Thriving at Workplace: Contributing to Self-development, Career Development, and Better Performance in Information Organizations

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the relationship of thriving with self-development, career development initiatives and individual performance in the setting of information industry. The research is empirical in nature. Data has been collected through questionnaire from the librarians working at middle and top level positions in the academic and research libraries of Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi. A questionnaire was distributed through email and in person. SPSS (version 20) is used for descriptive, correlation and regression analysis. The findings revealed that workplace, having elements of zest and learning, can predict self-development, enhanced performance and career growth. The highest correlation was found between thriving and individual performance. The empirical result depicted that mostly information professionals working in libraries have their own personal career goals and they are continuously making efforts to extend their skills needed for future career growth. The study contributes to a better understanding of thriving at workplace by relating it to both theoretically and empirically important organizational and personal outcomes. Practically, the study will help leadership to pay more attention towards adding vitality and learning experience at workplace, evaluating the inter organizational skills inventory, devising stimulating training programs and making suitable adjustments for utilizing existing and extended competencies. Thriving has been considered a most recent concept in the positive organizational research and behavior movements. There are few studies discussing the conceptual ground of thriving at work place but very few empirical researches could be found in this context. Current study will be an addition to the scholarship of management, organizational behavior and information management by discussing thriving at work place and predicting its outcome among information professionals of Pakistan