Abstract
We propose an investigation of subjective well-being in companies, analyzing both happiness and life satisfaction (we named personal subjective well-being) and job satisfaction (we named work-related subjective well-being). In this research, we explore the three types through analysis of contextual factors (networks and organizational trust) and personality factors, due to its impact on the subjective well-being, observed in the scientific research carried out in this area. We aggregate in our research model the personal networks and personality factors—as significant factors in happiness and life satisfaction research—to job network and organizational trust factors—as significant factors in job satisfaction research—and we search their mediating influence on happiness (model 1), life satisfaction (model 2), and job satisfaction (model 3). Our data set was collected through application of an original survey in Portuguese and Galician companies. The ordered probit regressions performed show that the factors analyzed influence each type of subjective well-being in different ways. Coworker and family networks factors, as well as trust in the company, seem to influence happiness and job satisfaction positively and significantly. Personality factors are influential only in personal subjective well-being (happiness and life satisfaction). Very good health is positively related to all types of subjective well-being, while being in the 46–67 age range and having a secondary or university education are negatively and significantly related to all types of subjective well-being.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aitchison, J., & Silvey, S. D. (1957). The generalization of probit analysis to the case of multiple responses. Biometrika, 44(1–2), 131–140.
Aldridge, T. R., & Gore, J. S. (2016). Linking personality traits with well-being: The influence of primary social roles. Psychological Studies, 61(3), 233–244. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12646-016-0370-x.
Annor, F. (2016). Work-family enrichment among Ghanaian employees: The mediating role between social support and subjective well-being. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 11(4), 1155–1171. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-015-9427-6.
Benet-Martinéz, V., & John, O. P. (1998). Los Cinco Grandes across cultures and ethnic groups: Multitrait multimethod analyses of the big five in Spanish and English. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75(3), 729–750. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.75.3.729.
Binder, M., & Freytag, A. (2013). Volunteering, subjective well-being and public policy. Journal of Economic Psychology, 34, 97–119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2012.11.008.
Bruni, L., & Stanca, L. (2008). Watching alone: Relational goods, television and happiness. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 65(3–4), 506–528. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2005.12.005.
Bureau, U. S. C., & Statistics, U. S. B. o. L. (2012). Current Population Survey.
Cameron, A. C., & Trivedi, P. K. (2005). Microeconometrics: Methods and applications. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Cammann, C., Fichman, M., & Jenkins, D. (1979). The Michigan organizational assessment questionnaire. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan.
Chiburis, R., & Lokshin, M. (2007). Maximum likelihood and two-step estimation of an ordered-probit selection model. Stata Journal, 7(2), 167–182.
Colombo, E., & Stanca, L. (2014). Measuring the monetary value of social relations: A hedonic approach. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 50, 77–87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2014.03.001.
Cooper, C. L., Sloan, S. J., & Williams, S. (1988). Occupational stress indicator: Management guide. Windsor: NFER-Nelson.
Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (1980). Influence of extraversion and neuroticism on subjective-well-being: Happy and unhappy people. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 38(4), 668–678. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.38.4.668.
De Neve, J., Christakis, N. A., Fowler, J. H., & Frey, B. S. (2012). Genes, economics and happiness. Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology and Economics, 5(4), 193–211. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030292.
Diener, E. (2006). Guidelines for national indicators of subjective well-being and ill-being. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 1(2), 151–157. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-006-9007-x.
Diener, E., & Lucas, R. E. (1999). Personality and subjective well-being. In E. Kahneman & N. Schwarz Diener (Eds.), Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Diener, E., Oishi, S., & Lucas, R. E. (2003). Personality, culture and subjective well-being: Emotional and cognitive evaluations of life. Annual Review of Psychology, 54(1), 403–425. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.54.101601.145056.
Diener, E., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2002). Very happy people. Psychological Science, 13(1), 81–84. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00415.
Digman, J. M. (1990). Personality structure: Emergence of the five factor model. Annual Review of Psychology, 41(1), 417–440. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ps.41.020190.002221.
Dolan, P., Peasgood, T., & White, M. (2008). Do you really know what makes us happy? A review of the economic literature on the factors associated with subjective well-being. Journal of Economic Psychology, 29(1), 94–122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2007.09.001.
Easterlin, R. A. (1995). Will raising the incomes of all increase the happiness of all? Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 27(1), 35–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/0167-2681(95)00003-B.
Easterlin, R. A. (2014). An Economist’s road to subjective well-being. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 9(3), 783–785. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-014-9329-z.
