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What Makes Millennials Happy in their Workplace?

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Asian Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 25, No. 1, 103–121, 2020

WHAT MAKES MILLENNIALS HAPPY

IN THEIR WORKPLACE?
Wai Meng Yap1* and Siti Khadijah Zainal Badri2
1Department of Psychology, HELP University, Persiaran Cakerawala,
Subang Bestari, 40150 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
2 Division of Organisational and Applied Psychology, Business School,

Faculty of Arts and Social Science, The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus,
Jalan Broga, 43500 Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia
*Corresponding author: [email protected]

Published online: 30 June 2020

To cite this article: Yap, W.M., & Badri, S.K.Z. (2020). What makes millennials
happy in their workplace? Asian Academy of Management Journal, 25(1), 103–121.
https://doi.org/10.21315/aamj2020.25.1.6

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.21315/aamj2020.25.1.6

ABSTRACT

Happiness in the workplace remains to be an under-researched field which is unfortunate

considering that the happiness-productive worker link has been strongly established.
More essentially, there has been a lack of research on happiness in the workplace which
considers a specific sample of millennials. In preparation for a workforce dominated with
millennials, this research will help address the gap with regards to the lack of research
on Malaysian millennials’ happiness in the workplace. Through a thorough literature
review, six predictors or antecedents of happiness in the workplace among millennials
which are meaningful work, work autonomy, transformational leadership, workplace
friendship, work life balance, and gratitude have been chosen in this research. This
study consists of millennials (“millennials” or Generation Y is defined in the selected
literature as individuals born between years 1982 and 2004) who have undergone full
time employment of at least one year or more. The results indicated that all the six
predictors showed significant moderate to high positive relationships with happiness in
the workplace. Multiple regression analysis showed that all six predictors significantly
predicts millennials’ happiness in the workplace, besides gratitude. Implications of this
study with regards to managing millennial talent in organisations are then discussed.

Keywords: workplace happiness, well-being, millennials, workforce, work-life balance

© Asian Academy of Management and Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia, 2020. This work is
licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) (http://creativecommons.
org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Wai Meng Yap and Siti Khadijah Zainal Badri

INTRODUCTION

Although happiness in general is being widely researched most commonly

in association with life satisfaction (Joshanloo et al., 2016), happiness in the
workplace remains to be underrepresented. Many constructs have been used and
tested with regards to research on happiness in the workplace (Fisher, 2010). These
constructs vary based on: (1) levels in which they are seen to exist; (2) constancy
with time; and (3) the specific content (Fisher, 2010). For instance, the transient
level or better known as person level construct seeks to understand the differences
in mood of an employee in comparison to others, while unit level construct seeks
an understanding of happiness in bigger units and groups of people (Fisher, 2010).
Among some examples on constructs measuring happiness in the workplace are
job satisfaction (Brief, 1998), organisational commitment (Stride et al., 2008),
engagement (Harter et al., 2002), flow and intrinsic motivation (Salanova et al.,
2006), and affect at work (Baas et al., 2008). Clearly, there are many constructs
that have some association with happiness at work and they are vastly segregated
into either measuring affect such as flow and intrinsic motivation or cognition
which is focused on appraisals such as organisational commitment.

Millennials as Background of Study

Millennials or also known as the Generation Y are those who were born between
1982 and 2004 (Howe & Strauss, 2009). Millennials are different from prior
generations in terms of value and behaviours especially at work (Deal et al., 2010).
Existing research has pointed out that the older generation of baby boomers in
particular, viewed millennials as tough to communicate with, entitled, have
weak communicative abilities, and naive (Deal et al., 2011; Hira, 2007; Myers &
Sadaghiani, 2010). There are also some that perceived millennials as impatient and
disloyal, but ambitious and highly driven by personal values at work (Jacobson,
2007).

