM to explain associations amongst PsyCap, OV and work happiness, and to test the IRM theory in a field-based setting. In applying attitude theory to wellbeing research, this study provides insights to mechanisms underlying workplace wellbeing that have not been previously examined and in doing so responds to calls for researchers to learn more about the mechanisms underlying wellbeing interventions. Further, it highlights the need to understand subconscious processes in future wellbeing research and to include implicit measures in positive psychology interventions measurement programs. Practically, this research calls attention to the importance of developing both the positive attitudes of employees and the organizational culture in developing employee work happiness.

Highlights

A growing body of research that applies positive psychology (PP) to the organizational context has focused on individual and organizational factors that influence employee wellbeing at work
The current study focuses on the 51 employees who completed the training to examine underlying processes to foster work happiness and whether through the development of implicit and explicit positive attitudes (PsyCap), the iterative reprocessing of attitudes was triggered
This study examined the Iterative-Reprocessing Model (IRM) of evaluation as a process underlying the associations between positive employee attitudes (PsyCap), perception of positive organization culture (OV), and work happiness

Summary

Introduction

A growing body of research that applies positive psychology (PP) to the organizational context has focused on individual and organizational factors that influence employee wellbeing at work. Wellbeing has been related to their levels of engagement (Harter et al, 2003), organizational citizenship behaviors (LePine et al, 2002) relationships at work (Waters and Stokes, 2015), job satisfaction and commitment (Kern et al, 2015), and overall career success. The Inside-Out Outside-In model (IO-OI) (Williams et al, 2016a) proposes that factors “inside” the employee (e.g., internal attitudes) and factors “outside” the employee (e.g., organizational culture) influence work happiness, which is defined by Fisher (2010) as employees’ perspectives on their engagement with work, commitment to the organization, and job satisfaction (For a full discussion on this model of work happiness, see Williams et al, 2016a) The question becomes what can organizations do to promote the wellbeing of their employees? The Inside-Out Outside-In model (IO-OI) (Williams et al, 2016a) proposes that factors “inside” the employee (e.g., internal attitudes) and factors “outside” the employee (e.g., organizational culture) influence work happiness, which is defined by Fisher (2010) as employees’ perspectives on their engagement with work, commitment to the organization, and job satisfaction (For a full discussion on this model of work happiness, see Williams et al, 2016a)

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion