EUDAIMONIA AND EUDAIMONIC WELL-BEING BEHAVIORS

There is increasing recognition for eudaimonic well-being as an important component of our psychological well-being. In contrast to happiness and “feeling good”, eudaimonia, as “doing good”, captures a more functional part of our psychological well-being through personal growth, meaning in life, and positive relationships. Work appears to be a context in which we could pursue eudaimonia—with opportunities for personal development, the pursuit of meaningful goals, and collegial relationships. However, eudaimonia remains under-represented in the work domain and there is a lack of consensus on how it can best be defined and measured. Furthermore, while eudaimonia distinguishes itself as a more cognitive-behavioral component of well-being, which could offer a sustainable and malleable route to flourishing, it has not been sufficiently examined at a process level where it can be influenced and shaped to affect work-related outcomes. This dissertation begins with a systematic review of how eudaimonia has been conceptualized and measured in organizational studies and synthesizes what these findings tell us about the role of eudaimonia at work. Next, we examine eudaimonic well-being's relationship to job resources and work-related outcomes. Servant leadership and workplace civility climate interact to influence followers’ work engagement, innovative work behavior, and task performance, via eudaimonic well-being. Drawing on these findings, the focus shifts to eudaimonia as a process and offers a definition of eudaimonic well-being behaviors—comprised of personal growth, the pursuit of purpose, and positive relationship behaviors. By developing and validating a measure of these behaviors, we examine the relationship to antecedents and outcomes, such as work engagement, flourishing, and performance at work. Finally, we reveal the nature of eudaimonic well-being behaviors as a state-like trait and show how a positive psychology intervention influences these behaviors over time. Overall, this provides insight into how eudaimonia, examined at the level of behavior, can be considered a personal resource that creates a synergy between individual, psychological needs, and organizational goals. Finally, we discuss limitations, make suggestions for future research, and provide a list of practical recommendations for individuals’ and organizations’ navigating the “eudynamic” range of eudaimonic thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, in the domain of work.