Towards a multilevel approach of employee well-being

• Published in: European journal of work and organizational psychology Vol. 24; no. 6; pp. 839 - 843
• Main Author: Bakker, Arnold B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hove Routledge 02.11.2015; Psychology Press
• Subjects: affective events; diary studies; Employee involvement; employee well-being; job demands-resources theory; Occupational psychology; Organization theory; Studies; work engagement
• ISSN: 1359-432X; 1464-0643
• DOI: 10.1080/1359432X.2015.1071423

In this commentary, I respond to Ilies, Aw & Pluut's (Intraindividual models of employee well-being: What have we learned and where do we go from here?, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, in press) call for a theory that distinguishes between traits and states of employee well-being. I use Job Demands-Resources theory to illustrate how we may integrate within- and between-person approaches and findings to design an overall multilevel model of employee well-being. My perspective builds on Ilies et al. and recent findings of research combining relatively stable "traits" with fluctuating states of employee well-being. My goals with this commentary are three-fold: (1) give more insight into possible differences between variables at different levels of analysis; (2) use research to show how trait and state levels of (predictors of) employee well-being may interact; (3) propose a multilevel model that may stimulate future research on the topic.