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This paper presents cross-cultural comparisons of well-being among factory work- ers, as measured by the six well-being domains of happiness and life satisfaction, physical and mental health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, close social relationships, and financial and material stability. Relative ranks of well-being do- mains across examined groups of workers are also compared. Results are based on survey data from factory workers in Cambodia, China, Mexico, Poland, Sri Lanka, and the United States. Average well-being scores are higher among factory workers in Mexico, China, and Cambodia than in the U.S., Poland, and Sri Lanka across all domains except financial and material stability. Close social relationships were the highest ranked domain in Cambodia and China but ranked much lower (5th) in the U.S. Meaning and purpose, as well as character and virtue were highly ranked across the board. Strong social relationships seem to thrive in contexts where fi- nancial insecurity is high.
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Applied Research in Quality of Life
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-023-10181-0
Abstract
This paper presents cross-cultural comparisons of well-being among factory work-
ers, as measured by the six well-being domains of happiness and life satisfaction,
physical and mental health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, close social
relationships, and nancial and material stability. Relative ranks of well-being do-
mains across examined groups of workers are also compared. Results are based on
survey data from factory workers in Cambodia, China, Mexico, Poland, Sri Lanka,
and the United States. Average well-being scores are higher among factory workers
in Mexico, China, and Cambodia than in the U.S., Poland, and Sri Lanka across
all domains except nancial and material stability. Close social relationships were
the highest ranked domain in Cambodia and China but ranked much lower (5th) in
the U.S. Meaning and purpose, as well as character and virtue were highly ranked
across the board. Strong social relationships seem to thrive in contexts where -
nancial insecurity is high.
Keywords Social relationships · Financial security · Health · Meaning and
purpose in life · Character and virtue · Well-being
Introduction
Demand for labor generated by global brands in emerging economies led to increased
job opportunities for local workers (Barrientos, Gere, et al. 2011; Barrientos, Mayer
et al. 2011). Ensuring appropriate working conditions and welfare of factory work-
ers, however, has been rarely an important issue in the process of work-post creation
(Egels-Zandén & Lindholm, 2015). Especially in less developed countries, where
insucient rule of law accompanied by awed legal systems are present, work-
ing conditions can lead to various negative outcomes in the life domain (Węziak-
Received: 21 December 2022 / Accepted: 14 May 2023
© The Author(s) 2023
Differences in Multi-Dimensional Well-Being Among
Factory Workers: Evidence from Six Countries
PiotrBialowolski1,5 · Matthew T.Lee2,3· DorotaWeziak-Bialowolska4,5·
YingChen2· Richard G.Cowden2· EileenMcNeely5· Tyler J.VanderWeele2
Extended author information available on the last page of the article
1 3
P. Bialowolski et al.
Białowolska et al., 2020). There has already been research demonstrating that in
factories with insucient access to basic sanitation and health care services (CSDH
2008; Marmot et al., 2008), as well as generating strain on work-life balance (Bam-
bra et al., 2014; de Neve et al., 2018), detrimental eects on well-being of workers
can be observed. Despite existing evidence that promoting worker well-being can
be nancially benecial (Bialowolski et al., 2020), companies are often reluctant to
improve standard-of-care for their workers (Adler et al., 2017; Arnold, 2014; (Brown
et al., 2014a, b).
The well-being of low-skilled workers is often a low priority target for employ-
ers. Such workers are comparatively easy to replace and, consequently, there are
lower costs associated with their recruitment, compensation, on-boarding, and train-
ing compared to high-skilled workers. However, as labor markets in the developing
world mature, buyers and suppliers have become more concerned about diculties
in acquiring workers. In the Chinese economy, for example, constant growth over the
past three decades intensied the competition for labor at all levels of skills (Zhang
et al., 2011). Low well-being can potentially exacerbate the problem of scarcity of
workers as it often translates into high turnover rates (De Croon et al., 2004; Holtom
et al., 2008) and low productivity (Levi et al., 2022).
In this study we examine the well-being of production workers. We oer a com-
parison of well-being that includes both psychosocial and material dimensions (Lee
et al., 2021), which can help to identify dimensions of well-being in which produc-
tion workers have the largest distance to catch-up, as well as highlight the well-being
strengths. This study is also in line with a number of worker well-being programs that
promote worker well-being on and o the job. They include the Total Worker Health®
program by United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (CDC/NIOSH) (Schill, 2017; Tamers et
al., 2019), the Model for Action by WHO (2010), and the Better Work program by
the United Nation’s International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Bank’s
International Finance Corporation (IFC)1.
Our analysis is drawn from large samples of employees of ve apparel companies
that launched a worker well-being program, located in Cambodia, China, Mexico,
Poland, Sri Lanka, and two manufacturing companies in the United States that also
implemented a worker well-being initiative. Our results do not generalize to all
members of the respective societies but particularly focus on production workers.
Focusing on the well-being of working adults employed in production companies
is especially important because this group generates considerable value added that
sustains other social groups (i.e., families and communities), while at the same time
they are a group at high risk of turnover because of the precarity of their employment.
Additionally, evidence from prior studies suggests that greater worker well-being
is positively associated with work-related functioning. For example, longitudinal
studies have shown that happiness and life satisfaction are associated with higher
subsequent job happiness and job satisfaction, meaning in life is associated with
greater subsequent meaning at work, and psychological climate for caring at work
is associated with higher subsequent work productivity and work quality (Weziak-
1 https://betterwork.org.
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Differences in Multi-Dimensional Well-Being Among Factory Workers:…
Bialowolska et al., 2020, 2023). Other longitudinal research demonstrated that better
social well-being is positively associated with work productivity (Bialowolski et al.,
2020), while physical health and mental health problems contributed to increased
dysfunctional presenteeism (Bryan et al., 2022).