However, research which investigated happiness in the workplace among a sample

of millennials has been minimal to none. As noted by Deal et al. (2010), researches
published on millennials are not conclusive and often contradictory and in fact,
perceptions on millennials are often rooted on urban myths and stereotypes. Thus,
it is essential to explore the motivations in work among millennials and how it
contributes to their happiness as much research has shown that their working
styles and needs are unique from past generations (Hershatter & Epstein, 2010).
With approximately 2 billion millennials in the world today and by 2020, they are
expected to constitute over one third of the global workforce (ManpowerGroup,
2016) and by 2025, 75% of the entire workforce (Deloitte, 2014). This research

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is essential to understand what makes millennials happy in the workplace, in

preparation for a workforce dominated by millennials.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Organisation and Its Effect Towards Millennial Happiness

Today’s work environment is increasingly geared towards flexible work approaches,

technologic advancement, and decentralisation. All of these pose a great challenge
for organisations to balance profit maximisation and implementation of supportive
organisational structures in the face of such change (Allvin et al., 2011).
Organisations which are not agile in the face of such change are said to create a
psychological detachment between organisations and employees. Consequently,
this form of detachment with weak identification of one’s work then manifests
itself through low levels of engagement and commitment among employees with
organisations (Bakker et al., 2008). This notion is further supported by Gallup
(2012) which has found that 86% of all employees in Germany reported lower
to no work engagement with their organisations. This is of great concern as low
employee commitment will then negatively affect the national economy (Gallup,
2012). Although there are many constructs surrounding happiness in the workplace,
we conceptualise happiness in the workplace as affective well-being. This is
consistent with Diener et al. (2019)’s conceptualisation which argues happiness as
the presence of dispositional positive affect and absence of dispositional negative
affect. Diener further stated that happiness is an essential and subjective experience
and not from a third-party evaluation, as happiness or well-being is primarily in the
mind of the subject (Diener, 2000). The benefits of operationally defining happiness
in the workplace as affective well-being is further illustrated by Briner (1997). He
states that affective well-being is multi-dimensional, and allows for the capturing
of complexities, subtleties and changes which is crucial in the volatile nature
of work experience. This in contrast with general and unidimensional measures
might not capture the full nature of workplace variance. Further, Warr (1990) has
also lent support for the use of affective well-being to measure happiness in the
workplace, as affective well-being is said to be domain-specific which allows it to
be used in relation to work domain constructs.

That said, this research serves as an exploratory platform in understanding

millennials in the workplace. Further, as most organisational research does not
focus on exploring happiness in the workplace using affective well-being as a
dependent variable, this research is thus, of relevance. We chose a total of six
predictors which were most relevant to be investigated with workplace happiness.

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Wai Meng Yap and Siti Khadijah Zainal Badri

The predictors are meaning at work, work autonomy, transformational leadership,

workplace friendship, work-life balance, and gratitude. Sub-sections below will
discuss further on the literature review for each specific predictor.

Meaning at Work

The importance of meaning at work is proven in a survey done by Kelly Services

(2009) with a sample of 100,000 employees working in countries in the North
America, Europe, and Asia Pacific region whereby approximately half of the
respondents were willing to accept a lower pay in exchange for work that is deemed
as meaningful. It is said that majority of people would appreciate for their careers
and work to mean something, as opposed to just as a mean to earn a pay-check or
to pass their time (Sverko & Vizek-Vidovic, 1995).

In this research, the definition of meaningful work looks into not only what
work means for individuals, but also how work is helpful in achieving positive
valence (Rosso et al., 2010 as cited in Steger et al., 2012). Further, the positive
valence of meaning at work is viewed to be growth and purposed-oriented focused
(eudaimonic) in contrast to being merely hedonic or pleasure-oriented (Steger et
al., 2012). Michaelson (2005) has made a point that organisations have both ethical
and moral obligation in supporting employees to have meaningful work, but
perhaps a more tangible reason would be that work which is meaningful has shown
much advantages for both employees and their organisations. More essentially,
meaningful work is said to be significantly correlated with both organisational-
related and happiness measures (Steger et al., 2012; Arnold et al., 2007). With that,
this first hypothesis is derived:

