Gaps and future lines of research
| Article code | Country | Knowledge gaps | Future lines of research |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | México | Predominance of quantitative and cross-sectional studies, which prevents the analysis of long-term well-being trends. The need for further research in diverse sectors and companies of different sizes, along with the development of new theories and measurement tools, is crucial for advancing our understanding of this complex and multifaceted phenomenon | Future research should prioritise longitudinal and mixed-method studies to examine how workplace happiness evolves over time and to capture the complexities of individual and organisational factors influencing well-being. Future research should develop and test new theoretical models that better account for modern workplace transformations, integrating insights from fields such as neuroscience, artificial intelligence and digital well-being |
| 2 | Costa Rica | There is little empirical data linking emotional wages, organisational justice and job satisfaction in emerging economies | Develop theoretical models with new mediating variables; replicate in other sectors and emerging economies; use probability sampling; include qualitative studies; explore commitment and passion for work |
| 3 | Portugal | Lack of studies examining the relationship between happiness at work and positive mental health | Future research should explore how cultural dimensions shape the relationship between mental health, workplace happiness and productivity |
| 4 | México | There is a significant gap in the literature on how autonomy, sense of belonging and opportunity to exercise creativity affect SMEs, especially in emerging contexts such as Mexico | Future research should consider longitudinal methods to establish causality and explore temporal dynamics. Future studies could replicate the analysis used in the research to different sectors and geographic regions, and use larger samples to verify the external validity of the results. Future studies could employ a longitudinal design to analyse how the implementation of innovation strategies and the promotion of a creative culture impact job happiness over time. Future studies are encouraged to triangulate data using alternative sources, such as supervisor ratings, behavioural observations or objective performance. Future research could explore the role of other emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence or data analytics, in the relationship between creativity and happiness at work |
| 5 | Portugal | There are few studies on companies that implement explicit strategies to promote happiness at work, especially in SMEs, which tend to have limited resources. Although it is recognised that happiness at work can improve service quality and customer satisfaction, the specific impacts on customer behaviour and decisions have been little explored | Compare companies with and without happiness strategies; include B2B sectors; use other methodological approaches; consider other variables to explain happiness |
| 6 | Portugal | Few studies in the Portuguese context analyse happiness at work and its relationship with psychological trauma in nurses. The happiness levels of nurses, in most cases, are evaluated in a general way and not with specific instruments for measuring happiness at work | N/A |
| 7 | Colombia | There are many organisations around the world that do not have wellness programmes, and those that do not conduct studies on employee perception | Future research should contextualize, deepen and measure the impact of the variables studied, using more diverse methodological designs applied in different organisational settings |
| 8 | Brasil | Lack of a widely accepted and comprehensive measure of workplace well-being. Lack of linguistic libraries and semantic frameworks applied to the automated analysis of workplace well-being | Complement the study with a new round of data collection, gathering new work experiences or create a completely new research project to serve as a database. A second approach involves an in-depth analysis of the libraries used to identify which are the best and replicate or incorporate improvements. Finally, we suggest studying the impact of combining the use of machine learning techniques with sentiment analysis |
| 9 | Brasil | Happiness at work as a construct has not been sufficiently addressed and lacks a level of study commensurate with its relevance. There is insufficient information to fully understand the relationship between job satisfaction and employee performance | Conduct studies from different perspectives and explore the topic in depth |
| 10 | España | There is little work on leadership and happiness management and that new studies on the effect of neuroleadership on happiness management have not yet been developed | It is necessary to analyse the management of happiness from the perspectives of neuroscience and organisational behaviour |
| 11 | México | Lack of empirical evidence on the specific role of happiness management in influencing turnover intention in the Mexican context | Future research could explore the impact of internal marketing on the relationship between happiness management, work-related stress and turnover intention. It is recommended that the multigroup analysis be expanded beyond the comparison between the public and private sectors, incorporating variables such as gender, age, hierarchical level and generational differences. Future studies could adopt a longitudinal approach to assess whether the impact of happiness management on stress reduction and turnover intention is sustainable in the long term |
| 12 | España | The literature on happiness economics currently lacks a substantial body of work on happiness management, as this area of research is still in its early development | Develop longitudinal and international studies; build second-order SEM models; explore non-profit organisations |
| 13 | España | Global research exhibits geographical polarisation, with Spain emerging as a dominant hub for scientific dissemination. While Spanish researchers lead in publication volume and universities show notable research momentum, the nation’s international scientific trajectory remains brief. Comparatively, authors of other nationalities achieve higher citation rates, indicating a disparity between output and academic impact | It is recommended that future lines of research broaden the geographical focus through comparative studies that go beyond the Spanish case, explore specific contexts such as education and SMEs, delve deeper into the strategic relationship between happiness management and sustainability, especially with the SDGs develop and validate digital tools for measuring it, and adopt interdisciplinary perspectives |
| 14 | México | Lack of studies that quantitatively explore how the trinomial of emotional commitment, job satisfaction and organisational justice affects the binomial of happiness and intention to rotate | Future research should explore how the academic success of universities depends largely on the environment geared towards fostering creativity, active participation, loyalty and happiness among their professors |
| 15 | Ecuador | Existing research has addressed employee well-being, culture and management practices in a fragmented manner. However, there is a critical gap in understanding their synergy in ensuring organisational sustainability, particularly during labour market disruptions such as the Great Resignation | Future research could adopt a multi-method approach, combining quantitative analysis of Glassdoor reviews with qualitative methods, such as interviews or focus groups with employees from different organisational sizes and industries |