Challenges in Measurement of Well-Being
Historically, anthropologists, seeking to avoid ethnocentrism, have been reluctant to
evaluate the overall well-being of a group using standards that originate outside of
that group. Comparisons are also complicated by cultural variations in language, the
role of memory in determining subjective well-being, and the presence of a positivity
or social desirability bias (Biswas-Diener & Diener, 2001; Diener et al., 2017; Fisher
& Katz, 2000; Oishi, 2002). Pancultural aspects of well-being have been also identi-
ed in self-report studies. For example, survey researchers provided a support for
concepts such as a “livability” to describe “conditions of quality of life in societies
that meet human needs” and which arguably reect “universal human conditions that
will lead to well-being” (Diener, 2009, p. 2). Prosocial behavior has also been shown
to positively impact self-reported positive aect around the world (Jebb et al., 2020).
Beyond ndings on the individual domains of well-being, recent conceptual and
empirical scholarship has established a ourishing concept composed of at least ve
core well-being domains which are “nearly universally desired” and widely consid-
ered as ends in themselves (VanderWeele, 2017). They include happiness and life
satisfaction, mental and physical health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue,
and close social relationships. A sixth domain— nancial and material stability—
may be necessary to sustain well-being in the other domains over time. Including
this additional domain allows us to assess secure ourishing (VanderWeele, 2017;
Weziak-Bialowolska et al., 2019a). There is also some evidence that these domains
are “culturally universal” (Weziak-Bialowolska et al., 2019b, p. 9).
Various self-report measures of well-being, have been developed, including the
Mental Health Continuum–Short Form (Keyes, 2002), the well-being items on the
European Social Survey (Huppert et al., 2009), the Flourishing Scale (Diener et al.,
2010), and the PERMA-Proler (Seligman, 2011). Although they encompass mul-
tiple dimensions of well-being and have made important contributions to our knowl-
edge base, these measures tend to omit physical health, as well as many aspects of
character strengths and nancial security.
Cross-cultural comparisons to date—using data from such surveys as the Gallup
World Poll, the World Happiness Survey, or the World Values Survey—often focus on
a somewhat restricted subset of well-being measures, either physical health, nancial
security, subjective well-being (SWB), or selected aspects of SWB such as happiness
or life satisfaction (cf. Helliwell et al., 2019; Jebb et al., 2020). The European Social
Survey provides more comprehensive information on cross-cultural well-being but
is limited to European countries and missing on highly valued domains, as we have
already noted (Hone et al., 2014). A general conclusion of the existing research is that
most people throughout the world report “moderately positive” SWB (Diener & Suh,
1999, p. 435). Furthermore, in some studies individualism predicts SWB and is also
1 3
P. Bialowolski et al.
correlated with income, such that positive economic development seems to foster
well-being in general (Diener, 2009; Diener et al., 2017; Diener & Suh, 1999) and its
nancial dimension (Xiao & Bialowolski, 2023), although higher income does not
necessarily increase well-being longitudinally (Easterlin et al., 2010). Attempts to
make general statements are also complicated by ndings suggesting that countries
that are materialistically successful, boasting the highest rates of “happiness” and
personal security, also have high levels of “deaths of despair” (i.e., suicide, drug
overdose, cirrhosis of the liver; Case & Deaton 2015) and a sense of meaninglessness
(Froese, 2016; Oishi & Diener, 2014), at least among some strata of their popula-
tions. Such countries may lack the “sacred canopies and existential urgency” that
has historically seemed to “guarantee a meaningful life” (Froese, 2016, p. 54; Lee et
al., 2019; Smith, 2017). Paradoxically, “reported SWB and suicide correlate across
nations” (Diener & Suh, 1999, p. 442). In the struggle to survive in economically
under-developed contexts, connections to both horizontal (other people) and vertical
(higher power) “signicant others” are strong. Therefore, respondents from wealthy
countries may score higher on some aspects of well-being like SWB, but simultane-
ously report lower levels of spiritual well-being, social connectedness, and sense of
purpose (Froese, 2016). Signicant social problems may be underappreciated with
pursuing a more narrow idea of well-being, highlighting the value of a more holistic
appraisal of complete wellbeing (see Lee, Kubzansky, et al. 2021).
Cultural Dierences in Domains of Well-Being
Previous surveys have revealed that eight out of ten respondents throughout the
world are “very or quite happy”; that wealth, human rights, political stability, and
other markers of material security are generally good predictors of increased well-
being across nations; and that the happiness of individuals within and across coun-
tries varies over time (Diener et al., 2006, p. 3; Helliwell et al., 2019; Jebb et al.,
2020). Despite the reportedly high levels of happiness, data from the Gallup World
Poll suggest that less than a quarter of the world’s population is “thriving” according
to a combination of current and future life evaluation ratings, that the global aver-
age score for current life evaluation is only a 5.3 out of a maximum of 10, and that
there has been a dramatic rise in negative emotions around the world in recent years,
especially in countries that have experienced social and political upheavals (Clif-
ton, 2022). Such variations across time and place challenge the “automatic habitua-
tion model” (aka the “hedonic treadmill”) that people adapt to their environments by
returning to a “set point” of neutral well-being regardless of contextual dierences
(Diener et al., 2006, p. 2; Headey 2008). Instead, a great deal of cross-national varia-
tion has been observed, not only for happiness but for other measures of ourishing
as well (Helliwell et al., 2019; Myers & Diener, 1995). For example, an examina-
tion of dichotomized hedonic and eudaimonic aspects of well-being across European
nations revealed a four-fold dierence between the highest and lowest scoring coun-
tries (Huppert & So, 2013). With regard to the factors that shape well-being across
cultures, some studies support the universalist approach that there are culturally
invariant needs driving well-being, such as competence, autonomy, and relatedness
1 3
Differences in Multi-Dimensional Well-Being Among Factory Workers:…
(Deci & Ryan, 2000); others support the cultural approach which argues for varia-
tion (Krys et al., 2023); and nally, there is the mixed approach which suggests the
existence of culturally invariant needs but posits that the importance of these needs
may vary across societies (Ng & Diener, 2014).