H1: Meaningful work significantly predicts happiness in the workplace

among millennials

Work Autonomy

This predictor is closely linked to the self-determination theory, which posits

that the need to feel autonomous is inherent in us. Work autonomy is defined as
an individuals’ right or freedom in choosing to partake in things that they find
interesting, exciting, and meaningful to them (Gagné & Bhave, 2011). Much
research has been done on work autonomy and it has shown to positively correlate
with workplace motivation, productivity, and happiness (Fisher, 2010; Ryan et al.,
2013). Autonomy can be present in different aspects in work, and can be categorised
further into either job or schedule control. Job control refers to autonomy in relation
to the conduct of work and tasks (Karasek, 1989) whereas schedule control refers

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to autonomy with regards to the timing and location of work, and this is often in
tandem with work-life balance (Kelly & Moen, 2007). Greater job and schedule
control (work autonomy) is said to yield significant two-fold benefits for employees
where it is said to increase job satisfaction, and thus employee happiness (Batt &
Valcour, 2003; De Neve & Ward, 2017) and also for employers; as autonomous
employees are said to have lower turnover intentions (Galletta et al., 2011; Dysvik
& Kuvaas, 2013). However, as there is lack of research on millennials on this
subject, hence it is essential to explore if work autonomy does predict happiness at
work among this sample. Thus, the second hypothesis is derived:

H2: Work autonomy significantly predicts happiness in the workplace

among millennials

Transformational Leadership

Transformational leaders are leaders who are able to inspire and raise the interests
of their followers, create awareness and upholding of responsibilities, and
empower employees to rise above their individualistic goals for the advancement
of the group (Seltzer et al., 1989). Also, transformational leadership are said to
be individuals who are geared towards change, with an aim to positively influence
individual and collective performance (Bass & Bass, 2008). Many studies have also
found significant and positive relationships between transformational leadership
and organisational health (Pillai & Williams, 2004), job satisfaction (Hetland
et al., 2007; Abouraia & Othman, 2017) and significant negative relationships with
job-related stress (Sosik & Godshalk, 2000), and burnout (Hetland et al., 2007).
However, as with much of organisational research, there has been minimal research
that examines transformational leadership with happiness in the workplace, but
instead focuses on relationships with job constructs as outlined above (Nielsen
et al., 2008; Jing & Avery, 2016). With that, this link is worth exploring and the
third hypothesis is drawn as follows:

H3: Transformational leadership significantly predicts happiness in the

workplace among millennials

Workplace Friendship

Workplace friendship can be defined as informal, voluntary and individual-

centric communications among employees in the workplace (Berman et al., 2002).
Research has shown that workplace friendship is said to hold significant importance
in the workplace as it provides support and information exchange (Chen et al.,
2012), which consequently aids in job performance (Berman et al., 2002) and

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organisational productivity (Song & Olshfski, 2008). In a research by Tom Rath

(2006) as cited in Fisher (2010), he found that employees who reported that they
have had close friends at work, were seven times more probable to experience work
engagement. As Fisher (2010) has noted, the literature on social connections in the
workplace has been minimal (besides literature on leadership). This is surprising,
considering the widely agreed upon thesis that interpersonal relationships are
crucial in predicting our happiness (Fisher). Thus, the link between workplace
friendship and happiness in the workplace among millennials is crucial and worth
exploring and from this, the fourth hypothesis is drawn:

