Unraveling stakeholder roles in employees' outcomes
A meta-analysis of the crossover of happiness, health, and productivity
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21284875 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Y Ngoc Nhu Nguyen (0000-0003-3487-5457, RMIT Vietnam, corresponding author), Jos Akkermans (0000-0003-2870-6921, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), Svetlana N Khapova (0000-0002-6842-6644, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), Cort W Rudolph (0000-0002-0536-9638, Wayne State University) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 168 |
| Pages | 104248 |
| Publication date | 2026-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Vocational Behavior (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0001-8791 • E-ISSN: 1095-9084 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.jvb.2026.104248 |
| OpenAlex | W7160402676 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 53 |
Crossover refers to the process through which personal experiences transfer between individuals in close social relationships. Despite increasing scholarly interest, existing crossover research remains fragmented and limited in scope, which hinders effective knowledge dissemination and theoretical advancement. To address this gap, we draw on the sustainable career framework as a conceptual lens for organizing and interpreting empirical findings. Guided by this framework, we conducted a meta-analysis ( K = 183 studies, 195 independent samples) examining the crossover of happiness (e.g., work engagement and career satisfaction), health (e.g., physical and mental health), and productivity (e.g., job performance and deviance). Our results supported the positive associations of happiness, health, and productivity between stakeholders and employees, after controlling for common stressors and resources. These relationships were mediated by empathy, social support, and social undermining. Furthermore, the strength of crossover correlations differed across stakeholders: spouses exhibited consistent associations with employees' happiness, health, and productivity, whereas supervisors showed the strongest associations with employees' health, and coworkers showed the strongest associations with employees' productivity. Our study offers a comprehensive understanding of happiness, health, and productivity crossover from various stakeholders to employees, yielding valuable insights for both research on crossover and sustainable careers. • Happiness, health, and productivity crossover correlations were all positive and significant, with moderate magnitude, after controlling for common contextual factors • Empathy, social support, and social undermining mediated these positive relationships • Spouses’ happiness was most strongly related to employees’ happiness. • Supervisors’ and spouses’ health was most strongly related to employees’ health • Coworkers’ and spouses’ productivity was most strongly related to employees’ productivity
Conceptual model · Crossover · Empirical research · Happiness · Mental health · Productivity · Stakeholder · Stressor · Higher Education and Employability · Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior · Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
Theory Testing
Relationships between personality variables and burnout
The crossover of daily work engagement
Happiness at Work
Controlling the risk of spurious findings from meta‐regression
Do peers make the place? Conceptual synthesis and meta-analysis of coworker effects on perceptions, attitudes, OCBs, and performance.
A meta-analysis of work–family conflict and various outcomes with a special emphasis on cross-domain versus matching-domain relations.
To Invest or Not? The Role of Coworker Support and Trust in Daily Reciprocal Gain Spirals of Helping Behavior
Predictors of Objective and Subjective Career Success
Perceived Organizational Support
Conceptual Frameworks of Individual Work Performance
Psychmeta
A 12-Item Short-Form Health Survey
Conducting Meta-Analyses in R with the metafor Package
Sustainable careers across the lifespan
Sustainable careers
Conservation of Resources in the Organizational Context
Crossover of daily job stressors among dual‐career couples
Crossover of stress, strain and resources from one spouse to another
Stress and Strain Crossover
Unraveling the Relationship of Distress Levels Within Couples
Expanding crossover research
The crossover of burnout and work engagement among working couples
Happy Work, Happy Life? A Replication and Comparison of the Longitudinal Effects Between Job and Life Satisfaction Using Continuous Time Meta‐Analysis
The Contagion of Stress across Multiple Roles
Crossover of Burnout and Engagement in Work Teams
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |