Review maps links between employee flourishing and green workplace behavior

A focused bibliometric review of 636 documents published from 2010 through 2025 found that research on sustainable workplaces increasingly connects employee eudaimonic well-being with environmentally responsible behavior. The analysis identifies two main intellectual foundations: one centered on eudaimonic well-being, workplace psychology and human flourishing, and the other on employee green behavior, green human resource management and sustainable development.

The review was designed to clarify the structure and development of a literature spread across workplace well-being, green human resource management, organizational behavior and sustainability studies. The researchers retrieved documents from Scopus and Web of Science on 23 April 2026 and analyzed them using RStudio, VOSviewer and Biblioshiny. Because the study was a bibliometric review rather than an experiment, survey or longitudinal analysis, its results describe patterns in published research rather than establish that better employee well-being causes greener conduct or that environmental practices improve employee well-being.

The thematic analysis showed a gradual change in emphasis across the 2010–2025 publication period. Earlier work was more strongly associated with happiness, eudaimonia and psychological functioning, while later research placed greater emphasis on workplace sustainability, green behavior and sustainable development. The authors interpret this progression as evidence that the literature is moving toward stronger integration of human flourishing and environmental responsibility. The review does not directly measure changes in employees’ attitudes, working conditions or behavior, however, and the bibliometric methods do not show that any one study established a causal relationship between the two research themes.

Based on the relationships mapped among the 636 publications, the authors propose a human-centered workplace sustainability framework linking employee flourishing with environmentally responsible workplace conduct. The framework treats employee eudaimonic well-being and green behavior as complementary elements in contemporary organizational sustainability rather than as separate research agendas. It is presented as a conceptual advance for a fragmented field, clarifying connections among workplace psychology, green human resource management, organizational behavior and sustainability research without claiming that the review tested the framework in an organization or demonstrated its practical effects.

Subject of Research: Bibliometric mapping of employee flourishing, green workplace behavior and organizational sustainability research.

Article Title: Employee eudaimonic well-being and green behavior in sustainable workplaces toward a human-centered sustainability framework

Article References: Nguyen, L. V., & Nguyen, T. M. L. (2026). Employee eudaimonic well-being and green behavior in sustainable workplaces toward a human-centered sustainability framework. Discover Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-026-04802-5

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s43621-026-04802-5

Keywords: eudaimonic well-being, employee green behavior, workplace sustainability, sustainable development, green human resource management, bibliometric analysis, organizational psychology, human flourishing, Employee, eudaimonic, well-being, green