H4: Workplace friendship significantly predicts happiness in the workplace

among millennials

Work-life balance

The fit between work and personal life or more commonly known as work-life
balance has been regarded as a critical work-related factor for employee happiness
(Lunau et al., 2014; Amstad et al., 2011). A weak work-life balance is said to be a
significant work-related stressor which might then allow for responses arising from
stress such as increased blood pressure, cortisol levels, and heart rate (Grzywacz
& Butler, 2008). Studies also show that poor work-life balance is often linked
to a range of physical ill health and mental health problems such as depression
(Frone, 2000). However, it is also essential to note that work-life balance can
differ to demographic, socio-economic, and work and job characteristics (Lunau et
al., 2014). For example, countries with effective child care services and generous
parental leaves schemes might have a direct influence in the reconciliation of
work and everyday life (Lunau et al., 2014). Therefore, with the presumable link
between work life balance and happiness in the workplace, the following fifth
hypothesis can be derived:

H5: Work-life balance significantly predicts happiness in the workplace

among millennials

Gratitude

Gratitude is said to be a universal virtue in humans (Emmons, 2007), and is

defined as the proactive and conscious practice of being thankful (Howell, 2007
as cited in Waters, 2012). Much research has found moderate to strong positive
relationship between gratitude and happiness and also social relationships such as
helping behaviours (Wood et al., 2010; Waters, 2012). Nevertheless, taking into
account the strong association between gratitude and happiness, there has been

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 What Makes Millennials Happy

limited to no research considering this link in an organisational context (Wood

et al., 2010; Waters, 2012). In fact, Emmons (2003) has argued that there is no
empirical evidence on the utility of gratitude in organisations. Only two research
works that exist in the literature on gratitude in an organisational context, with
Anderson et al. (2007) finding a significant positive relationship between gratitude
and corporate social responsibility and Chan’s (2010) research showing a negative
relationship between dispositional gratitude and burnout in the workplace among
academicians. This presumable relationship between gratitude and happiness is
both essential and worthy in extending towards an organisational construct, which
thus, derives the sixth hypothesis:

H6: Gratitude will significantly predict happiness in the workplace among

millennials

Underpinning Theory and Proposed Conceptual Framework

This research serves as an exploratory platform in understanding millennials’

happiness in the workplace. To capture the whole picture of happiness at work,
the job-related affective well-being construct by Van Katwyk et al. (2000) is
adopted. This construct consists of both the affect aspect and one’s cognition at
work. Specifically, six work-related happiness predictors are being integrated
namely meaningful work, work autonomy, transformational leadership, workplace
friendship, work life balance, and gratitude. This integration is guided by the self-
determination theory (SDT) which posits that human motivation and personality
are derived from three important psychological needs which are autonomy,
competence, and relatedness (Deci & Ryan, 2000). These three needs are said to be
essential and paramount to meet the ideal circumstances for growth and happiness
(Deci & Ryan, 2000) which serves as underlying factors in predicting goal-related
and valued outcomes at work. Thus, this research is anchored upon this theory
as it allows for us to understand the underlying psychological needs that would
need to be met for happiness at work to be attained either in the context of job and
organisational characteristics or relationships at work. A full framework of this
study is demonstrated in Figure 1 as following.

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Wai Meng Yap and Siti Khadijah Zainal Badri

Figure 1. The framework of the study

METHODOLOGY

Samples and Procedures

This study consists of Malaysian millennials (“millennials” or Generation Y is

defined as individuals born between years 1982 and 2004, according to Howe and
Strauss, 2009) who have undergone full time employment of at least one year
or more. Selection criteria were individuals aged 20–35 years old and have had
or are currently experiencing full time employment of at least one year. Initial
pilot test was run to confirm reliability of all instruments. Result from the pilot
test suggested that all the instruments satisfied cut-off for Cronbach alpha value
of higher than 0.70. A snowball sampling strategy was used with regards to the
recruitment of respondents during the real data collection. This strategy was
chosen due to its advantage in producing a timely data and being cost effective.
An invitation was sent through a link in social media (i.e., Facebook) and emailed
to the researchers’ own contacts. Those who received the link were encouraged
and allowed to circulate the link to their own respective networks. Data collection
took place within a period of 2 months and all data were collected through online
platforms.

