Using strengths and thriving at work: The role of colleague strengths recognition and organizational context

According to the socially embedded model of thriving at work, employees thrive (i.e., experience a sense of vitality and learning), when they can engage in agentic work behaviours. In this study, we first examine whether strengths use can be seen as an agentic work behaviour that contributes to thriving. Second, we investigate whether the degree to which colleagues recognize each other’s strengths boosts the positive relationship between strengths use and thriving. Third, we propose that perceived organizational support for strengths use and opportunities for professional development are organizational factors that contribute to thriving because they enable employee strengths use, and that this indirect relationship is also reinforced by intercollegial strengths recognition. An analysis of 445 Dutch employee and 159 close co-worker reports show that strengths use and thriving are indeed positively connected. Our findings reveal that intercollegial strengths recognition is a positive moderator of the relationship between strengths use and vitality. We identify two organizational factors that contribute to thriving through employee strengths use and find that the nature of the indirect pathway to vitality also depends on colleague recognition. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.