The very meaning of “happiness” diverges across cultures, with “feeling good
about oneself” (Diener, 2009, p. 4; Diener & Suh 1999) being more highly prized in
individualistic nations than collectivist ones and self-esteem also serving as a stron-
ger predictor of life satisfaction where individualism is high (Diener et al., 2017).
Moreover, relationship satisfaction is more important for SWB in collectivist coun-
tries, as well as those that are less economically developed (Galinha et al., 2016).
Some studies have found that nancial satisfaction is more strongly associated with
life satisfaction in poorer nations (Diener, 2009), while other research reveals the
opposite (Ng & Diener, 2014). This distinction between the material dimension of
well-being (e.g., physical health and nancial security) and the psychosocial dimen-
sion (e.g., emotional health, social connectedness) has proven helpful for understand-
ing demographic dierences in valuing the various domains of well-being (Diener &
Suh, 1999; Lee et al., 2021a). Cross-cultural research concludes that although “mate-
rial luxuries” (Diener, 2009, p. 7) are not necessarily required for a minimal level of
well-being in every culture, it is clear that countries that better meet both the material
and non-material needs of their populations, generally have higher SWB than those
that are less able to meet both of these types of needs (Ng & Diener, 2014; Welzel &
Inglehart, 2010).
Beyond this cultural universal, there are signicant foundational dierences in
well-being in cultures derived from the Aristotelian tradition in the West. They tend
to stress “analytic (oppositional) thinking,” autonomy, self-assertion, independence,
and individual rights. Those with a Confucian heritage in the East are more likely to
promote “holistic (dialectical) thinking,” interdependence, harmony, and equanimity
(Nisbett et al., 2001; Steger et al., 2008, p. 663). For example, balance, content-
ment, and other low-arousal emotions are more highly regarded in Eastern cultures,
whereas excitement and other high-arousal emotions are esteemed in Western cul-
tures like the U.S. (Diener et al., 2017; Kitayama et al., 2010). This may account for
higher levels of SWB in the West (Myers & Diener, 1995), although an assessment of
well-being might lead to dierent results. Similarly, North Americans have a largely
positive view of ‘happiness’—more is better—whereas some groups of Asians may
worry about “too much happiness” (Diener et al., 2017). In addition to the East/West
distinction, there appears to be a pan-Latino eect on SWB, as Latin American coun-
tries with a shared history and culture exhibit higher scores than other countries with
a similar level of economic development (Ortiz-Ospina & Roser, 2017). There is also
abundant evidence of racial and ethnic minorities within countries exhibiting better-
than-expected well-being, such as emotional and physical health, despite exceed-
ingly adverse social conditions, which may be explained by cultural norms that foster
higher levels of social connections (Gõmez-Puerta et al., 2015; Keyes, 2009; Lee &
Martinez, 2006; Ry et al., 2004).
In other words, the structural factors that are often posited to account for variations
in well-being across groups, such as material wealth, are frequently moderated by
cultural factors. One study of people living in deplorable conditions in Calcutta, India
1 3
P. Bialowolski et al.
(in slum housing, brothels, or on the streets), found that their life satisfaction is higher
“than one might expect” and this outcome was related to a “strong emphasis on social
relationships and the satisfaction derived from them” (Biswas-Diener & Diener,
2001, p. 261). Cultures that value social relationships highly, and this is particularly
true in collectivist and economically underdeveloped countries like India (Galinha et
al., 2016), enable impoverished people to “utilize their strong social relationships” to
partially oset the threats to well-being that are posed by poverty (Biswas-Diener &
Diener, 2001, p. 275). More generally, if an individual’s psychosocial orientation ts
well with the values promoted by the “dominant” culture in that individual’s society,
then they are more likely to experience a higher degree of ourishing. For example,
religious people experience higher levels of happiness generally, but this is most the
case in religious nations rather than in nonreligious nations (Diener et al., 2017; Oishi
& Diener, 2014; Pawlikowski et al., 2019). To relate this to the culture of Calcutta,
outside observers who expect low well-being due to extreme poverty may overlook
important positive cultural aspects: a high sense of moral goodness, religiosity, social
connectedness, and family ties (Biswas-Diener & Diener, 2001). An individual who
values these aspects of the culture will ourish in Calcutta to a much greater degree
than one who exalts materialistic ideals.
Challenges in Cross-Cultural Comparison
Our examination of production workers from one of the most developed countries
(two U.S. samples) and two other developed countries (Poland and Mexico, according
to OECD) provide the benet of benchmarking relative to other examined samples
including those from Sri Lanka, Cambodia, and China. However, since our samples
are from culturally dierent societies, comparing them in terms of well-being pres-
ents a number of challenges, including (but certainly not limited to) socially desirable
responding, acquiescence, extreme response bias, and diculty translating words
across cultures (Fisher & Katz, 2000; Morren et al., 2012; van Herk et al., 2004). We
review a few examples of such complexities, which underscore the caution required
in comparing absolute levels of the domains of well-being across countries. We there-
fore generally focus our discussion on the relative ordering of domains. We have
already noted that cultures place dierent levels of value on specic aspects of well-
being such as happiness. But in addition to the East/West cultural divide, there are
also dierent thresholds for being ‘happy’ within Western cultures, with the word
being used much more liberally in the English language than in French and German
(Diener et al., 2017). It is not particularly informative to simply ask about levels of
happiness and compare results across societies without understanding cultural varia-
tions in using this word and its translations. Other words are similarly polysemous
within and across cultures (Ravin & Leacock, 2000).
