The Indirect Relationship between Prosociality in the Workplace and Employee Well-Being: Testing Multiple Mediators

Employee well-being has become an urgent issue due to the consequences of the pandemic crisis. Studies have suggested that prosociality could increase well-being, but we do not have a clear understanding about the mechanisms through which prosociality is related to well-being. The study aimed to identify some of these mechanisms. Building on the prosociality literature, we proposed and simultaneously tested five theory-driven mediators: the satisfaction of the basic psychological needs (relatedness, autonomy, and competence), rumination, and work meaningfulness. The study sample consisted of 200 employees, and a panel design with three data collection points was implemented. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results demonstrated that the relationship between prosociality and well-being was mediated by the satisfaction of the need for autonomy. The findings provide valuable empirical evidence about the role of prosocial behavior in fostering employee well-being. We further discuss implications for theory and research on prosociality and well-being.