A Test of Two Positive Psychology Interventions to Increase Employee Well-Being

J Bus Psychol (2014) 29:367380 DOI 10.1007/s10869-013-9319-4

A Test of Two Positive Psychology Interventions to Increase Employee Well-Being

Seth Kaplan Jill C. Bradley-Geist Afra Ahmad

Amanda Anderson Amber K. Hargrove

Alex Lindsey

Published online: 9 August 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

AbstractPurpose Despite an abundance of organizational research on how contextual and individual difference factors impact well-being, little research has examined whether individuals themselves can take an active role in enhancing their own well-being. The current study assessed the effectiveness of two simple, self-guided workplace interventions (gratitude and social connectedness) in impacting well-being.

Design/Methodology/Approach Sixty-seven university employees participated in one of the two self-guided interventions for 2 weeks and completed self-report measures prior to the intervention, immediately following the intervention, and one-month post-intervention. Growth curve modeling was used to examine the effects of each intervention.

Findings Partially supporting hypotheses, the gratitude intervention resulted in signicant increases in positive affective well-being and self-reported gratitude but not did signicantly impact negative affective well-being or self-reported social connectedness. The social connectedness exercise did not signicantly impact any of those four outcomes. However, both interventions related to a reduction in workplace absence due to illness. Implications The study suggests that self-guided, positive psychology interventions (particularly gratitude) hold

potential for enhancing employee well-being. Because the interventions are short, simple, and self-guided, there is little in the way of costs or drawbacks for organizations. Thus, these types of interventions seem like a potentially useful component of workplace wellness initiatives. Originality/Value This study is one of the few to examine whether self-guided, positive psychology interventions can enhance well-being. Moreover, this is the rst study to examine a social connectedness workplace intervention and the rst to demonstrate effects on illness-related absence.

Keywords Positive psychology Intervention

Workplace well-being Gratitude Social

connectedness Affect

Employee psychological well-being has substantial consequences for individual and organizational health and functioning (e.g., Harter et al. 2003). Although workplace well-being long has been a concern for organizational scholars (e.g., (Roethlisberger and Dickson 1939), recent ndings suggest that attention to employee psychological functioning may now be especially pressing. Owing to factors such as decreased job security, the economic downturn, and the inability to turn off work, over three-quarters of Americans list work as a signicant source of stress (American Psychological...