Lexical variation is not the only problem. There are also biases with regard to how
emotions, and well-being more generally, are remembered (Oishi, 2002). In some
cultures, the accuracy of a respondent’s assessment of their emotional state over the
past week depends on their “general emotional self-perception” (Diener, 2009, p. 6),
whereas in other cultures this kind of bias is less evident. This is especially important
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Differences in Multi-Dimensional Well-Being Among Factory Workers:…
for conceptions of well-being that include the ratio of positive to negative emotions.
Negative aect is more normal in some cultural traditions than others, while specic
aspects of well-being such as close relationships or nancial security may generate
negative feelings as well as happy ones (Myers & Diener, 1995). Emotions like pride
cluster with positive emotions depending on the culture, while love might be related
to sadness in some cultures but not others (Diener, 2009). Cross-cultural dierences
with regard to a “positivity bias” may also shape survey results, as revealed by a com-
parison of the “evenhanded” manner in which Indians evaluate all domains of SWB,
while Americans seem to concentrate “primarily on their best areas” (Biswas-Diener
& Diener, 2001, p. 274).
Nevertheless, an examination of the ordering of the domains within and across
contexts may be of considerable interest, even if mean scores themselves are not
always directly comparable. However, ndings presented by Weziak-Bialowolska et
al. (2019b) oer some reassurance that with the measurement invariance established
for well-being domains (as well as satisfactory reliability and criterion validity),
the universal character of the indices and the comparability of their latent scores in
ve culturally distinct populations examined in this study (except Poland) is largely
substantiated. Evidence supporting valid and reliable interpretation of scores on the
multidimensional measure of well-being has also been found in numerous workplace
settings (Weziak-Bialowolska et al., 2019b) and in multiple cultures in dierent parts
of the world (Höltge et al., 2022). Furthermore, observing means in each domain
across dierent settings can be useful for benchmarking purposes in interpreting
future data collection eorts and summaries.
Materials and Methods
Participants
Participants were production workers from Cambodia, China, Mexico, Poland, Sri
Lanka, and the United States. Data collection took place between 2017 and 2019
(exact dates are presented in Table 1). The largest sample was available from Mexico
and comprised 2,723 factory workers. In China, Sri Lanka and the U.S. more than
one thousand responses were collected (1,272, 1,284, and 1,268 respectively). The
remaining samples were smaller but still substantial – Poland (615) and Cambodia
(572).
Participants were factory employees of either apparel (non-U.S. samples) or
manufacturing (U.S. samples) companies that had a worker well-being program
implemented and were interested in examining and improving well-being of their
employees. Research team was approached by these companies with an ocial
request to pursue an examination of worker well-being.
Procedure
All participants received the Worker Well-Being Survey (WWBS) tool (reference
blinded for review). This survey questions designed to measure various aspects of
1 3
P. Bialowolski et al.
worker well-being in addition to physical working conditions, psychosocial job
demands and resources, healthcare resources at work, and supportive social and
physical resources in the community and within the respondent’s household. It also
includes a set of self-reported work performance outcomes, such as self-reported
work injury, work quality, absenteeism, as well as job attitudes such as job satisfac-
tion and work engagement. In the current study the focus is solely on well-being.
The WWBS is used in culturally and linguistically diverse environments. The
research team strived to ensure cross-cultural comparability of question wordings,
as well as their appropriateness in light of diverse literacy levels. Questions were
originally in English but for the non-U.S. samples they were translated from English
to specic languages by professional translators. Back-translation was completed by
English-speaking students at Harvard University, as well as independent translators
from the countries where research was conducted. Discrepancies between transla-
tions and the original items were discussed within the research team. A Commu-
nity Advisory Board was created for each country, comprised of English-speaking
citizens of the country where the research was planned and who had appropriate
professional expertise in well-being research. They revised the English and country-
specic versions of questions based on their appropriateness (understanding and per-
ception) for the relevant worker population. Finally, before survey administration,
10–12 selected workers at each organization working at the most entry-level posi-
tions took the survey and discussed the issues related to question comprehension with
the research team. The nal revisions to the survey were introduced on site to ensure
understanding of the survey questions, their appropriateness for the specicity of
surveyed populations and to avoid cultural bias, while at the same time maintaining
their comparability across cultures.
Survey data were gathered directly at the factories. A communication campaign
took place prior to the survey in order to invite and encourage workers to participate.
Responses were collected on the Qualtrics platform using a tablet app. Participa-
tion rates were between 96% and 99% (Table 1). During the survey administration,
Table 1 Basic Statistics
Sri
Lanka
Mexico China Cambodia Poland U.S.
Females (%) 57.7 47.6 75.8 86.7 70.2 16.4
Age - mean (SD) 30.6
(9.2)
34.9
(10.6)
35.4
(9.2)
24.6
(4.9)
43.3
(7.8)
45.4
(12.1)
Having children under 18 years old
who currently live with the interviewed
worker (%)
46.2 76.2 85.0 56.3 61.7 42.6
Married (%) 58.1 40.2 84.0 60.1 74.5 69.0
Education (at least high school) (%) 90.3 82.7 24.0 19.2 92.7 99.0
Number of workers surveyed 1284 2723 1272 572 615 1268
Response rate 96.8% 96.4% 98.0% 94.5% 98.3% 99.3%
Date Aug
2017
Apr 2019 Dec
2017
– Jun
2018
Nov 2019 Feb
2019
Jun
2018
– Nov
2018
Note: unweighted data
1 3
Differences in Multi-Dimensional Well-Being Among Factory Workers:…
groups of workers were released from their positions (most often one production
line at a time) to come to the survey stations. Workers’ decision to participate in the
survey was voluntary and was not disclosed to management. Remuneration was not
aected. In particular, for the time spent on the survey completion workers were paid
a piece rate corresponding to their average wage. Condentiality of survey responses
was also ensured as individual survey responses were never shared with factory man-
agement. Aggregate survey results were provided to both participants and manage-
ment on separate occasions.
