Happy-Productive Patterns in Education: Why Well-Being and Performance Valences Matter

Numerous reviews have indicated that happiness and performance do not necessarily align in the educational field. Building upon the happy-productive worker thesis (HPWT), but extending its scope, we argue that a person-centered approach may help to explain conflicting results and null findings reported in this literature. To test this proposition, we examined multiple operationalisations of well-being and performance, encompassing both positive and negative valences, and analysed how these operational choices affect the configuration and stability of worker profiles. Data were collected from 1,797 education workers (76.9% women) using validated self-report measures of well-being (positive and negative affect), job performance, and presenteeism. Cluster analyses were conducted using a combination of model-based and k-means procedures to identify patterns of synergy and antagonism between well-being and performance. Cluster stability across alternative operationalisations was assessed using the Adjusted Rand Index (ARI). Results support a four-pattern model of relationships between the constructs (happy-productive, unhappy-unproductive, happy-unproductive, and unhappy-productive). However, the distribution of the sample of educational workers across clusters, and the predominance of patterns, differed depending on how performance and well-being were operationalised (positive or negative valences). Cluster stability across operationalisations was low, as indicated by ARI values ranging from .196 to .381. Moreover, some person-related variables (age and sex) accounted for cluster belongingness when well-being was operationalised negatively (negative affect), but not positively (positive affect). These results extend previous research on the relationship between performance and well-being in the HPWT literature. They question the uniqueness of the synergetic hypothesis and highlight the importance of considering the polyhedral nature of both concepts, particularly their positive or negative valence.