Systems-Informed PERMA + 4: Measuring Well-being and Performance at the Employee, Team, and Supervisor Levels

International Journal of Applied Positive Psychology https://doi.org/10.1007/s41042-024-00177-y RESEARCH PAPER Systems‑Informed PERMA + 4: Measuring Well‑being and Performance at the Employee, Team, and Supervisor Levels Scott I. Donaldson1 · Stewart I. Donaldson2 Margaret L. Kern3 · Michelle McQuaid3 · Accepted: 21 June 2024 © The Author(s) 2024 Abstract Past research has relied on employees to self-report their levels of well-being and performance in the workplace. Systems-informed positive psychology has been proposed to understand the dynamic interrelationships of the employee in their social and environmental context. PERMA + 4 is a comprehensive framework designed to measure the building blocks of well-being at work. Using an international sample of employees (N=2000), this study developed a systems-informed (i.e., at the individual (I), team (T), and supervisor (S) levels) PERMA + 4 measure and examined the associations with well-being and work performance. Full-time employees who worked on a team of two or more individuals, and had a direct supervisor were recruited to take an online survey assessing their work-related well-being and performance. Findings supported convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity of individual, team, and supervisor PERMA + 4 with well-being and work performance outcomes. Scholars and practitioners may consider using a systems-informed PERMA + 4 approach to measure and evaluate workplace programs and interventions that target the well-being of individuals, teams, and leaders. Such a systemslevel approach may contribute to improved work performance. Keywords PERMA + 4 · Systems sciences · Workplace · Performance · Positive psychology * Scott I. Donaldson 1 Division of General Internal Medicine, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, 303 George Street, New Brunswick, NJ, USA 2 Department of Psychology, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA, USA 3 Centre for Wellbeing Science, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 13 Vol.:(0123456789) International Journal of Applied Positive Psychology 1 Introduction At the turn of the twenty-first century, Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000) co-pioneered the field of positive psychology, defined as “the science of positive subjective experience (e.g., well-being, contentment, flow, pleasure, and hope), positive character traits (e.g., grit, wisdom, resilience, and creativity), and positive institutions (i.e., organizations, communities, and societies that promote citizenship and civic responsibility)” (p. 6). Their bold vision called for a science of human flourishing above and beyond examinations of mental and physical pathologies. The popularity of positive psychology has since grown exponentially, amassing thousands of peer-reviewed publications across disciplines, such as education, business, health, and law, among others (Donaldson et al., 2015, 2023a, 2023b). What’s more, a growing community of scholars and practitioners apply positive psychological theories to develop interventions that improve well-being and positive functioning in the workplace (Donaldson et al., 2021; Meyers et al., 2013). Past research has documented the effectiveness of such interventions which have been associated with decreased negative mental behaviors, such as anxiety and depression, and increased positive mental health behaviors, such as well-being (Donaldson et al., 2019, 2021; Hendriks et al., 2020). One positive psychology framework that has garnered international attention, including a substantial body of peer-reviewed literature, is Seligman’s PERMA model comprised of five building blocks of well-being: positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment (Seligman, 2011). A recent review found that PERMA was a strong predictor of well-being and positive functioning in various populations, such as the workplace (i.e., work performance), and school (e.g., academic success), among other settings (Cabrera & Donaldson, 2023). However, in response to criticisms about incomprehensive theoretical and empirical measurement (Goodman et al., 2018), Seligman (2018) encouraged scholars to consider additional building blocks to PERMA. To expand on the original PERMA framework, Donaldson and Donaldson (2021a, 2021b) developed and validated four additional building blocks of well-being (i.e., PERMA + 4: physical health, mindset, environment, and economic security) for the workplace that have been shown to predict well-being and work outcomes (Donaldson & Donaldson, 2021a; Donaldson et al., 2023a, 2023b). Technological innovations (van Zyl et al., 2023a, 2023b), shifts in social values, and health emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic have created unprecedented challenges for societal systems and inhabitants’ PERMA. For example, research has shown that occupational-related mental and physical health issues are on the rise among employees and should be considered a global public health concern (Gerding et al., 2023). Systems-informed positive psychology has been proposed to improve the well-being of human social systems (Kern et al., 2020), examining the dynamic interrelationships of the individual and their social and environmental context (Kern et al., 2020). Workplace PERMA and PERMA + 4 well-being interventions live within a greater organizational system that involves 13 International Journal of Applied Positive Psychology multiple levels of analysis (Cabrera & Donaldson, 2023). While there has been much discussion about moving beyond the employee level of analysis to better understand well-being in the workplace, this is one of the first studies to examine some of the tenets of systems-informed positive organizational psychology (see Donaldson et al., 2021, 2022; van Zyl et al., 2023a, 2023b). The dearth of systems-level frameworks in the literature is hindering progress in understanding how well-being is cultivated, and associated with, well-being and performance at work. The levels of analysis that likely contribute to PERMA + 4’s prediction of well-being and positive functioning in the workplace are often thought to be the employee, team, and supervisor levels of analysis. Examining their interconnectedness and complexity within and across the workplace will help determine the value of a systems-informed perspective, and whether studying PERMA + 4 at multiple levels of analysis adds value to our understanding of workplace well-being and positive functioning. It will also address what Oades and Dulagil (2016) have described as the ‘individualist fallacy’ in workplace and organizational well-being research. In other words, the phenomenon of conflating group or organization-level constructs with individual-level analysis. Findings from this study can be used by practitioners to inform the design and implementation of well-being programs and interventions at the employee, team, and supervisor levels. 2 Methods 2.1 Procedure and Participants An internation (...truncated)