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The relationship between job satisfaction and performance is a topic that has been intriguing scholars and managers for a long time. With the flourishing of positive psychology, it has been called the happy-productive worker thesis. New concepts led to new results but still divergent. This study aims to understand the past 20 years of research on the topic, also called the holy grail of the organizational sciences, helping to unwrap conclusions so far.

Bibliometric analysis was performed with R statistical tool’s support, complemented by content analysis, based on studies from three major databases between 1999 and 2019. The empirical studies were analyzed according to the constructs used, shedding light on when the happy-productive worker thesis is more likely to be confirmed.

Results show a variety of constructs and instruments used to operationalize the constructs. This lack of convergence accounts for a large part of the general inconclusiveness of the topic. Indicated research gaps can be useful to both academics and practitioners.

Only studies declared as related to the happy-productive worker thesis were considered.

Managers can benefit from considering the findings as a basis for decision-making regarding investments in employee happiness at work, focusing on the aspects of happy constructs that lead to productive criteria.

The application of mixed methods, complementing the bibliometric with thorough content analysis, provided a more detailed overview of current knowledge about the topic, helping to disentangle different concepts that were treated as similar. Thus, it is possible to understand in which situations happy workers are really more productive.

For many years now, both organizational researchers and practitioners alike have been interested in the role played by employee happiness on a number of workplace outcomes. In particular, many have been fascinated by the happy/productive worker thesis. According to this hypothesis, happy employees exhibit higher levels of job-related performance behaviors than do unhappy employees. However, despite decades of research, support for the happy/productive worker thesis remains equivocal. These inconsistent findings primarily result from the variety of ways in which happiness has been operationalized. Most typically, organizational theorists have operationalized happiness as job satisfaction, as the presence of positive affect, as the absence of negative affect, as the lack of emotional exhaustion, and as psychological well being. I will review this literature using the circumplex framework as the taxonomic guideline. In addition, drawing on the impetus of the “positive psychology” movement, I propose Fredrickson’s (1998, 2001, 2003) broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions as one approach especially well-suited for future research to better understand the happy/productive worker thesis.

For decades, since at least the famous Hawthorne studies, the happy/productive worker thesis has forcefully captured the imagination of management scholars and human resource professionals alike. According to this “Holy Grail” of management research, workers who are happy on the job will have higher job performance, and possibly higher job retention, than those who are less happy. But what is happiness? Most typically, happiness has been measured in the management sciences as jobsatisfaction. This viewpoint is unnecessarily limiting. Building upon alittle remembered body of research from the 1920s, we suggest a twofold, expanded view of this thesis. First, we suggest the consideration of worker happiness as psychological well-being (PWB). Second, incorporating Fredrickson's (1998, 2001) broaden-and-build model ofpositive emotions as the theoretical base, we suggest that the job satisfaction to job performance and job satisfaction to employee retentionrelationships may be better explained by controlling for the moderating effect of PWB. Future research directions for human resource professionals are introduced.

Based more on practical (and contextual), rather than theoretical grounds, over time, job satisfaction came to be the work attitude of choice for many early researchers interested in studying the relationship between employee attitudes and efficiency. Surprisingly, research examining the basis for why this belief is practically nonexistent. This paper addresses this apparent void in the organizational literature.

First, a historical overview of the development of job attitudes is introduced. Second, incorporating important early, but now mostly forgotten, research on employee boredom, fatigue and customer satisfaction, a “missing link” explanation is presented for job satisfaction eventually becoming the “job attitude of choice” in organizational research.

Integrating early research from two long‐forgotten streams of organizational research, this paper provides a practical (and contextual) framework for why job satisfaction became the most widely used measure of happiness in the happy/productive worker thesis.

Future research endeavors on the happy/productive worker thesis might greatly benefit from an awareness of the important, but now mostly forgotten, stream of early research on worker well‐being.

This historical paper provides the reader with a better understanding of the contextual framework for how the fascination with job satisfaction developed over time.

The purpose of this paper is to emanate from an enduring stream of research into individual performance and organisational productivity where happy employees are believed to perform better. Decades of research have been unable to establish a strong link between workplace happiness and performance. A variation on the enduring employee happiness‐productivity debate is evolving the “happy‐performing managers” proposition.

An empirical investigation reports on the impact of two important aspects of job happiness – self‐rated affective wellbeing and intrinsic job satisfaction – on superiors' ratings of managers' contextual and task performance. An ancillary methodological objective of the study is to establish the structure of managers' performance.

A partial model of managers' affective wellbeing, intrinsic job satisfaction and performance contributed an understanding to how specific indicators of affective wellbeing and intrinsic job satisfaction predict certain dimensions of managers' performance.

Changes in the workplace emphasises are needed to ensure managers can retain and improve their positive affective wellbeing by working smarter and faster, rather than harder and longer.

A contribution of this paper is to provide qualified support for the “happy‐performing managers” proposition by linking the conceptual bases relating to managers' affective wellbeing, intrinsic job satisfaction and to their performance. These findings progress the debate as to how work might be structured to improve managers' affective wellbeing and consequently their performance. Perhaps, it is timely to consider moving away from the negative forms of psychology and affirm managers' future by embracing the “happy‐performing managers” proposition.