| Article code | Country | Knowledge gaps | Future lines of research |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | México | Predominance of quantitative and cross-sectional studies, which prevents the analysis of long-term well-being trends. The need for further research in diverse sectors and companies of different sizes, along with the development of new theories and measurement tools, is crucial for advancing our understanding of this complex and multifaceted phenomenon | Future research should prioritise longitudinal and mixed-method studies to examine how workplace happiness evolves over time and to capture the complexities of individual and organisational factors influencing well-being. Future research should develop and test new theoretical models that better account for modern workplace transformations, integrating insights from fields such as neuroscience, artificial intelligence and digital well-being |
| 2 | Costa Rica | There is little empirical data linking emotional wages, organisational justice and job satisfaction in emerging economies | Develop theoretical models with new mediating variables; replicate in other sectors and emerging economies; use probability sampling; include qualitative studies; explore commitment and passion for work |
| 3 | Portugal | Lack of studies examining the relationship between happiness at work and positive mental health | Future research should explore how cultural dimensions shape the relationship between mental health, workplace happiness and productivity |
| 4 | México | There is a significant gap in the literature on how autonomy, sense of belonging and opportunity to exercise creativity affect SMEs, especially in emerging contexts such as Mexico | Future research should consider longitudinal methods to establish causality and explore temporal dynamics. Future studies could replicate the analysis used in the research to different sectors and geographic regions, and use larger samples to verify the external validity of the results. Future studies could employ a longitudinal design to analyse how the implementation of innovation strategies and the promotion of a creative culture impact job happiness over time. Future studies are encouraged to triangulate data using alternative sources, such as supervisor ratings, behavioural observations or objective performance. Future research could explore the role of other emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence or data analytics, in the relationship between creativity and happiness at work |
| 5 | Portugal | There are few studies on companies that implement explicit strategies to promote happiness at work, especially in SMEs, which tend to have limited resources. Although it is recognised that happiness at work can improve service quality and customer satisfaction, the specific impacts on customer behaviour and decisions have been little explored | Compare companies with and without happiness strategies; include B2B sectors; use other methodological approaches; consider other variables to explain happiness |
| 6 | Portugal | Few studies in the Portuguese context analyse happiness at work and its relationship with psychological trauma in nurses. The happiness levels of nurses, in most cases, are evaluated in a general way and not with specific instruments for measuring happiness at work | N/A |
| 7 | Colombia | There are many organisations around the world that do not have wellness programmes, and those that do not conduct studies on employee perception | Future research should contextualize, deepen and measure the impact of the variables studied, using more diverse methodological designs applied in different organisational settings |
| 8 | Brasil | Lack of a widely accepted and comprehensive measure of workplace well-being. Lack of linguistic libraries and semantic frameworks applied to the automated analysis of workplace well-being | Complement the study with a new round of data collection, gathering new work experiences or create a completely new research project to serve as a database. A second approach involves an in-depth analysis of the libraries used to identify which are the best and replicate or incorporate improvements. Finally, we suggest studying the impact of combining the use of machine learning techniques with sentiment analysis |
| 9 | Brasil | Happiness at work as a construct has not been sufficiently addressed and lacks a level of study commensurate with its relevance. There is insufficient information to fully understand the relationship between job satisfaction and employee performance | Conduct studies from different perspectives and explore the topic in depth |
| 10 | España | There is little work on leadership and happiness management and that new studies on the effect of neuroleadership on happiness management have not yet been developed | It is necessary to analyse the management of happiness from the perspectives of neuroscience and organisational behaviour |
| 11 | México | Lack of empirical evidence on the specific role of happiness management in influencing turnover intention in the Mexican context | Future research could explore the impact of internal marketing on the relationship between happiness management, work-related stress and turnover intention. It is recommended that the multigroup analysis be expanded beyond the comparison between the public and private sectors, incorporating variables such as gender, age, hierarchical level and generational differences. Future studies could adopt a longitudinal approach to assess whether the impact of happiness management on stress reduction and turnover intention is sustainable in the long term |
| 12 | España | The literature on happiness economics currently lacks a substantial body of work on happiness management, as this area of research is still in its early development | Develop longitudinal and international studies; build second-order |
| 13 | España | Global research exhibits geographical polarisation, with Spain emerging as a dominant hub for scientific dissemination. While Spanish researchers lead in publication volume and universities show notable research momentum, the nation’s international scientific trajectory remains brief. Comparatively, authors of other nationalities achieve higher citation rates, indicating a disparity between output and academic impact | It is recommended that future lines of research broaden the geographical focus through comparative studies that go beyond the Spanish case, explore specific contexts such as education and SMEs, delve deeper into the strategic relationship between happiness management and sustainability, especially with the SDGs develop and validate digital tools for measuring it, and adopt interdisciplinary perspectives |
| 14 | México | Lack of studies that quantitatively explore how the trinomial of emotional commitment, job satisfaction and organisational justice affects the binomial of happiness and intention to rotate | Future research should explore how the academic success of universities depends largely on the environment geared towards fostering creativity, active participation, loyalty and happiness among their professors |
| 15 | Ecuador | Existing research has addressed employee well-being, culture and management practices in a fragmented manner. However, there is a critical gap in understanding their synergy in ensuring organisational sustainability, particularly during labour market disruptions such as the Great Resignation | Future research could adopt a multi-method approach, combining quantitative analysis of Glassdoor reviews with qualitative methods, such as interviews or focus groups with employees from different organisational sizes and industries |