Individual Workplace Well-Being Captured into a Literature- and Stakeholders-Based Causal Loop Diagram

Irene M W Niks; Guido A Veldhuis; Marianne H J van Zwieten; Teun Sluijs; Noortje M Wiezer; Heleen M Wortelboer

doi:10.3390/ijerph19158925

Individual Workplace Well-Being Captured into a Literature- and Stakeholders-Based Causal Loop Diagram

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Jul 22;19(15):8925. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19158925.

Authors

Irene M W Niks¹, Guido A Veldhuis², Marianne H J van Zwieten¹, Teun Sluijs³, Noortje M Wiezer¹, Heleen M Wortelboer³

Affiliations

¹ Department Work, Health & Technology, The Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), 2301 DA Leiden, The Netherlands.
² Department Defense, Safety & Security, The Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), 2509 JG The Hague, The Netherlands.
³ Department Microbiology and Systems Biology, The Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), 3700 AJ Zeist, The Netherlands.

Abstract

This study demonstrates an innovative approach to capture the complexity of individual workplace well-being, improving our understanding of multicausal relationships and feedback loops involved. The literature shows that a high number of interacting factors are related to individual workplace well-being. However, many studies focus on subsets of factors, and causal loops are seldomly studied. The aim of the current study was, therefore, to capture individual workplace well-being in a comprehensive conceptual causal loop diagram (CLD). We followed an iterative, qualitative, and transdisciplinary systems-thinking approach including literature search, group model building sessions, retrospective in-depth interviews with employees, and group sessions with human resource professionals, managers, job coaches, and management consultants. The results were discussed with HR and well-being officers of twelve organizations for their critical reflection on the recognizability and potential of the developed CLD. The final result, a conceptual individual workplace well-being CLD, provides a comprehensive overview of multiple, measurable key factors relating to individual workplace well-being and of the way these factors may causally interact over time, either improving or deteriorating workplace well-being. In future studies, the CLD can be translated to a quantitative system dynamics model for simulating workplace well-being scenarios. Ultimately, these simulations could be used to design effective workplace well-being interventions.

Keywords: causal loop diagram; complexity; group model building; occupational health; system dynamics; systems thinking; workplace well-being.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Humans
Retrospective Studies
Workforce
Workplace*

Grants and funding

This research was funded by a public private partnership entitled “Innovation in Workplace Well-Being” and was co-funded by the PPP Allowance made available by Health Holland, Top Sector Life Sciences & Health (TKI-LSH-VT2017-TNO), The Netherlands, to stimulate public–private partnerships. This project was sponsored by the TNO Roadmap Work & Health and was co-funded by Deloitte Consulting BV and Zilveren Kruis Health Insurance.