In total, 1005 questionnaires were distributed online and 272 respondents filled
and completed the questionnaires, providing the response rate of 27.1%. 64% of
respondents were female whereas 36% were male. The average or mean age of
participants were 27 years old with a standard deviation of 3.2 and participants had
an average of 4 years working experience.

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 What Makes Millennials Happy

Measures

The six predictor variables were measured as such; work autonomy was measured
with the Work Autonomy Scale (Breaugh, 1999) whereas transformational
leadership was measured with the Global Transformational Leadership Scale
(Carless et al., 2000). Meaningful work was measured with the Work as Meaning
Inventory (Steger et al., 2012). Workplace friendship was measured with the
Workplace Friendship Scale (Nielsen et al., 2000). Work-life balance measured
with the Work Life Balance scale by Brough et al. (2014). Gratitude was measured
with the Gratitude Questionnaire-Six Item Form by McCullough et al. (2002).
Lastly, the dependent variable, happiness in the workplace was measured with the
Job-related Affective Well-being Scale (JAWS) (Van Katwyk et al., 2000). All the
measures have good reliability.

RESULTS

Descriptive Statistics

Data analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences
(SPSS). Interestingly, the results indicate that the mean for the JAWS is 95.87
which is lower than the United States’ norm working population mean of 105.6 as
found by Van Katwyk et al. (2000). Lower mean scores indicate lesser ratings of
job-related affective well-being.

Correlation and Coefficients

Overall, six predictors (workplace friendship, work-life balance, work autonomy,

meaning at work, transformational leadership, and gratitude) demonstrated
a significant relationship with job-related affective well-being. Specifically,
workplace friendship (r = 0.516, p < 0.01), work-life balance (r = 0.463, p < 0.01),
work autonomy (r = 0.554, p < 0.01), meaning at work (r = 0.667, p < 0.01),
transformational leadership (r = 0.572, p < 0.01), gratitude (r = 0.422, p < 0.01),
showed moderate to high positive relationships with job related affective well-
being. Therefore, this indicates that increasing these six predictors, will increase
job related affective well-being.

Regression Analysis

Table 1 shows the results of the multiple regression analysis of the six respective
predictors on JAWS. The results indicate that the six predictors explained 61.9%

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of the variance in JAWS. Specifically, workplace friendship, t (272) = 3.12, p =

0.002, work-life balance, t (272) = 5.61, p < 0.001, work autonomy, t (272) = 2.80,
p = 0.005, meaning at work, t (272) = 6.95, p < 0.001, transformational leadership,
t (272) = 4.31, p < 0.001; all significantly predicts JAWS. However, gratitude does
not significantly predict JAWS, t (272) = 1.38, p > 0.05.

Table 1
Regression analysis – dependent variable: Affective well-being

Std. 95.0% confidence

Collinearity statistics
coefficients interval for B
Model t Sig.
Lower Upper
Beta Tolerance VIF
bound bound
(Constant) 2.353 0.019 1.917 21.579
Workplace 0.141 3.109 0.002 0.228 1.014 0.678 1.474
friendship
Work-life 0.227 5.606 0.000 0.638 1.329 0.860 1.163
balance
Work autonomy 0.135 2.801 0.005 0.070 0.400 0.603 1.658
Meaning at work 0.347 6.947 0.000 0.385 0.689 0.563 1.775
Transformational 0.206 4.311 0.000 0.315 0.845 0.614 1.628
leadership
Gratitude 0.061 1.382 0.168 –0.089 0.509 0.732 1.366
Model summary R square = 0.628; adjusted R square = 0.619

DISCUSSION

The results of this study are encouraging with a total of five supported hypotheses
with only one hypothesis not supported. Nevertheless, with the regression
variance being 61.9%, this shows that the predictors chosen are effective in
predicting happiness in the workplace among millennials. Thus, this indicates
that the combination of this research’s six predictors is able to account for 61.9%
of the variability in scores for job related affective well-being. Meaning at work,
transformational leadership, and work-life balance were found to be among the
three strongest predictors in this study. Firstly, this means that increasing meaning
at work will consequently increase millennials’ happiness at work. This is
supported by the Job Characteristics Model which discusses on the experienced
meaningfulness of work as one of the three essential psychological states as
positive reinforcers at work (Richard & Oldham, 1976).

