Grounded in self-determination theory, this study unveils the connection between developmental human resource (HR) practices and employee agility by examining employees’ workplace spirituality and thriving at work. Based on data collected from 428 employees, our empirical analysis has demonstrated that the relationship between developmental HR practices and employee agility is partially mediated by thriving at work. The results also indicate that employees’ workplace spirituality moderates the relationship among developmental HR practices, thriving at work, and employee agility. These findings have unveiled the underlying mechanism of the link between developmental HR practices and employee agility. This research offers fresh insights into the studies on employee agility and provides potential HR management recommendations for enhancing organizational agility in corporate strategic planning.

Thriving at work is closely related to the way employees are embedded in their social contexts, such as the structure of their communication relations with coworkers. In previous research, communication relations have been found to negatively relate to thriving at work. However, social network theory suggests that communication relations are beneficial in obtaining resources in the workplace, which might increase thriving at work. To reconcile the seemingly conflicting mechanisms, we draw on social network theory to unpack the mechanisms underlying communication relations by considering the instrumental and expressive roles. Using a structural equation model, we investigate the indirect effects of communication networks on thriving at work via advice-seeking networks (instrumental) and friendship networks (expressive). Our findings indicate communication relations are negatively related to thriving at work via advice-seeking relations, but are positively related to thriving at work via friendship relations.

While individuals’ proactive career behaviors (PCBs) are critical to sustainable career outcomes, knowledge of how and when PCBs translate into these outcomes is limited. Drawing upon the conservation of resources theory and the socially embedded model of thriving, this study examines the psychological process through which PCBs translate into two sustainable career outcomes (i.e., subjective career success and perceived employability). Based on data collected from 228 participants in a Chinese company, our findings reveal that PCBs positively predict subjective career success and perceived employability by fostering thriving at work. Furthermore, the indirect association between PCBs and perceived employability via thriving at work is strengthened when participants’ perception of humble leadership is high. This study extends our knowledge by identifying a psychological mechanism that explains how employees’ PCBs translate into sustainable career outcomes and enriches our understanding of the boundary conditions of PCBs by identifying humble leadership as an important factor.

Drawing upon the thriving at work and agism literature, we added unexplored thriving antecedents (i.e., negative age-based metastereotypes and associated reactions) to the thriving nomological network. Additionally, we investigated the thriving-turnover intentions link throughout the lifespan. Parallel multiple mediator models were used to analyze the role played by threat and challenge in the relationship between negative age-based metastereotypes and overall thriving. Survey results (n = 326 employees) showed that threat and challenge mediated this relationship, yet differential relationships between antecedents and thriving appeared when analyzing thriving dimensions (i.e., learning and vitality) separately. Relatedly, turnover intentions were negatively predicted by overall thriving, but learning and vitality effects on turnover intentions were distinct across age groups. Findings recommend a clearer distinction between thriving dimensions role in the thriving experience throughout the lifespan. Overall, this study contends that the combination of thriving and agism literature contributes to further understand employee growth.

Conservation of resources theory is employed to examine the effect of workplace support on thriving at work and the mediation of thriving at work on the workplace support and life satisfaction relationship using data on white-collar workers in China. We find that workplace support is positively related to thriving at work and thriving at work is positively related to life satisfaction. We also find that thriving at work fully mediates the relationship between life satisfaction and supervisor support, while the relationship between life satisfaction and coworker support is partially mediated by thriving at work. Consistent with the COR caravan and spillover hypothesis, we conclude that thriving at work is a mechanism that transmits the positive effects of workplace support on life satisfaction. The research findings suggest that an increase in workplace support can benefit both individuals and organizations by improving individuals’ thriving at work and life satisfaction.