Several studies report that gratitude behaviour results in prosocial behaviour. Unfortunately, most studies prove this correlation from questionnaires of university students. In addition, few try to study the mediator between gratitude behaviour and prosocial behaviour. In this paper, we present our preliminary research on the correlation between gratitude behaviour and prosocial behaviour among store workers. To study the correlation, we conducted a questionnaire that collected features relating to gratitude and prosocial behaviour, self-eficacy, and social worth. 772 subjects completed the questionnaire. The questionnaire results indicate that gratitude predicts prosocial behaviour via self-eficacy and social worth.
Gratitude is the positive emotion one feels when another person has intentionally
given, or attempted to give, one something of value. Ralph Waldo Emerson ofers
a helpful introduction to gratitude as the ability to “Cultivate the habit of being
grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously.
And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include
all things in your gratitude”1. Thus, gratitude may guide people towards a sense
of meaning and better health. For decades, thinkers in various fields have believed
this emotion to be essential for building and preserving social relationships as
“not only the best, but the parent of all other virtues[
Along with the growth of positive psychology, many researchers have studied
the psychological efect of gratitude[
Tsang defined trait gratitude as “the trend of feeling or noticing gratitude toward
the other’s benefaction role along with their positive experience and outcome”,
which refers to the diference in gratitude feelings between individuals[
Other studies of psychology focus on the concept of being thanked. Grant
and Gino found that individuals who report habitually experiencing gratitude
engage in prosocial behaviours via self-eficacy and social worth[
In our research, we apply Grant and Gino’s psychological mechanism to a person who is thankful. In other words, we assume that a person who is thankful engages in prosocial behaviour by encouraging self-eficacy and social worth. Algoe’s Find-Remind-and-Bind Theory indicates that a person who feels gratitude recognises help received from others or recognizes the value of relationships. The relationship with the supporter elicits condfience in overcoming challenges or draws attention to connections with others. Then, a person who feels gratitude engages in prosocial behaviour.
Although previous studies have explored gratitude through experiments with college students, we can also apply the psychological efect of gratitude to workers. Since workers help each other daily, we need to study the psychological mechanism of gratitude involved among them. Therefore, we studied this mechanism and evaluated whether gratitude promotes prosocial behaviour via self-eficacy and social worth through a questionnaire.
In this paper, we present our preliminary work on the mediator between gratitude and prosocial behaviour and verify the link between gratitude and prosocial behaviour among shop workers. First, we hypothesize that self-eficacy and social worth mediate the link between gratitude and prosocial behaviour. To prove the proposed theory, we asked shop staf to complete a questionnaire on gratitude, prosocial behaviour, self-eficacy, and social worth. We applied a correlation analysis and structural equation modelling (SEM) to the collected data. The analysis proves that both self-eficacy and social worth mediate the relationship between gratitude and prosocial behavior. We also confirm the existence of a link between gratitude and prosocial behaviour among shop staf.
To study the mediator between gratitude and prosocial behaviour and verify the link between gratitude and prosocial behaviour among shop workers, we designed a questionnaire. The questionnaire includes five parts focused on the following: demographic information, gratitude behaviour, self-eficacy, social worth, and prosocial behaviour.
In the demographic information section, we collected the age and gender of the subjects.
In the gratitude behaviour section, we asked the participants about the
frequency of their feelings of gratitude, such as in relation to their relationships
with people, salary, work-life balance, and so on. We designed this part of the
questionnaire based on “The Japanese version of the Gratitude at Work Scale
(GAWS)”. From the GAWS, we measure the gratitude that shop staf feel based
on 10 questionnaire items[
In the self-eficacy section, we asked subjects about the degree of self-eficacy
felt. We designed this part of the questionnaire based on “the Scale Measuring
a Sense of Generalized Self-Eficacy (SMSGSE)”[
In the social worth section, we asked subjects about their degree of social
worth[
In the prosocial behaviour section, we asked subjects about their degree
of prosocial behaviour. We designed this part of the questionnaire based on
“The Japanese Version of the Organizational Citizenship Behavior Scale (OCB
Scale)”[
We collected data between 15.12.2021 and 22.12.2021. First, we recruited 1154 subjects among shop workers of a telecommunication shop. We implemented the designed questionnaire form into web-based questionnaire system and distributed it to the staf working in the telecommunication store. On 22.12.2021, 772 subjects completed the questionnaire, representing 66.9% of the recruited subjects. 53% of the subjects was female. 47% of the subjects was male. 2.3
We used a correlation analysis and SEM to validate our hypothesis. First, we studied the correlations between parameters through a correlation analysis. Based on Cohen’s efect size, we evaluated Pearson’s r values. A value of 0.10 corresponds to a small value. A value of 0.30 corresponds to a moderate value. A value of 0.50 corresponds to a high value.