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 What Makes Millennials Happy

This result is consistent with past studies by Steger at al. (2012) and Arnold
et al. (2007), even considering the narrowed sample of millennials in this research.
This finding is of paramount importance as research has been minimal to none
on meaningful work among millennials. In fact, most findings on millennials’
perception on meaningful work are based on large surveys conducted by consulting
firms or articles written (Heathfield, 2017) which are often opinion and not research
based. In an article written by Vesty (2016), she stated that millennials with
minimal work experience will focus more on establishing financial independence
based on a large scale survey conducted by Imperative, and as people age, only
then would they think about prioritising meaning at work. Clearly, the results of
this research argue against this, as for participants in this research having only an
average of four years of working experience, meaningful work is the strongest
predictor of happiness in the workplace.

Transformational leadership was also found to be of the three most significant

predictors of happiness in the workplace among millennials. A reason for this could
be that millennials are said to be employees who are driven by leaders who inspire
others, and would be in an organisation that serves to create a positive impact in
society (Brousell, 2015). With that, a transformational leader will then act as a role
model for the followers (idealised influence), which will presumably inspire their
followers to learn and grow both professionally and personally; consequently,
enhancing happiness in the workplace. This might provide a generational
management gap as boomers are said to embody a more rigid leadership style
which are more autocratic and focused on command and control (Brousell, 2015).
Nevertheless, as the oldest millennials are now 35 years old (Williams, 2015),
many of them are instead, offered opportunities to be managers or leaders as a
form of succession planning. However, studies have shown that millennials might
be hesitant to take on such leadership roles as this could affect their treasured
work-life balance (Morgan, 2015). Instead, millennials might use transformational
leadership to create strong collaboration and teaming skills (by using inspiration
and bringing out the best in teammates) to share this additional workload demands
(Morgan, 2015).

In addition, work-life balance is also found to be one of the three most significant
predictors of happiness in the workplace among millennials. This finding could
be explained by millennials being a free-spirited, socially focused generation, and
gravitating towards a work to live perspective (Kroth & Young, 2014). Nevertheless,
this could pose as a management challenge as in contrast, boomers are believed to
adopt a live to work perspective (Gursoy et al., 2008). Thus, more research needs
to be done to address this generational and subsequent management gap. Another
reason could be due to an observation made by Hershatter and Epstein (2010) who

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argued that millennials are more family centric as they have seen first-hand their
boomer parents’ sacrifices in achieving corporate success. This had made them
experience a lack in family time, and spending long days in childcare or aftercare
programs (Hershatter & Epstein, 2010). With that, millennials are said to enter the
work force appreciating a higher level of work-life balance.

It was also discovered that work autonomy is a significant predictor of happiness

in the workplace and this is consistent with past studies (McGonagle, 2015;
Warr, 2007), even with a sample of millennials. However, as McGonagle (2015)
accurately notes; working autonomously should not be an individualistic and
independent effort, but a working style that is able to contribute positively to
the work ecosystem. Perhaps, a reason why work autonomy holds significance
for millennials is that by allowing autonomy in the job, millennials feel that this
would allow them certain levels of freedom to be innovative and creative in the
workplace (Holt et al., 2012). Another reason could be that the extensive use of
technology has blurred the lines of where, when and how millennials do work (job
and schedule control), which makes rigid hierarchies and outdated management
styles not preferred by millennials (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2011).

