opportunities for employees to ensure sustainable development and global growth. The progress of communities can
be determined by providing safe and secure working environment which can lead to the well-being of an organization.
Hence, from an organization’s point of view, it becomes
important to ensure social, mental, and physical well-being
of employees to support the goal of decent work and economic growth.
The goals of an organization to maintain well-being and
sustainable development can be achieved by introducing
positive psychology concepts in the work environment. The
aim of positive psychology is to lead to positive behavior by
correcting the worst things in life (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). The field of positive psychology deals with
subjective experiences of well-being, which improves positive individual traits such as interpersonal skills, aesthetic
sensibility, future mindedness, and high talent. Gable and
Haidt (2005, p. 104) comprehended that positive psychology
as “the study of the conditions and processes that contribute
to the flourishing or optimal functioning of people, groups
and institutions”. In a group context, the social values make
the individual a better citizen, responsible, and a person of
work ethics (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). Seligman
and his colleagues have proposed that happiness is a central
focus to psychology which can be broken down into three
components: the pleasant life, the engaged life, and the
meaningful life. Positive psychology through the focus of
gainful employment highlights nine benefits (Synder et al.,
2011, p. 418):
1. Variety in duties performed
2. A safe working environment
3. Income for the family and oneself
4. A purpose derived from providing a product or service
5. Happiness and satisfaction
6. Positive engagement and involvement
7. A sense of performing well and meeting goals
8. The companionship of and loyalty to coworkers, bosses,
and companies.
These benefits motivate the employers to implement the
concept of positive psychology and well-being to the work,
and to accomplish the goal of sustainable development in
organizations and society.
In this paper, we are going to analyze the results of
studies about the psychology of organizational sustainability. Moreover, we are going to develop an explanatory
model of sustainable behavior instigated by situational and
dispositional positive antecedents and maintained by positive psychological consequences. Therefore, the objectives
of the study are the following:
1. To study the current literature on the effect of positive
psychology on positive behavior in an organization.
2. To study the current literature on the impact of positive
behavior in creating positive environment in an
organization.
3. To create the model of the impact of positive psychology
on the well-being and sustainability of an organization.
2 Variables of Positive Psychology
for Positive Behavior in Organization
The factors of positive psychology which can lay emphasis
on positive behavior of employees in an organization could
be positive emotions, humanity, psychological strength and
virtues, fairness, positive environment, and psychological
well-being. The mentioned factors could be clubbed into
sustainable positive leadership and subjective well-being
(Diener, 2000), with respect to employees.
2.1 Positive Emotions
As per Fredrickson, negative emotions narrow down the
thought process resulting into a limited set of possible
actions that might be taken during any emotion-provoking
situation. As when anger or fear engulfs a person, he
becomes self-focused and absorbed into his own selfish
thoughts. This does not give way to think of all the possible
options. This thinking may lead to negative consequences
for self and organization as it will lead to tunnel vision
where the focus gets limited and creative thinking gets
hampered and this limited vision does not give way to come
out of the problem with a positive alternative solution.
On the contrary, positive emotion opens people’s thinking to a variety or array of possible actions. Fredrickson and
her colleagues asked research participants to watch emotionally charged film clips (Fredrickson, 2001a) consisting
of four emotions: joy, contentment, anger, and fear. After
watching the clip, they were asked to imagine a situation
creating similar feelings. After the feelings created by the
imagined situation, they were asked to list the things they
would like to perform correctly. People who were in the joy
and contentment condition listed more things they would
like to do right than those who were in the anger and fear
condition. This supported his concept of broaden-and-build
theory. “Certain discrete positive emotions—including joy,
interest, contentment, pride, and love—although phenomenologically distinct, all share the ability to broaden
people’s momentary thought-action repertoires and build
158
D. Gaur
be determined by providing safe and secure working environment which can lead to the well-being of an organization.
Hence, from an organization’s point of view, it becomes
important to ensure social, mental, and physical well-being
of employees to support the goal of decent work and economic growth.
The goals of an organization to maintain well-being and
sustainable development can be achieved by introducing
positive psychology concepts in the work environment. The
aim of positive psychology is to lead to positive behavior by
correcting the worst things in life (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). The field of positive psychology deals with
subjective experiences of well-being, which improves positive individual traits such as interpersonal skills, aesthetic
sensibility, future mindedness, and high talent. Gable and
Haidt (2005, p. 104) comprehended that positive psychology
as “the study of the conditions and processes that contribute
to the flourishing or optimal functioning of people, groups
and institutions”. In a group context, the social values make
the individual a better citizen, responsible, and a person of
work ethics (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). Seligman
and his colleagues have proposed that happiness is a central
focus to psychology which can be broken down into three
components: the pleasant life, the engaged life, and the
meaningful life. Positive psychology through the focus of
gainful employment highlights nine benefits (Synder et al.,
2011, p. 418):
1. Variety in duties performed
2. A safe working environment
3. Income for the family and oneself
4. A purpose derived from providing a product or service
5. Happiness and satisfaction
6. Positive engagement and involvement
7. A sense of performing well and meeting goals
8. The companionship of and loyalty to coworkers, bosses,
and companies.
These benefits motivate the employers to implement the
concept of positive psychology and well-being to the work,
and to accomplish the goal of sustainable development in
organizations and society.
In this paper, we are going to analyze the results of
studies about the psychology of organizational sustainability. Moreover, we are going to develop an explanatory
model of sustainable behavior instigated by situational and
dispositional positive antecedents and maintained by positive psychological consequences. Therefore, the objectives
of the study are the following:
1. To study the current literature on the effect of positive
psychology on positive behavior in an organization.
2. To study the current literature on the impact of positive
behavior in creating positive environment in an
organization.
3. To create the model of the impact of positive psychology
on the well-being and sustainability of an organization.
2 Variables of Positive Psychology
for Positive Behavior in Organization
The factors of positive psychology which can lay emphasis
on positive behavior of employees in an organization could
be positive emotions, humanity, psychological strength and
virtues, fairness, positive environment, and psychological
well-being. The mentioned factors could be clubbed into
sustainable positive leadership and subjective well-being
(Diener, 2000), with respect to employees.
2.1 Positive Emotions
As per Fredrickson, negative emotions narrow down the
thought process resulting into a limited set of possible
actions that might be taken during any emotion-provoking
situation. As when anger or fear engulfs a person, he
becomes self-focused and absorbed into his own selfish
thoughts. This does not give way to think of all the possible
options. This thinking may lead to negative consequences
for self and organization as it will lead to tunnel vision
where the focus gets limited and creative thinking gets
hampered and this limited vision does not give way to come
out of the problem with a positive alternative solution.
On the contrary, positive emotion opens people’s thinking to a variety or array of possible actions. Fredrickson and
her colleagues asked research participants to watch emotionally charged film clips (Fredrickson, 2001a) consisting
of four emotions: joy, contentment, anger, and fear. After
watching the clip, they were asked to imagine a situation
creating similar feelings. After the feelings created by the
imagined situation, they were asked to list the things they
would like to perform correctly. People who were in the joy
and contentment condition listed more things they would
like to do right than those who were in the anger and fear
condition. This supported his concept of broaden-and-build
theory. “Certain discrete positive emotions—including joy,
interest, contentment, pride, and love—although phenomenologically distinct, all share the ability to broaden
people’s momentary thought-action repertoires and build
158
D. Gaur