EVS (2008). European Values Study survey.
Faragher, E. B., Cass, M., & Cooper, C. L. (2005). The relationship between job satisfaction and health: a meta-analysis. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 62(2), 105–112. https://doi.org/10.1136/oem.2002.006734.
Ferrer-i-Carbonell, A., & Frijters, P. (2004). How important is methodology for the estimates of the determinants of happiness? Economic Journal, 114(497), 641–659. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0297.2004.00235.x.
Frey, B. (2008). Happiness a revolution in economics. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Frey, B. S., & Stutzer, A. (2002). What can economists learn from happiness research? Journal of Economic Literature, 40(2), 402–435.
Frijters, P., & Beatton, T. (2012). The mystery of the U-shaped relationship between happiness and age. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 82(2–3), 525–542. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2012.03.008.
Gasper, D. (2004). Human Well-being:Concepts and Conceptualizations. In WIDER Discussion Papers (Vol. 2004/06): World Institute for Development Economics (UNU-WIDER).
Gerdtham, U. G., & Johannesson, M. (2001). The relationship between happiness, health, and socio-economic factors: Results based on Swedish microdata. Journal of Socio-Economics, 30(6), 553–557. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1053-5357(01)00118-4.
Gore, J. S., Davis, T., Spaeth, G., Bauer, A., Loveland, J. M., & Palmer, J. K. (2014). Subjective well-being predictors of academic citizenship behavior. Psychological Studies, 59(3), 299–308. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12646-014-0235-0.
Hayes, N., & Joseph, S. (2003). Big 5 correlates of three measures of subjective well-being. Personality and Individual Differences, 34(4), 723–727. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(02)00057-0.
Helliwell, J. F., Huang, H., & Wang, S. (2013). Social capital and well-being in times of crisis. Journal of Happiness Studies, 15(1), 145–162. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-013-9441-z.
Helliwell, J. F., & Putnam, R. D. (2004). The social context of well-being. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 359(1449), 1435–1446. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2004.1522.
Helliwell, J. F., & Wang, S. (2011). Trust and wellbeing. International Journal of Wellbeing, 1(1), 42–78. https://doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v1i1.9.
Janssen, O., & Yperen, N. W. V. (2004). Employees’ goal orientations, the quality of leader-member exchange, and the outcomes of job performance and job satisfaction. Academy of Management Journal, 47(3), 368–384. https://doi.org/10.2307/20159587.
John, O. P., & Srivastava, S. (1999). The Big Five Trait Taxonomy: History, Measurement, and Theoretical Perspectives. In Handbook of personality: Theory and research (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford.
Joshanloo, M., & Afshari, S. (2011). Big five personality traits and self-esteem as predictors of life satisfaction in iranian muslim university students. Journal of Happiness Studies, 12(1), 105–113. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-009-9177-y.
Judge, T. A., & Church, A. H. (2000). Job satisfaction: Research and practice. In E. A. Locke (Ed.), Industrial and organizational psychology: Linking theory with practice (pp. 166–198). Oxford: Blackwell.
Judge, T. A., Heller, D., & Mount, M. K. (2002). Five-factor model of personality and job satisfaction: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(3), 530–541. https://doi.org/10.1037//0021-9010.87.3.530.
Judge, T. A., Thoresen, C. J., Bono, J. E., & Patton, G. K. (2001). The job satisfaction-job performance relationship: A qualitative and quantitative review. Psychological Bulletin, 127(3), 376–407. https://doi.org/10.1037//0033-2909.127.3.376.
Judge, T. A., & Watanabe, S. (1994). Individual differences in the nature of the relationship between job and life satisfaction. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 67(2), 101–107. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8325.1994.tb00554.x.
Kim-Prieto, C., Diener, E., Tamir, M., Scollon, C., & Diener, M. (2005). Integrating the diverse definitions of happiness: A time-sequential framework of subjective well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 6(3), 261–300. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-005-7226-8.
Kinicki, A. J., McKee-Ryan, F. M., Schriesheim, C. A., & Carson, K. P. (2002). Assessing the construct validity of the job descriptive index: A review and meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(1), 14–32. https://doi.org/10.1037//0021-9010.87.1.14.
Klein, C. (2013). Social capital or social cohesion: What matters for subjective well-being? Social Indicator Research, 110(3), 891–911. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-011-9963-x.