Besides, workplace friendship is a significant predictor of happiness in the workplace

among millennials, lending support to the thesis that interpersonal relationships
are crucial in predicting our happiness and well-being (Fisher, 2010). In a survey
done by LinkedIn through a sample of 11,500 full-time professional, it was found
that 57% of millennials reported that positive work relationships make them feel
happier and 50% said that this would make them feel more motivated at work
(Fisher, 2014). It was also found that 67% of millennials were more likely to share
their personal details such as family or relationships issues with their co-workers
as compared to approximately one third of baby boomers (Fisher, 2014). Clearly,
there is a generational gap and this is perhaps due to the fact that millennials who
are still single might view work relationships as an extension of their own family
whereas boomers with their own family might view work friendships as merely
transactional. Future research could look into the marital status of millennials to
ascertain if it has an effect on their perception towards workplace friendship.

Lastly, gratitude is found to have a strong correlation with happiness in the

workplace but however, it is found to be not significant in the regression analysis.
Therefore, it is argued that gratitude is only correlated with happiness in the
workplace but does not significantly impact it at least not among a sample of
millennials in an organisational context. A possible reason for this result is that the
gratitude questionnaire used in this study is constructed with a focus on gratitude
towards life in general (as opposed to work context), and this thus, is not significantly

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linked with the dependent variable which measures happiness only with regards to
one’s workplace. Also, there is emerging literature that has looked into the variable
of institutionalised gratitude which defined gratitude as embedded culturally in
an organisation through its respective policies and operational procedures, which
allows for appreciation and thankfulness to be a norm in everyday work life
(Cameron, 2012). With that, as opposed to an individual’s dispositional gratitude,
the variable of institutionalised gratitude is fostered through and in organisations
which looks at the impact of gratitude outside of the individual (Waters, 2012).
Thus, although this research has shown no significance for dispositional gratitude,
this does not mean that cultivating gratitude in the workplace for employee
happiness is not effective; but perhaps operationally defining gratitude to be
measured specifically in the work place context would be more useful.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

This research has found that meaning at work, transformational leadership, work-
life balance, work autonomy, and workplace friendship were significant predictors
of workplace happiness. Firstly, this posits the importance of organisations to
advance a sense of meaning at work through possible ways such as ensuring
employees work-role fit, corporate social responsibility, and task significance.
Further, future research should look at developing ways to create a sense of
meaning at work and subsequently validating its efficacy and utility among
millennials. With regards to transformational leadership, it is also imperative for
future research to be focused on ways in which millennials lead, as they are not
just increasingly dominating the workforce but also taking on leadership roles.
This is crucial as just because millennials prefer to be led by a transformational
leader, this does not mean that they themselves will lead in the same manner.
On work autonomy, future research could look into how organisations are able to
execute and implement work autonomy in a respective job. A practical suggestion
would be to focus on the results of work, as opposed to the procedural nature of
work such as time and location which thus, gives way and promotes for work
autonomy. Lastly, although this research has shown that workplace friendship
predicts happiness in the workplace among millennials, future research could also
look into the influence of other variables such as competitions for work promotion
on work friendships. This is because when millennials were asked whether they
would sacrifice friendship over a promotion, 68% of millennials said they would,
which is contrast to the 62% of baby boomers who reported that they would not
(Fisher, 2014).

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With this research, it is hoped that there is greater awareness on ways to improve
happiness at work which will allow for overall better work productivity and
performance, and the retention of millennial talent in organisations. This is essential
as a happy employee is said to be a competitive edge for organisations, as they
are more probable in engaging with proactive behaviour, are efficient, motivated
and aligned with organisational goals (Achor, 2010). As elderly employees are
gradually retiring and millennials set to make up 50% of the entire workforce
by 2020 (Deal et al., 2011), the burden will fall towards organisations to not
only understand generational differences and millennials in the workplace, but to
develop the best ways in managing them. Organisations which are agile, and ready
for millennials to reshape the workplace would be the ones in which would prevail
and succeed as we enter the fourth industrial revolution (Schwab, 2017).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This study received ethic approval and was supported by the University of
Nottingham.

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