When helping hurts: the impact of social belonging interventions on public employees’ happiness at work

Pananda Chansukree

International Review of Public Administration, 2024, vol. 29, issue 3, 251-265

Abstract: This study deployed an advice-giving survey experiment among public employees in order to test the impact of social belonging interventions on happiness at work. Participants (N = 1,250) were randomly assigned to one of two groups: the treatment group gave advice and then reported happiness at work, while the control group flipped this sequence, reporting their happiness at work and then giving advice. Contrasting previous studies, our findings show that social belonging interventions in the form of advice-giving negatively affect happiness at work. The treatment group reported lower happiness scores across all survey items compared to the control group. Various phenomena may explain this finding: the advice-giving task may 1) threaten public employees’ professional identity, especially if they feel unqualified to advise on workplace well-being, 2) require emotional labor and compassion fatigue, or 3) lead public employees to focus more on existing problems and challenges, lowering their self-reported happiness at work. Further research is needed to explore the mechanisms behind these findings and their implications for enhancing well-being in the public sector workplace.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1080/12294659.2024.2393508

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