About this Research Topic
Happiness at work has received considerable attention over the years by researchers and practitioners. While economists, psychologists, and management scholars are paying increasing attention to the topic, the research literature on workplace happiness still seems at the stage of infancy. A substantial gap in the workplace happiness literature emerges due to considering it as an applied extension of general wellbeing research. The construct of happiness at work is yet to be recognized as a core concept in management literature and practice. While the corporate world seems to profess the employee happiness as a prime virtue, there is only a meager dedicated scholarly literature on workplace happiness to assess the truth. Mature scholarly literature needs to be built for the expansion of the subfield of happiness at work. The sudden impact of COVID- 19 pandemic on the world has presented the opportunity to relook and refine almost the entire body of human knowledge, including workplace happiness.
In an attempt to strengthen literature on happiness at work, this Research Topic aims to gather scholarly articles on workplace happiness and its relation to the COVID- 19 pandemic with a cross-cultural perspective. The purpose of this topic is to understand how COVID- 19 affected the workplace happiness, what were, and are, the factors playing a crucial role throughout the pandemic, its impact on employee happiness, and the role played by culture and indigenous variables in this regard. It is of importance to collect research assessing whether in the moment of crisis happiness takes a backseat, and survival becomes primary, or if people adopt alternating ways to be happy at work. Moreover, it would be interesting to explore the intrinsic expectations of people at work during COVID- 19 crisis and mechanisms employees and leaders are adopting for ensuring a happy and motivated workforce across cultures.
This Research Topic welcomes theoretical, methodological, review articles, and contributions to the topic in other scholarly formats. Although COVID- 19 crisis is a focus area, contributors are encouraged to submit manuscripts that study workplace happiness amidst different types of emergencies as well. We keep the definition and level of crisis open while indicating the COVID- 19 as the preferable thrust area of the special issue. Authors may submit articles on, but not limited to:
• Assessment of happiness at work amidst a crisis
• Coping strategies and behavioral styles adopted under crisis to ensure happiness
• Personality characteristics of employees and their implication for workplace happiness under a crisis
• The role of indigenous values, mythology, history, and culture in workplace happiness amidst a crisis
• The role of gender, social norms, and other social-psychological factors
• The role of social media and emerging technologies in COVID-19 crisis and their impact on employee happiness
• Leadership behavior and organization design factors and their impact on workplace happiness in the wake of COVID- 19 crisis
• Human resource and learning strategies to ensure workplace happiness amidst COVID- 19 pandemic
• Themes of relevance within the scope of this Research Topic
***Due to the exceptional nature of the COVID-19 situation, Frontiers is waiving all article publishing charges for COVID-19 related research submitted by December 31st 2020 in this Research Topic.***
Keywords: COVID-19, crisis, culture, happiness, well-being
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
