Character Strengths Use at Work: a Meta-Analysis of Relations with Work Performance and Employee Wellbeing

Cort W. Rudolph (), Jack C. Friedrich, Ryszard J. Koziel and Hannes Zacher
Additional contact information
Cort W. Rudolph: Wayne State University
Jack C. Friedrich: Saint Louis University
Ryszard J. Koziel: Saint Louis University
Hannes Zacher: Leipzig University

Applied Research in Quality of Life, 2025, vol. 20, issue 2, No 14, 753-788

Abstract: Abstract Character strengths, individual differences in positive, morally valued human characteristics, are a core concept in positive psychology and positive organizational behavior. The application of character strengths through “strengths use” at work is associated with a variety of positive outcomes, including higher levels of work performance and employee wellbeing. To address fragmentation in this literature, we conducted a meta-analysis of relations between strengths use and these outcomes. Consistent with pre-registered hypotheses, we find positive associations between strengths use and work performance (ρ = .421) and worker wellbeing (ρ = .621). However, contrary to the premise of “strengths overuse,” we did not find evidence for non-linearity in these associations. We also explore demographic and methodological moderators of these relations and present an accounting of additional relations between strengths use at work and a broader network of more specific performance- and wellbeing-related constructs, associated strengths-use constructs, job characteristics, dispositional and attitudinal constructs, and demographic characteristics.

Keywords: Character strengths; Strengths use; Work performance; Employee wellbeing; Meta-analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11482-025-10424-2 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:ariqol:v:20:y:2025:i:2:d:10.1007_s11482-025-10424-2

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/journal/11482

DOI: 10.1007/s11482-025-10424-2

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Research in Quality of Life is currently edited by Daniel Shek

More articles in Applied Research in Quality of Life from Springer, International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().