Dear Colleagues,

Organizational research on happiness uses positive psychology as a theoretical support, addressing emotions and meaningful experiences at work (Gavin and Mason, 2004). Workplace happiness relates to the feelings of satisfaction, organizational commitment, and engagement (Salas-Vallina and Alegre, 2021). As a result, cooperation, organizational commitment (Zipperer and Wu, 2016), and higher satisfaction increase happiness and reduce workplace violence and turnover (Leal et al., 2018). Therefore, workplace happiness and wellbeing closely linked to individual attitudes, behavior changes, goal attainment, satisfaction, and purpose (Kawalya et al., 2019). However, some organizational phenomena may generate workplace unhappiness. Evidence shows that competition stressors (Vesperi et al., 2020) lead to burnout and emotional exhaustion (Rathert et al, 2022), preventing workplace happiness. Recent studies (Gray et al., 2019; Lee et al., 2020) have drawn our attention to the reintroduction of workplace happiness and wellbeing into the research agenda. Workplace happiness describes the experience of passionate employees demonstrating enthusiasm for and commitment to their work, finding meaningful purpose in their jobs, and establishing good relationships at their workplace (Kun and Gadanecz, 2022). Most studies have examined the influence of objective variables on workplace happiness; nevertheless, we believe its subjective origins should also be explored.

This Special Issue aims to elucidate the ways in which workplace happiness can be improved.

This call for papers invites researchers, regardless of their methodological, ontological, or philosophical backgrounds, to contribute to the debate on HRM and its relation to workplace happiness. Research that advocates an optimistic position, as well as others that do not, are welcome. Papers should present theoretically well-founded work and rigorous methodological analysis. Empirical original research articles and literature reviews are welcome.

Workplace happiness should be a priority for HRM.

We look forward to receiving your submissions.

Let us all make the difference.

Gavin, J. H., & Mason, R. O. (2004). The Virtuous Organization: The Value of Happiness in the Workplace. Organizational Dynamics, 33(4), 379–392.

Gray, P., Senabe, S., Naicker, N., Kgalamono, S., Yassi, A., & Spiegel, J. M. (2019). Workplace-based organizational interventions promoting mental health and happiness among healthcare workers: A realist review. International journal of environmental research and public health, 16(22), 4396.

Kun, A., & Gadanecz, P. (2022). Workplace happiness, well-being and their relationship with psychological capital: A study of Hungarian Teachers. Current Psychology, 41, 185–199.

Leal, C.T., Marques, C.P., Marques, C.S. & Cruz, M. (2018). The influence of knowledge sharing on Portuguese healthcare organisations' performance. International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development, 9(3), 279-293.

Lee, H. W. (2020). Interpersonal competition in organization: an investigation of antecedents. International Journal of Manpower, 41(8), 1363-1383.

Rathert, C., Ishqaidef, G., & Porter, T. H. (2022). Caring work environments and clinician emotional exhaustion: Empirical Test of an Exploratory Model. Health Care Management Review, 47(1), 58-65.

Salas-Vallina, A., & Alegre, J. (2021). Happiness at work: Developing a shorter measure. Journal of Management & Organization, 27(3), 460-480. 

Vesperi, W., Ventura, M., & Cristofaro, C. L. (2020). Conflict management as an organizational capacity: survey of hospital managers in healthcare organizations. Measuring Business Excellence, 25(4), 390-406.

Zipperer, L. & Wu, A. (2016). The healthcare environment and knowledge: blunt end experience. Knowledge management in health care. London: Gower, pp.35-52.

Dr. Carla Maria Marques Curado
Prof. Dr. Paulo Lopes Henriques
Dr. Helena Mateus Jerónimo
Prof. Dr. Lucía Muñoz-Pascual
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Merits is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• workplace happiness
• performance and appraial
• organizational behaviour
• ethics and work–life balance
• careers and diversity management
• skills management and talents’ attraction
• knowledge management
• leadership and communication
• HRM digital challenges
• change management