Interpersonal forgiveness and employee life satisfaction: the role of affect at work

Abstract

Purpose

Amidst the new realities of the modern world, a happy and satisfied workforce has become a necessary requirement for organizations to maintain their competitive edge. While most of the available literature revolves around positive organizational behaviour, there is dearth of research on the influence of interpersonal forgiveness on affect and life satisfaction in employees. Keeping this precept in mind, this study aims at bridging this gap in research by developing and testing a mediation model to examine the link between interpersonal forgiveness to affect and life satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach

The sample consists of 378 employees working in different Indian manufacturing organizations. To test the hypotheses, structural equation modelling was applied.

Findings

The results reveal that interpersonal forgiveness significantly influences life satisfaction and affect partially mediates this relationship in employees.

Practical implications

The study recommends that organizational development practitioners and human resource professionals focus on forgiveness among co-workers to foster a balanced affect and enhanced life satisfaction by developing and implementing positive psychological interventions and practices. This can help organizations in regulating interpersonal transgressions and conflicts at an early stage and also make the employees happy and satisfied.

Originality/value

This study offers concrete insights into the complicated interplay of affect in the link between interpersonal forgiveness and life satisfaction in the yet underexplored context of Indian organizations.

Citation

Dahiya, R. (2022), "Interpersonal forgiveness and employee life satisfaction: the role of affect at work", International Journal of Organizational Analysis, Vol. 30 No. 2, pp. 305-323. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOA-02-2020-2042