Interesting paper from last year in Journal of Career Assessment…

Does Happiness Promote

Career Success?

Julia K. Boehm

Sonja Lyubomirsky

University of California, Riverside

Past research has demonstrated a relationship between happiness and workplace suc-

cess. For example, compared with their less happy peers, happy people earn more

money, display superior performance, and perform more helpful acts. Researchers

have often assumed that an employee is happy and satisfied because he or she is

successful. In this article, the authors review evidence in support of an alternative

hypothesis—namely, that happiness is a source of why particular employees are more

successful than others. To this end, the authors consider evidence from three types of

studies—cross-sectional, longitudinal, and experimental—that relate happiness to var-

ious work outcomes. Taken together, the evidence suggests that happiness is not only

correlated with workplace success but that happiness often precedes measures of suc-

cess and that induction of positive affect leads to improved workplace outcomes.

Journal of Career Assessment, February 2008

DOI: 10.1177/1069072707308140