Measures
The Secure Flourishing Index was used to examine six dimensions of well-being
(VanderWeele, 2017; VanderWeele et al., 2019). This instrument exhibits good psy-
chometric properties while applied in workplace settings (Weziak-Bialowolska et al.,
2019a, b; alpha = 0.89 without nancial items or alpha = 0.86 with nancial items). It
assesses the following six domains of well-being with a total of twelve items, scored
zero to ten: happiness and life satisfaction, mental and physical health, meaning and
purpose, character and virtue, close social relationships, and nancial and material
stability. We averaged these six domains to create a comprehensive well-being mea-
sure Secure Flourish Index (SFI) and we averaged the rst ve (excluding nancial
and material stability, which may not be an end in itself) to create a restricted well-
being measure Flourish Index (FI).2 Although the word “ourish” was used in the
name of the measure, and we are retaining the name of the measure to be consistent
with previous research, for reasons mentioned above we see this as a measure of
well-being (see VanderWeele & Lomas 2022).
Statistical Analysis
Basic sociodemographic characteristics of the examined samples were presented
(Table 1). A comparison of the samples revealed dissimilarities. To account for these
discrepancies, post-stratication weights were calculated. To this end, a weighting
algorithm based on an iterative proportional tting (raking) was applied (Deville et
al., 1993; Kolenikov, 2014) to calculate the weights (raked weights). The following
characteristics were included in the process: gender, age group, and marital status,
and the Mexican sample was established as a reference sample as it was the larg-
est. The algorithm implemented in Stata 17 converged. The weights ensured that the
2 Domain 1: Happiness and Life Satisfaction: (1) Overall, how satised are you with life as a whole these
days? (2) In general, how happy or unhappy do you usually feel? Domain 2: Mental and Physical Health:
(3) In general, how would you rate your physical health? (4) How would you rate your overall mental
health? Domain 3: Meaning and Purpose: (5) Overall, to what extent do you feel the things you do in your
life are worthwhile? (6) I understand my purpose in life; Domain 4: Character and Virtue: (7) I always
seek to do what is good and right in all circumstances, even when it is dicult, and I always act accord-
ingly; (8) I am always able to give up some happiness now for greater happiness later; Domain 5: Close
Social Relationships: (9) I am content with my friendships and relationships; (10) My relationships are
as satisfying as I would want them to be; Domain 6: Financial and material stability: (11) How much do
you worry about being able to meet your normal monthly expenses? (12) How often do you worry about
safety, food, or housing?
1 3
P. Bialowolski et al.
marginal proportions of respondents with respect to gender, age, and marital status in
each sample matched the respective proportions observed in the Mexican sample. In
other words, with the raked weights applied, all samples were comparable in terms
of basic demographics.
Mean levels of SFI, FI, and all domains were calculated using weighted data. Aver-
age levels were compared using one-way ANOVA analysis and the pairwise com-
parisons were conducted (with the weights applied). Sidak correction was applied to
account for multiple testing.
Results
Table 2 presents our main results, including the average scores (and standard devia-
tion) for each well-being domain, the FI and the SFI, along with the within-sample
rank ordering of each domain, across selected production organizations in six coun-
tries. Although we report absolute scores with caution because of semantic variations
across cultures, potential cultural dierences in response styles to items on the FI and
SFI, and sociodemographic dierences in the samples (partially accounted for with
applied weighting scheme), it is interesting to note that average FI scores are more
than one point higher in Mexico, China, and Cambodia than in the U.S., Sri Lanka,
and Poland and domain scores in these three countries are higher across all domains
except nancial and material stability. For example, Cambodia’s average FI (8.86)
was the highest of any survey, while the U.S. average FI score was 7.34. The position
of the U.S. relative to the three countries with the highest average FI shows marginal
improvement when the domain of nancial and material stability is included, as the
highest SFI score (Cambodia at 8.17) is slightly more than 0.9 point higher than
the U.S. SFI score (7.26). In some countries, production workers included in this
study appear to have very low nancial and material stability, with Mexico (3.06) and
Poland (3.83) scoring the lowest. However, a low score on this domain is not neces-
sarily related to low scores on other domains. In other words, nancial stability is not
required for a high level of overall well-being.
Between-sample comparisons (Table 2, last two columns) showed that there are
dierences between all examined samples in terms of all well-being domains, the FI,
and the SFI (in each case, p-value for the F-test in one-way ANOVA was < 0.001).
Pairwise comparisons indicated that the mean scores were most heterogeneous for
the domain of happiness and life satisfaction (the only similar pair was the U.S. and
Poland), meaning and purpose (the only similar pair was the U.S. and Poland), char-
acter and virtue (the only similar pair was China and Poland), and nancial and mate-
rial stability (the only similar pair was Sri Lanka and China). Mean scores were most
homogeneous on the domain of mental and physical health and the FI (four pairs of
similar samples were observed in each case).
