State of Kindness: A Mixed-Methods Reasoned Action Approach to Understanding Prosocial Communication in Organizations
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A rapidly growing body of evidence concludes that kindness is important for human health and well-being, both in our personal lives and at work. In organizations, kindness benefits consumers, employees, and the organization itself. Consumers who are treated with kindness have better outcomes and employees who work in kind environments are more satisfied and engaged in their work. Despite the known benefits of kindness in organizations, research supports the urgent need to increase kind behavior. Theory-based and empirically driven interventions to increase kind behavior are needed. This “State of Kindness” research uses group concept mapping and the reasoned action framework to operationalize kindness and examine the underlying beliefs and psychological determinants of kind behavior in organizations. This formative research is crucial for developing, implementing, and evaluating organizational kindness interventions.