Workplace happiness as a trinomial of organizational climate, academic satisfaction and organizational engagement

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/CG-12-2020-0532
• Published date: 09 August 2021
• Date: 09 August 2021
• Pages: 474-490
• Subject Matter: Strategy,Corporate governance
• Author: Rafael Ravina-Ripoll,Luis M. Romero-Rodríguez,Eduardo Ahumada-Tello

Workplace happiness as a trinomial of

organizational climate, academic

satisfaction and organizational

engagement

Rafael Ravina-Ripoll, Luis M. Romero-Rodríguez and Eduardo Ahumada-Tello

Abstract

Purpose –The present researchaims to study the correlations amongorganizational climate, academic

satisfaction and organizational commitment as factors that influence happiness at work by applying a

structuralequation model to Spanish NationalPolice cadets.

Design/methodology/approach –A descriptive, quantitative, correlational, exploratory and cross-

sectional empiricalstudy was carried out. A measurement instrumentwas applied to a target population

of 397 student-inspectors enrolled for the 2018–2020 academic year on the executive scale at the

National Police School (EPN) in Spain. A sample of 190 surveys was obtained, of which 33 were open

competition,52 were competitive examinationsand 105 were selective seniority.

Findings –Structural equation modeling shows that academic satisfaction, organizational climate and

practical organizational commitment are recommended variables for assessing happiness within

organizations.On the other hand, there is a bit of a positiverelationship between happiness andpractical

organizational commitment. The same is not true for the parameters of academic satisfaction and

organizationalclimate.

Originality/value –This study fills a gap in the literatureon the analysis of governance models in public

administration.This is particularly relevant in professions thatrequire a high degree of engagement with

citizens,such as police officers. According to the authors’knowledge, this study is one of the first works to

analyze corporate governance in police cadet schools in Spain under the happiness management

approach. It contributesby offering a better understanding of the psychosocial variablesthat affect the

existenceof good governance.

Keywords Happiness, Organizational commitment, Organizational climate, Academic satisfaction

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

The word “happiness” has been an elusive and challenging term for researchers to

conceptualize. Given this fact, several researchers have tried to predent the term as a

synonym for the expressions “subjective well-being,” “psychological well-being,” “quality of

life” or “satisfaction” (Khalil, 2019;Romero-Rodrı

´guez and Castillo-Abdul, 2019). Based on

this approach, many studies that understand subjective well-being as the science of

happiness have emerged (Helliwell and Aknin, 2018;Diener et al., 2005). This discipline

was born with multiple interdisciplinary challenges, including highlighting that positive

entities are solid catalysts of collective happiness for human beings –which is no small

matter, especially when it is discovered through a literature review that the foundations of a

satisfying and fulfilling life are not found exclusively in wealth (Haybron, 2007). This finding

suggests that happiness is not directly linked to economic or consumption incentives

Rafael Ravina-Ripoll is

based at the Department of

Business Organization,

University of C

adiz, C

adiz,

Spain.

Luis M. Romero-Rodrı

´guez

is based at the Department

of Communication

Sciences and Sociology,

Rey Juan Carlos University,

Madrid, Spain and ESAI

Business School,

Universidad de

Especialidades Espiritu

Santo, Samborondon,

Ecuador.

Eduardo Ahumada-Tello is

based at the Faculty of

Accounting and

Administration,

Autonomous University of

Baja California, Mexicali,

Me

´xico.

Received 5 February 2021

Revised 23 May 2021

2 June 2021

14 June 2021

Accepted 30 June 2021

This research has been

possible thanks to the support

of the Iberoamerican Group Of

Multidisciplanary Studies On

Happiness (IGOMSOH).

PAGE 474 jCORPORATE GOVERNANCE jVOL. 22 NO. 3 2022, pp. 474-490, ©EmeraldPublishing Limited, ISSN 1472-0701 DOI 10.1108/CG-12-2020-0532

among a wide range of issues but perhaps to the pursuit of the common good, hence the

need to establish policies and institutions whose governance pivots on general interest and

social responsibility (Tirole,2017;Tafolli and Grabner-Kra

¨uter, 2020).

The study of happiness within organizationsis an expanding field in business management,

public management and happiness management. Some of the works have been devoted to

empirically demonstrate the vital weight that management variables have on the happiness

of their human capital and stakeholders, provided that they enjoy the governance that

contributes to creating a positive work environment (Chen et al.,2019;Nogueria-Kamel

et al.,2017

).

In this respect, there is still much to be explored and, above all, to be explained to

determine whether public administrations are trying the holistic approach of happiness for

their human capital through vocation, satisfaction and commitment to the organization.

These attributes are present in the work of health-careworkers, teachers and police officers.

These occupations require a governance style that aims at proactivelyenhancing emotional

health, well-being, motivation and positive emotions (Jackman et al.,2020;Thornton, 2020).

This approach to happiness helps these public employees, on the one hand, to calmly and

effectively carry out actions aimed at preserving public safety in today’s society and, on the

other hand, to reduce the high levels of stress and tension involved in the daily exercise of

their profession, which is characterizedby risk and the fear of losing their lives (Liakopoulou

et al.,2020

).

In this sense, the present research proposes a structural equation model to determine

whether the dimensions of organizational climate, affective organizational commitment and

academic satisfaction are relevant for future police inspectors’ happiness. This subject has

been scarcely analyzed to date.

Theoretical framework

As announced in the previous section, the purpose of this paper is twofold. On the one

hand, it will explore how organizational commitment, organizational climate and academic

satisfaction affect happiness in the police environment; on the other hand, it will put on the

academic table that this association is a business incentive in today’s digital society.

Therefore, it is necessary to carry outa literature review of the dimensionsof this work. It will

provide us with guidelines for the design of our empirical research and the choice of

measurement scales and establish the theoretical framework of our research hypotheses.

Based on these arguments, we will briefly describe the literature from the past decades on

organizational climate, academic satisfaction parameters and organizational commitment.

We are keeping in mind that happiness has attracted the attention of economists and

psychologists in recent years because of its direct effects on productivity and the factors

under study (N

un

˜ez-Barriopedro et al., 2021). This phenomenon affects not only internal

customers but also households,companies and governments.

Organizational climate

Since the mid-1930s, researchers, especially economists, sociologists and psychologists,

have been carefully exploring scientific aspects revolving around organizational climate

(Ko

¨llen et al.,2020;Lamberti et al., 2020). This multifaceted and cyclical concept is

determined not only by the individual or collective perceptionsthat human capital has about

the organization’s climate but also from the social interactions between people during the

daily performance of their professional activity (Coda et al.,2015).

This circumstance has given rise to a long and fruitful academic debate about whether the

organizational climate is the organization’s property or that of the individuals who compose

it. This controversy has undoubtedly contributed to the disparity of definitions of this

VOL. 22 NO. 3 2022 jCORPORATE GOVERNANCE jPAGE 475