An exploratory study of resilience among Hong Kong employees : ways to happiness

Positive psychologists suggest that there are human strengths that can act as buffers against stressed mental illness. These buffers are courage, optimism, interpersonal skills, faith, hope, honesty, perseverance, resilience, putting troubles into perspective, and finding purpose. Some literature review indicates that employees with positive human functioning report better psychological well-being and job performance. The objectives of the study are to investigate correlates of resilience among Hong Kong employees, and to examine the relationship between resilience and work well-being (including perceived work pressure, job satisfaction, and physical/psychological symptoms) and job performance. Work well-being not only implies absence of illness or diseases, but includes job satisfaction, physical and mental health. Therefore, work well-being is one component of happiness which can fit in the study of positive human functioning. We hypothesized that resilience comprises positive affect, self-efficacy, internal locus of control, optimism, and hope. We also hypothesized that employees with high resilience scores would report lower levels of perceived work pressure, fewer physical/psychological symptoms, but higher levels of job satisfaction and job performance. Concerning the role of positive affect, based on the "Happy-Productive Hypothesis", we expected employees with high levels of positive affect would report better job performance. It can be concluded from the results of our study that the "Happy-Productive Hypothesis" can be supported. It seems that resilience can buffer an individual from stress.