Cool Company = Happy Employees? The Impact of Company Coolness on Happiness at Work

Abstract

In recent years, employers have put more emphasis on fostering the happiness of employees. Although happiness and its antecedents are well-researched within literature, the underlying psychological cause of the relationship is not always fully visible. A possible explanation lies within the concept of coolness. The phenomenon has been increasingly researched and adopted in the past but mainly focused on the effects of coolness on consumers. The novel research conducted in this thesis, therefore, aims to close the gap between the two domains and examine whether the coolness of an employer influences employee happiness.

The study builds on a conceptual framework that includes four latent variables: Company Coolness as the independent variable, Employee Pride and Employee Meaningfulness as mediating variables, and Happiness at Work as the dependent variable. Moreover, five moderators such as Gender and Age are evaluated.

Methodologically, a quantitative approach is applied. First, a reliable and valid multidimensional scale, incorporating existing scales and items is developed. Second, Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) is used to model the relationships between the variables and analyze them based on survey responses from US employees who are part of Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) panel.

The results show a strong total positive effect of Company Coolness on Happiness at Work. Company Coolness exerts not only a positive direct effect but also positive indirect effects through the two mediators, underlining the importance of translating the coolness perceptions into a feeling of meaningfulness and pride which alters the happiness of employees. Moreover, the study finds that demographic characteristics such as Age and Gender do not influence the effect relationship – emphasizing the universal characteristics of coolness.

The thesis concludes by providing highly relevant theoretical and managerial implications and presenting how the conducted study opens avenues for future research.