The purpose of this paper is to extend the “Happy-Performing Managers” thesis to show that managers’ job-related affective well-being and affective job satisfaction mediate the impact of their role stressors (ambiguity, conflict and overload) on their contextual job performance.

Results from an online survey of 305 managers from the private, public and third sectors in Western Australian support most of the hypotheses. The psychometric properties of all the scales were analysed using confirmatory factor analysis and the conceptual model was tested using structural equation modelling.

Role stressors have a direct negative effect on the managers’ affective well-being and affective job satisfaction, which, in turn, mediate the negative effects of the three role stressors on the managers’ contextual performance.

Conceptual and managerial contributions along with methodological limitations and future research directions are discussed.

Contemporary managers face a wide range of intrinsic and extrinsic role and environmental stressors. This research suggests that organisations may need to redesign manager roles to reduce their role stressors (ambiguity, conflict and overload) in order to optimise their contextual performance.

The main objective of this study is to scrutinize the relationship between workers' well-being and job performance across sectors during the first lockdown. The authors also aim to examine the indirect effects of satisfaction with work-life balance, reopening of schools after closure, workload and teleworking on performance through well-being.

The authors used a sample of 447 Canadian workers collected online during the first lockdown to perform a series of structural equation models.

The results show that workers' well-being increases job performance and satisfaction with work-life balance has a positive indirect effect on job performance through well-being in all sectors. This finding suggests that workers' well-being mediates the relationship between satisfaction with work-life balance and performance. However, the reopening of schools, increased workload and teleworking do not have universal effects across sectors.

All organizations should implement human resources (HR) practices that promote workers' well-being and family-friendly workplaces, especially during the pandemic. Conversely, teleworking has a sector-specific effect that must be considered when implemented.

This study stands out by strengthening the bridge between workers' well-being and job performance. The effects of well-being and satisfaction with work-life balance on job performance are universal, while the impact of reopening of schools, increased workload and teleworking are sector-specific.

The happy-productive worker hypothesis posits that employee well-being is an important factor in work performance. Educational institutions around the world are facing both internal and external pressures to integrate sustainability into their practices, with the goal of protecting the planet and ultimately boosting profits. This paper explores the potential wider benefits of sustainability, including its relationship with employee well-being and performance, by investigating the influence of organisational sustainability on the happy-productive worker hypothesis.

Educational institution employees from the UAE and USA (n = 199; 66.3% teachers) completed an online questionnaire measuring their well-being, perceptions of their organisations’ environmental sustainability and three self-reported job performance measures (task performance, contextual performance and counter-productive workplace behaviours). Regression and mediation analyses were conducted to test hypothesised relationships.

Both well-being and sustainability were positively associated with work performance. Furthermore, sustainability accounted for additional variance in performance beyond that accounted for by well-being. Sustainability partially mediated the relationship between well-being and performance, providing evidence of the importance of sustainability in the workplace.

This study contributes to an emerging field by investigating the relationship between an organisation’s sustainability and benefits of this for employees in terms of well-being as well as work performance. The findings provide further support for the happy-productive worker hypothesis and also the first evidence that educational institutions’ sustainability can mediate this relationship.

Introverts, along with extraverts, form a significant portion of the workforce. This paper aims to conceptualize the case for “psychological” diversity and inclusion of personality by highlighting the introverted view of well-being in the context of the happy-productive worker thesis.

The study employs an integrative review of the extant literature to investigate the definitions of extraversion and introversion, differences in the meaning of happiness, and measurement parameters of well-being. The social identity theory and broaden and build theory formed the theoretical basis for the posited relationships.

This study advances the understanding of the connection between the well-being of employees and their performance. Therein, it highlights the role of the inclusion of personality and perspectives of well-being for organizational effectiveness. This paper further suggests measures that managers need to undertake to promote the inclusion of introverts at the workplace and ensure their well-being.

Given the significance, organizations have increasingly undertaken initiatives to promote diversity and inclusion at the workplace. While the demographic composition of the workforce has seen affirmative action, this paper highlights and discusses the case of “psychological” diversity and inclusion.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of two perspectives of well-being, hedonism and eudaimonism, on job attitudes and extra-role behaviors. Theoretically, hedonism equates well-being with the experience of pleasure, whereas eudaimonism is the experience of personal growth, purpose and social significance.

Data were collected from 528 administrative support staff at two points in time. At time 1, hedonia and eudaimonia at work were measured. Job attitudes and extra-role behaviors were measured at time 2.

Results indicate that hedonia and eudaimonia, although strongly correlated, have unique effects on job attitudes and extra-role behaviors. Further, there is a synergistic effect between eudaimonia and hedonia such that experienced eudaimonia has a stronger effect on employee outcomes when hedonia is higher.

Popular books highlight the importance of creating happy workers. However, one’s view of happiness/well-being at work influences the actions taken to improve such well-being. An important implication of this study is that firms should focus on creating an environment that fosters personal growth, a sense of purpose and a feeling of social significance in addition to hedonic happiness.

Both eudaimonic and hedonic measures of well-being were examined and results indicated that both were important predictors of extra-role behavior and job attitudes. Such results not only highlight the importance of explicit examination of additional conceptualizations of well-being at work, but also indicate the importance of eudaimonia at work.