Second, we analyzed the link between gratitude and prosocial behavior via SEM. We assume that gratitude encourages prosocial behaviour via self-eficacy or social worth. We evaluated the assumed model based on the comparative fit index (CFI), Tucker-Lewis index (TLI), root-mean-square error of approximation (RMSEA), standardized root-mean-square residual (SRMR), Akaike information criterion (AIC), and Bayesian information criterion (BIC). According to Hu and Bentler, when the CFI and TLI are greater than 0.95, the RMSEA is less than 0.06, and the SRMR is less than 0.08, the data adapt to the model. We select the model that has the lowest AIC and BIC as the most adapted model. Based on the abovementioned six adaptation degrees, we determine the best SEM model.
First, we validate the reliability of each parameter. The internal consistency level of alpha value ranges between 0.81 and 0.91, which means that it exhibits suficient reliability. Then, we calculate the average and standard deviation of each parameter and validate the corresponding correlation. Table 1 shows the result. Through correlation analysis, we find position correlations ( r = .21 ∼ 73, p < .001).
Second, we evaluate the proposed path model: there are links between gratitude and prosocial behaviour via self-eficacy and social worth. The results of the SEM analysis are shown in Table 2. Of the three models, Model 3 adapts most to the data.
Figure 1 shows Model 3. Unlike for Models 1 and 2, we assume a correlation between self-eficacy and social worth in Model 3.
In Model 3, gratitude has a positive efect on self-eficacy ( β = .33, p < .001) and social worth (β = .46, p < .001). In addition, gratitude has a positive efect on interpersonal help (β = .23, p < .001), conscientiousness (β = .22, p < .001), concentration on the job (β = .18, p < .001), supporting the organization (β = .39, p < .001), and cleanliness (β = .10, p < .001). Moreover, self-eficacy has a positive efect on interpersonal help ( β = .21, p < .001), concentration on the job (β = .06, p < .001), and supporting the organization (β = .16, p < .001). In contrast, social worth has a positive efect on interpersonal help ( β = .31, p < .001), conscientiousness (β = .33, p < .001), concentration on the job (β = .40, p < .001), supporting the organization (β = .17, p < .001), and cleanliness (β = .28, p < .001).
From the above results, we determine that gratitude predicts prosocial behavior via self-eficacy and social worth. 4
In this research, we investigated our hypothesis of shop workers: Gratitude encourages prosocial behaviour via self-eficacy and social worth.
Through SEM analysis, we validated the two psychological processes. For the first process, gratitude in the working environment promotes prosocial behaviour via self-eficacy. From this process, we confirm that gratitude does not promote “conscientiousness” or “cleanliness” in terms of prosocial behaviour. In contrast, gratitude promotes “interpersonal help”, “concentration on the job”, and “supporting the organization”. These results indicate the following: even when shop staf experience challenges with their work, they have the confidence to overcome them through support from their colleagues. Furthermore, with this confidence, they engage in their daily work and help their colleagues.
For the second process, gratitude in the work environment promotes prosocial behaviour via social worth. For this process, in contrast to self-eficacy, we confirm that gratitude promotes prosocial behaviour in the work environment. When gratitude results in prosocial behaviour via social worth, shop staf tend to regard relationships with their family, friends and colleagues as important. In other words, shop staf who value interpersonal relationships engage in prosocial behaviour towards their colleagues.
In summary, the proposed model proves the following for shop staf who feel gratitude: They notice that they are supported by others. They have confidence to overcome obstacles. They help other staf (prosocial behaviour) since they value interpersonal relationships with others.
Regarding behaviour change, we find that we can utilize two diferent intervention techniques to encourage prosocial behaviour. For the first technique, we encourage staf to realize their prosocial behaviour by stimulating self-eficacy. For example, if a staf member has a high self-eficacy score, a message such as “Send your gratitude to your colleague! You can do it!” can be impactful. Staf can also be encouraged to engage in prosocial behaviour by stimulating their social worth. For example, for a staf member with a high social worth score, a message such as “Send your gratitude to your colleague! Your colleague will appreciate it!” can be helpful. Based on these findings, we plan to design behaviour change applications as a next research step. A chatbot-based communication application will be an example. In the app., the chatbot stimulates the staf to express gratitude to the other staf. In the stimulus messages, we can utilize the techniques found in this study.