Krueger, A. B., & Schkade, D. A. (2008). The reliability of subjective well-being measures. Journal of Public Economics, 92(8–9), 1833–1845. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2007.12.015.
Lane, T. (2017). How does happiness relate to economic behaviour? A review of the literature. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 68, 62–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2017.04.001.
Layard, R. (2005). Happiness. London: Pengin.
Locke, E. A. (1976). The nature and causes of job satisfaction. In M. D. Dunnette (Ed.), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology (pp. 1297–1349). Chicago: Rand McNally.
McCann, S. J. H. (2011). Emotional health and the big five personality factors at the American state level. Journal of Happiness Studies, 12(4), 547–560. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-010-9215-9.
Nagar, I. (2017). Self-regulation for sustaining happiness and well-being: An Indian perspective. Psychological Studies, 63(2), 181–186. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12646-017-0403-0.
Nagy, M. S. (2002). Using a single-item approach to measure facet job satisfaction. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 75(1), 77–86. https://doi.org/10.1348/096317902167658.
Orlowski, J., & Wicker, P. (2015). The monetary value of social capital. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 57, 26–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2015.04.007.
Oshagbemi, T. (1999). Overall job satisfaction: How good are single vs. multiple-item measures? Journal of Managerial Psychology, 14(5), 388–403. https://doi.org/10.1108/02683949910277148.
Palma, M. T. (2012). A prossecução dos estudos: O papel da personalidade na tomada de decisão. Lisboa: Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada.
Pittau, M. G., Zelli, R., & Gelman, A. (2010). Economic disparities and life satisfaction in European regions. Social Indicator Research, 96(2), 339–361. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-009-9481-2.
Rodríguez-Pose, A., & von Berlepsch, V. (2014). Social capital and individual happiness in Europe. Journal of Happiness Studies, 15(2), 357–386. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-013-9426-y.
Saari, L. M., & Judge, T. A. (2004). Employee attitudes and job satisfaction. Human Resource Management, 43(4), 395–407. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.20032.
Sarracino, F. (2010). Social capital and subjective well-being trends: Comparing 11 western European countries. Journal of Socio-Economics, 39(4), 482–517. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2009.10.010.
Scarpello, V., & Campbell, J. P. (1983). Job satisfaction: Are all the parts there? Personnel Psychology, 36(3), 577–600. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.1983.tb02236.x.
Simone, S., Lampis, J., Lasio, D., Serri, F., Cicotto, G., & Putzu, D. (2014). Influences of work-family interface on job and life satisfaction. Applied Research Quality Life, 9(4), 831–861. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-013-9272-4.
Tait, M., Padgett, M. Y., & Baldwin, T. T. (1989). Job and life satisfaction: A reevaluation of the strength of the relationship and gender effects as a function of the date of the study. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74(3), 502–507. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.74.3.502.
Tokuda, Y., Fujii, S., & Inoguchi, T. (2010). Individual and country-level effects of social trust on happiness: The Asia barometer survey. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 40(10), 2574–2593. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2010.00671.x.
van Praag, B. M. S., Frijters, P., & Ferrer-i-Carbonell, A. (2003). The anatomy of subjective well-being. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 51(1), 29–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-2681(02)00140-3.
Veenhoven, R. (2000). The four qualities of life. Journal of Happiness Studies, 1(1), 1–39.
Wanous, J. P., Reichers, A. E., & Hudy, M. J. (1997). Overall job satisfaction: How good are single-item measures? Journal of Applied Psychology, 82(2), 247–252. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.82.2.247.
Warr, P. (1990). The measurement of well-being and other aspects of mental health. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 63(3), 193–210. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8325.1990.tb00521.x.
Warr, P., Cook, J., & Wall, T. (1979). Scales for the measurement of some work attitudes and aspects of psychological well-being. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 52(2), 129–148. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8325.1979.tb00448.x.
Winefield, A. H., Tiggemann, M., & Goldney, R. D. (1988). Psychological concomitants of satisfactory employment and unemployment in young people. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 23(3), 149–157.
Wright, T. A., & Cropanzano, R. (2000). Psychological well-being and job satisfaction as predictors of job performance. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 5(1), 84–94. https://doi.org/10.1037//1076-8998.5.1.84.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Alves, L., Neira, I. & Santos Rodrigues, H. Context and Personality in Personal and Work-Related Subjective Well-Being: The Influence of Networks, Organizational Trust, and Personality. Psychol Stud 64, 173–186 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12646-019-00492-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12646-019-00492-4