Individual differences in affect : explaining work environment perceptions and later wellbeing
(2026) In Scientific Reports 16(1).- Abstract
Individual differences in employees’ affective dispositions influence how they perceive the work environment and report their well-being. A recurring challenge in this literature is that self-reported measures of working conditions and well-being cannot easily distinguish objective environmental features from the perceptual lens through which employees report them. Using a large, stratified sample of Danish employees (T1 N = 3970; T2 N = 2375) and the Danish Psychosocial Questionnaire, we quantified the extent to which positive and negative affect account for associations between work environment perceptions and employee well-being. Partial correlations, both cross-sectional and longitudinal over six months, showed that two brief affect... (More)
Individual differences in employees’ affective dispositions influence how they perceive the work environment and report their well-being. A recurring challenge in this literature is that self-reported measures of working conditions and well-being cannot easily distinguish objective environmental features from the perceptual lens through which employees report them. Using a large, stratified sample of Danish employees (T1 N = 3970; T2 N = 2375) and the Danish Psychosocial Questionnaire, we quantified the extent to which positive and negative affect account for associations between work environment perceptions and employee well-being. Partial correlations, both cross-sectional and longitudinal over six months, showed that two brief affect measures accounted for an average of 73–75% of the observed associations. These findings suggest that a substantial portion of commonly reported work environment-well-being associations reflects stable individual differences in affective dispositions rather than objective environmental conditions—with direct implications for how self-report surveys are designed and interpreted in research and practice.
(Less)
- author
- Craven, Lucas H. and Kajonius, Petri J. LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2026-12
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Individual differences, Negative affect, Positive affect, Well-being, Work environment
- in
- Scientific Reports
- volume
- 16
- issue
- 1
- article number
- 18178
- publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105041558535
- pmid:42277306
- ISSN
- 2045-2322
- DOI
- 10.1038/s41598-026-55924-9
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 359df1ec-19f5-4d5c-8014-eedf2cc85f9e
- date added to LUP
- 2026-08-24 14:50:18
- date last changed
- 2026-08-25 03:00:04
@article{359df1ec-19f5-4d5c-8014-eedf2cc85f9e,
abstract = {{<p>Individual differences in employees’ affective dispositions influence how they perceive the work environment and report their well-being. A recurring challenge in this literature is that self-reported measures of working conditions and well-being cannot easily distinguish objective environmental features from the perceptual lens through which employees report them. Using a large, stratified sample of Danish employees (T1 N = 3970; T2 N = 2375) and the Danish Psychosocial Questionnaire, we quantified the extent to which positive and negative affect account for associations between work environment perceptions and employee well-being. Partial correlations, both cross-sectional and longitudinal over six months, showed that two brief affect measures accounted for an average of 73–75% of the observed associations. These findings suggest that a substantial portion of commonly reported work environment-well-being associations reflects stable individual differences in affective dispositions rather than objective environmental conditions—with direct implications for how self-report surveys are designed and interpreted in research and practice.</p>}},
author = {{Craven, Lucas H. and Kajonius, Petri J.}},
issn = {{2045-2322}},
keywords = {{Individual differences; Negative affect; Positive affect; Well-being; Work environment}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
publisher = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
series = {{Scientific Reports}},
title = {{Individual differences in affect : explaining work environment perceptions and later wellbeing}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-55924-9}},
doi = {{10.1038/s41598-026-55924-9}},
volume = {{16}},
year = {{2026}},
}