Understanding employee thriving: the role of workplace context, personality and individual resources

Thriving at work is a positive psychological state in which employees experience both learning and vitality. In this study, we investigate the direct effect of employee experiences of a negative workplace behaviour, namely, incivility, on thriving at work. In addition, we examine the direct effect of an individual-level attribute (prosocial motivation) on employee thriving at work. Utilising a sample of 187 bank employees, our study finds a negative association between incivility and employee thriving and a positive association between prosocial motivation and thriving. We also find that psychological capital mitigates the negative relationship between incivility and thriving at work while psychological capital enhances the positive association between prosocial motivation and thriving at work. Our study highlights the importance of considering both workplace and individual-level attributes that energise employees. Implications for human resource development and suggestions for future research are presented.