We now turn to the rank ordering of the domains observed in Table 2. Social con-
nectedness was the highest ranked domain in two countries with the highest levels
of overall well-being (see the mean SFI scores in Cambodia and China), but it was
ranked much lower in the U.S., Mexico, and Sri Lanka (4th or 5th depending on the
sample). It ranked third in Poland. Meaning and purpose was relatively high ranked
1 3
Differences in Multi-Dimensional Well-Being Among Factory Workers:…
Table 2 Flourishing, Secure Flourishing, and Domains of Flourishing by Country
Well-being Sri Lanka (1) Mexico (2) China (3) Cambodia (4) Poland (5) U.S. (6) p-value
for F-test
Pairwise compari-
sons (pairs with
not signicant dif-
ference; p < 0.05)
Mean (SD) Rank Mean
(SD)
Rank Mean
(SD)
Rank Mean
(SD)
Rank Mean
(SD)
Rank Mean
(SD)
Rank
Happiness and Life
Satisfaction
6.39
(3.13)
58.29
(1.97)
58.07
(2.10)
58.69
(1.29)
47.01
(1.65)
57.28
(1.79)
4< 0.001 (5) vs. (6)
Mental and Physical
Health
7.54
(2.50)
38.68
(1.54)
28.73
(1.66)
28.48
(1.44)
57.10
(1.78)
47.29
(1.67)
3< 0.001 (2) vs. (3), (2) vs.
(4), (3) vs. (4), (5)
vs. (6)
Meaning and Purpose 7.99
(2.49)
29.16
(1.46)
18.27
(1.87)
48.91
(1.21)
37.52
(1.76)
27.37
(2.03)
2< 0.001 (5) vs. (6)
Character and Virtue 8.03
(2.71)
18.64
(1.56)
38.38
(1.90)
39.05
(1.33)
28.15
(1.41)
17.73
(1.59)
1< 0.001 (3) vs. (5)
Close Social
Relationships
7.52
(2.86)
48.62
(1.94)
48.85
(1.62)
19.18
(1.06)
17.36
(2.03)
37.06
(2.17)
5< 0.001 (1) vs. (5),
(5) vs. (6)
Financial and Material
Stability
5.84
(3.20)
63.06
(3.19)
66.13
(3.35)
64.78
(3.46)
63.83
(2.82)
66.85
(2.72)
6< 0.001 (1) vs. (3)
Flourish Index 7.43
(2.13)
na 8.67
(1.23)
na 8.47
(1.40)
na 8.86
(0.95)
na 7.42
(1.34)
na 7.34
(1.50)
na < 0.001 (1) vs. (4), (1) vs.
(5), (1) vs. (6), (5)
vs. (6)
Secure Flourish Index 7.18
(1.89)
na 7.75
(1.26)
na 8.07
(1.43)
na 8.17
(1.02)
na 6.82
(1.22)
na 7.26
(1.49)
na < 0.001 (1) vs. (6),
(3) vs. (4)
N 1284 2723 1272 572 615 1268
Note: SD – standard deviation; p-value for F-test in one -way ANOVA; weighted results (gender, age, marital status); Sidak cor rection for multiple testi ng was applied for
pairwise comparisons
1 3
P. Bialowolski et al.
across the board, topping the list in one survey (Mexico) and placing second in three
additional surveys (Sri Lanka, Poland, and the U.S.). Character and virtue was the
top-ranked domain for employees in Sri Lanka, Poland, and the U.S.; it was ranked
2nd in Cambodia, and 3rd in Mexico and China. The domain of nancial and material
stability always ranked last, even in the U.S., while happiness and life satisfaction
ranked 5th in Sri Lanka, Mexico, China, and Poland (4th in Cambodia and the U.S.).
The most heterogeneous ranks were observed for the mental and physical health
domain, which was ranked second best in Mexico and China, and second to last in
Cambodia (3rd in the U.S. and Sri Lanka, and 4th in Poland).
Discussion
Our ndings on six domains of well-being measured with two aggregated indexes
(SFI and FI; VanderWeele 2017) were drawn from surveys of factory workers in six
countries including Mexico, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, China, Poland, and the U.S. We
suggested that a focus on the well-being of factory workers is especially important
because this group generates the economic productivity that supports other groups,
particularly in less developed countries where presence of this group of workers usu-
ally exemplies a shift from more traditional agricultural jobs to more modern and
higher income positions.
We found that nancial and material stability ranked last in all examined sam-
ples with Mexico scoring the lowest. Mexican respondents ranked the meaning and
purpose domain highest of all the domains of well-being and their mean score was
higher than in other countries. Relative to the other nations in our study, Mexican
respondents in the Gallup World Poll (2017) also reported the highest ranking for
purpose, although that survey used a rather dierent measure framed in terms of
motivation to accomplish personal goals and enjoyment of daily activities. Yet, the
contrast between our Mexican sample—with its low level of nancial security but
high levels of meaning and purpose—and our U.S. results— with higher nancial
security, but lower meaning and purpose— is quite striking.
Moving on to China, concerns have been expressed about the impact of rapid
economic development and drastic cultural shifts on well-being in this part of the
world (Shek, 2010). For instance, the traditional Chinese culture praises collectiv-
ism and interdependence, and the most commonly identied determinants of well-
being have been social relationships and health (Rudy et al., 2007). The infusion of
the individualistic and egalitarian values over the past few decades, however, has
led to certain ideological shifts, and individualistic factors have increasingly shaped
the assessment of subjective well-being in the Chinese population (Steele & Lynch,
2013). Nevertheless, our ndings add to the evidence that despite the cultural shifts,
the traditional collectivist orientation within Chinese culture remains dominant, and
the social relationship component still appears to be a highly valued aspect of well-
being among the Chinese. Likewise, traditional Chinese culture promotes a peace-
ful mindset and expressions of intense hedonic emotions are often discouraged (Lu,
2001), which may help with understanding why happiness ranked relatively low (5th
) among the Chinese participants. Furthermore, rapid economic development in mod-
1 3
Differences in Multi-Dimensional Well-Being Among Factory Workers:…
ern China has been accompanied by a massive urbanization and migration process,
which led to a drastic increase in housing and education prices as well as widening
income inequality (Chen et al., 2011; Wang et al., 2017). Thus, it is perhaps not sur-
prising that nancial security had the lowest ranking among all well-being domains
in the Chinese sample. It is, however, quite interesting that the levels of overall well-
being were higher among the Chinese participants as compared to the U.S. and Pol-
ish samples. This is somewhat contrary to prior work in which individuals from East
Asian countries often report lower levels of subjective well-being compared to their
counterparts from Western nations, perhaps partly due to the inuences of their con-
trasting cultural values on self-assessment and reporting (i.e., cultural response bias,
see Krys et al., 2023; Lai et al., 2013). However, many prior surveys have not consid-
ered the full range of well-being domains assessed in this study.
