Thriving at Work: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Summary Thriving at work refers to a positive psychological state characterized by a joint sense of vitality and learning. On the basis of Spreitzer and colleagues' model, we present a comprehensive meta‐analysis of antecedents and outcomes of thriving at work (K = 73 independent samples, N = 21,739 employees). Results showed that thriving at work is associated with individual characteristics, such as psychological capital (rc = .47), proactive personality (rc = .58), positive affect (rc = .52), and work engagement (rc = .64). Positive associations were also found between thriving at work and relational characteristics, including supportive coworker behavior (rc = .42), supportive leadership behavior (rc = .44), and perceived organizational support (rc = .63). Moreover, thriving at work is related to important employee outcomes, including health‐related outcomes such as burnout (rc = −.53), attitudinal outcomes such as commitment (rc = .65), and performance‐related outcomes such as task performance (rc = .35). The results of relative weights analyses suggest that thriving exhibits small, albeit incremental predictive validity above and beyond positive affect and work engagement, for task performance, job satisfaction, subjective health, and burnout. Overall, the findings of this meta‐analysis support Spreitzer and colleagues' model and underscore the importance of thriving in the work context.

Fostering mutual gains: Explaining the influence of high‐performance work systems and leadership on psychological health and service performance

“…The positive indirect effects of experienced service‐oriented HPWS on the two outcomes through thriving at work and the serial mediation of thriving at work and psychological health on the experienced service‐oriented HPWS–service performance relationship reinforces the notion of mutuality in the employment relationship. Furthermore, the serial mediation that shows psychological health to be more proximal to service performance relative to thriving at work accounts for the documented influence of thriving at work on performance (Kleine et al, ; Porath et al, ). Contrary to our prediction, unit service leadership only indirectly influenced service performance but not psychological health through thriving at work.…”

“…Carmeli & Spreitzer, ). Previous research reported thriving at work to relate to employee job performance (Kleine et al, ; Paterson et al, ; Porath et al, ; Wallace, Butts, Johnson, Stevens, & Smith, ). The preceding discussion that (a) experienced service‐oriented HPWS relates to thriving at work and (b) thriving at work promotes employee work outcomes suggests the following hypotheses.Hypothesis Thriving at work positively relates to psychological health and mediates the experienced service‐oriented HPWS–psychological health relationship.Hypothesis Thriving at work positively relates to service performance and mediates the experienced service‐oriented HPWS–service performance relationship.…”

“…In effect, experienced service‐oriented HPWS provides the nutriments that satisfy psychological needs leading to thriving at work (Martinaityte, Sacramento, & Aryee, ). Although prior research has not examined the experienced service‐oriented HPWS–thriving at work relationship, several studies have demonstrated the positive influence of contextual factors, such as decision‐making discretion (Porath et al, ), information sharing (Spreitzer et al, ), and perceived organisational support (Kleine et al, ) on thriving at work. Therefore, we propose thatHypothesis Experienced service‐oriented HPWS positively relates to thriving at work.…”

“…From an SDT perspective, these attributes of unit service leadership provide the nutriments that satisfy psychological needs leading to thriving at work (Chiniara & Bentein, 2016). Prior research reported supervisor support climate that is akin to positive leadership behaviours (Kleine et al, 2019;Paterson et al, 2014) and servant leadership (Walumbwa, Muchiri, Misati, Wu, & Meiliani, 2018) to relate to thriving at work.…”

“…Our integrative model of human growth captures the essence of mutuality by examining thriving at work as a pathway through which the two contextual antecedents influence our two focal outcomes. This is because thriving at work connotes optimal human functioning that may be manifested in psychological health leading to performance (Kleine, Rudolph, & Zacher, ; Paterson, Luthans, & Jeung, ; Spreitzer, Porath, & Gibson, ).…”