A systematic review on employee happiness: three-decade review, synthesis and research propositions

Purpose This study presents a systematic review of “employee happiness” research from 1991–2023. In this way, this study aims to critically appraise the existing literature, and synthesize themes, thereby, paving a clearer understanding of the construct, along with providing the future research agenda. Design/methodology/approach By adopting a systematic approach, this study followed scientific procedures and rationales for systematic literature reviews for article selection. A total of 57 articles were finally chosen after a careful examination from 110 selected journals. Findings The current study identified three major themes after evaluating the selected literature on Employee happiness: (1) work, family and personal blend, (2) organizational support, and (3) Ebullience sentiment. Amidst an ambiguous usage of several related constructs in employee happiness research, the review provided a clear definition of “employee happiness” along with proposing crucial research directions. Originality/value There is a lack of systematic reviews on employee happiness in the existing literature. Thus, by far, this effort is one of the earliest endeavors that researchers undertook toward understanding employee happiness.