According to the World Happiness Report (WHR; Helliwell et al., 2019), hap-
piness in Sri Lanka is quite low relative to other countries around the world (130th
out of 156 nations), and below each of the countries included in this study. It was
conrmed by our results. Our sample of Sri Lankan participants had the lowest mean
score for happiness relative to the other ve samples and they ranked happiness
in fth place out of the six domains of well-being. Consistent with low happiness,
the suicide rate in Sri Lanka is double that of the U.S., three times higher than in
China, and over six times that of Mexico (WHO 2018). Although Sri Lanka is often
excluded from international studies of well-being, analysis by the UK-based think
tank New Economics Foundation (http://happyplanetindex.org/countries/sri-lanka)
suggests that despite low well-being (118th place, out of 140 countries), Sri Lanka
does exhibit relatively good life expectancy, a small ecological footprint, and only
a moderate level of inequality. We also note that the standard deviations reported in
Table 2 were highest in Sri Lanka, which indicates that Sri Lankan respondents were
highly divergent in their well-being. More research is needed to build on the ndings
of this study and develop a better understanding of well-being of production workers
in Sri Lanka. It is important to note that our survey data were collected prior to the
onset of the current economic crisis in this country and that ndings are likely to be
dierent with more recent data (Marris, 2022).
Financial security in Poland not only ranked lowest among the six well-being
domains but also the mean score was much lower than in the U.S., China, Sri Lanka,
and even Cambodia. This was an unexpected outcome, especially for a developed
economy and an OECD country. There is, however, some evidence that nancial
aspirations of Polish population have been increasing recently and outpacing the
growth of incomes (Panek et al., 2015). The growing income aspirations may trans-
late into dissatisfaction with current level of incomes, increased nancial insecu-
rity, and lead to expectations of even faster improvement in nancial position in the
future. Poles are generally very pessimistic about their nancial situation (in 2015
only 33% of Poles declared being content or very content with their nancial situa-
tion; Czapiński & Panek 2015, p. 206). Polish factory workers also provided a low
assessment of their health relative to the other domains of well-being (ranked 5th )
and the lowest compared to other examined groups of workers. Low assessment in
this domain is partially substantiated by low objective measures of health (Weziak-
Bialowolska, 2014). But it is probably even more aected by the so-called Polish
1 3
P. Bialowolski et al.
‘culture of complaining’ (Dolinski, 1996), which translates into a subjective sense
of underperforming in some domains but not others. Indeed, one of the domains for
which complaining is socially acceptable in Poland is health (Wojciszke, 2014). The
opposite is true for the social relations, which may partially explain the compara-
tively higher position—it was ranked 3rd —of this domain in the Polish well-being
assessment.
Cambodians ranked close social relationships highest and their mean scores across
all domains were higher than those in other samples. In fact, also their FI mean as
well as SFI mean were the highest across all samples. Cambodia is not frequently
included in international studies of well-being, so we do not have a strong basis for
explaining these patterns. However, estimates from the World Health Organization
(2018) suggest that life expectancy is not especially high in Cambodia, which might
shed some light on why mental and physical health was ranked fth out of the six
domains by our Cambodian respondents. The Gallup World Poll (2017) also reveals
that respondents from Cambodia were the least likely to respond favorably to an
assessment of physical health, compared with respondents from other countries in
our study. The low score for nancial and material stability (ranked last among the
six domains; only Poland and Mexico had lower means) is consistent with our expec-
tations in light of both low gross domestic product and indicators originating from
other survey data (Weziak-Bialowolska et al., 2019b).
In the recent World Happiness Report with data like our samples, collected prior
to the COVID-19 pandemic, Twenge (2019) suggested that “the years since 2010
have not been good ones for happiness and well-being among Americans” (p. 88).
The lead author of the 2019 WHR report identied a central nding: “What stands
out about the happiest and most well-connected societies is their resilience and ability
to deal with bad things… [their] high social capital, where people are connected…”
(Helliwell, quoted in Hetter 2019). Social support—measured with the binary item,
“If you were in trouble, do you have relatives or friends you can count on to help
you whenever you need them, or not?”—was the only highly signicant predictor
of life satisfaction, positive aect, and negative aect worldwide (Helliwell et al.,
2019, p. 20). Continuing a long-term decline, the U.S. dropped to 19th place in over-
all happiness in the survey, partly because of addictions to substances and technol-
ogy and because “social connections are weakening” (Hetter, 2019). In fact, one of
the authors of the report explained that the downward trajectory in well-being is a
function of the U.S. being “a mass-addiction society” (Sachs, 2019, p. 124). Other
research estimates that roughly half of “the U.S. adult population suers from mal-
adaptive signs of an addictive disorder” (Sussman et al., 2011, p. 3) to substances or
behaviors, which has drawn increased attention to the relationship between declining
social connections as a cause of addiction, and thus a root cause of declining well-
being (Lee et al., 2019). The U.S. does rank highly in one category (income, in 10th
place globally), but not on any other measure of well-being; it is only in 37th place
for social support, the WHR’s measure of social connectedness.
In our surveys, factory workers from the U.S. sample scored higher than workers
in all other countries on nancial and material stability, but lower on close social
relationships (the lowest score compared to workers in Mexico, China, Cambodia,
Poland, and Sri Lanka). The nancial component of well-being was, however, still
1 3
Differences in Multi-Dimensional Well-Being Among Factory Workers:…
ranked last. As abundant social science research concluded, comparatively high
nancial scores are not necessarily associated with high scores on other domains of
well-being. Declining well-being and rising addiction, along with co-occurring men-
tal disorders such as depression and anxiety, are related to the withering of commu-
nity (Hari, 2018; Lee et al., 2019; Putnam, 2000). Lack of strong social connections
decreases well-being and increases “social pathology,” particularly in individualistic
nations like the U.S. (Diener & Suh, 1999, p. 443). Since U.S. respondents rate social
connectedness as the least important well-being domain (Lee et al., 2021), and they
also experience low levels of connectedness compared to workers abroad, this may
suggest that they may have adapted their personal preferences to an unhealthy, mate-
rialistic, addiction-prone social environment. The consequences of such “adaptive
preferences” are becoming apparent. Technology addicted U.S. youths now spend an
average of six hours of their leisure time each day on digital media, with nearly half
being online “almost constantly,” despite the inverse relationship between many such
activities and happiness (Shakya & Christakis, 2017; Twenge, 2019, p. 89).
Our study is not without limitations. First, we did not have a nationally represen-
tative sample from each country. Our samples of workers were diverse. Participants
in some of them were much younger and more likely to be female than the general
population. However, to increase the comparability of results, we applied post-strat-
ication weights. Second, the results of this study should be interpreted in light of
known challenges with regard to comparing survey responses across cultures. Future
research might compare how variations in mean well-being scores could be attribut-
able to cultural dierences in response patterns to one or more items on the SFI or FI.
It would also be helpful to compare our subjective ndings with objective measures
of well-being and quality of life, such as political freedom, economic opportunity,
and participation in regenerative environmental practices. Nevertheless, our results
provide more detailed benchmarking on six domains of well-being and two compos-
ite measures of well-being among production workers than studies that have used
more generalizable samples but assessed fewer domains of well-being.
Conclusion
Being in line with a number of calls for valuing, examining and improving worker
well-being (Schill, 2017; Tamers et al., 2019), this study shows that the level of vari-
ous domains of well-being of production workers varies across organizations (and
possibly countries), even if these organizations are engaged in improving worker’s
well-being and have implemented a worker well-being program. Therefore, our study
indicates that promotion of general worker well-being initiatives might be ineec-
tive. Instead, tailored programs taking into account specicity of targeted groups of
employees might emerge as a valuable business resource helping organizations to
retain workforce and increase productivity.
Authors’ Contributions PB conducted the data analysis, drafted, revised, and approved the nal version
of the manuscript. ML developed the study concept, contributed to the data analysis, drafted the initial
version of the manuscript, and approved the nal version of the manuscript. DWB conducted the data
1 3
P. Bialowolski et al.
analysis, drafted, revised, and approved the nal version of the manuscript. YC, RC, EMN, TVW revised
and approved the nal version of the manuscript.
Funding This research was supported by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (74275 ‘Building a Culture of
Health: A Business Leadership Imperative’ and ‘4322- Engaging Business in A Broad Impact Community-
Based Well-Being’); Well-Being Research Program A33796 Aetna Inc. and by the Levi Strauss Founda-
tion under the grant No. 44057265 ‘The Impact of new work designs on worker wellbeing – Plock, Poland
Factory Workers’ and ‘Follow up of Well-being measures in Mexico, China, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka’,
the John Templeton Foundation under the grant No. 61075 ‘Advancing health, religion, and spiritual-
ity research from public health to end of life’, and by the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014–2021
(UMO-2020/37/K/HS6/02772).
Data Availability The dataset is not publicly available.
Code Availability Not applicable.
Declarations
Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conict of interest.
Institutional Review Board Statement The study, including informed consent procedures, was conducted
according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki and was reviewed and approved by the Institu-
tional Review Board at [university name deleted].
Informed Consent Statement Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License,
which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long
as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative
Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this
article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line
to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use
is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission
directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by/4.0/.
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Authors and Aliations
PiotrBialowolski1,5· Matthew T.Lee2,3· DorotaWeziak-Bialowolska4,5·
YingChen2· Richard G.Cowden2· EileenMcNeely5· Tyler J.VanderWeele2
Piotr Bialowolski
pbialowolski@kozminski.edu.pl
Matthew T. Lee
matthew_t_lee@baylor.edu
Dorota Weziak-Bialowolska
doweziak@iq.harvard.edu
Ying Chen
yingchen@fas.harvard.edu
Richard G. Cowden
rcowden@fas.harvard.edu
Eileen McNeely
emcneely@hsph.harvard.edu
Tyler J. VanderWeele
tvanderw@hsph.harvard.edu
1 3
P. Bialowolski et al.
1 Department of Economics, Kozminski University, Warsaw, Poland
2 Human Flourishing Program, Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Harvard University,
Cambridge, MA, US
3 Institute for Studies of Religion, Baylor University, Waco, US
4 Center for Evaluation and Analysis of Public Policies, Faculty of Philosophy, Jagiellonian
University, Kraków, Poland
5 SHINE, Human Flourishing Program, Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Harvard
University, Cambridge, MA, US
1 3
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