Unraveling stakeholder roles in employees' outcomes: A meta-analysis of the crossover of happiness, health, and productivity

Crossover refers to the process through which personal experiences transfer between individuals in close social relationships. Despite increasing scholarly interest, existing crossover research remains fragmented and limited in scope, which hinders effective knowledge dissemination and theoretical advancement. To address this gap, we draw on the sustainable career framework as a conceptual lens for organizing and interpreting empirical findings. Guided by this framework, we conducted a meta-analysis ( K = 183 studies, 195 independent samples) examining the crossover of happiness (e.g., work engagement and career satisfaction), health (e.g., physical and mental health), and productivity (e.g., job performance and deviance). Our results supported the positive associations of happiness, health, and productivity between stakeholders and employees, after controlling for common stressors and resources. These relationships were mediated by empathy, social support, and social undermining. Furthermore, the strength of crossover correlations differed across stakeholders: spouses exhibited consistent associations with employees' happiness, health, and productivity, whereas supervisors showed the strongest associations with employees' health, and coworkers showed the strongest associations with employees' productivity. Our study offers a comprehensive understanding of happiness, health, and productivity crossover from various stakeholders to employees, yielding valuable insights for both research on crossover and sustainable careers. • Happiness, health, and productivity crossover correlations were all positive and significant, with moderate magnitude, after controlling for common contextual factors • Empathy, social support, and social undermining mediated these positive relationships • Spouses’ happiness was most strongly related to employees’ happiness. • Supervisors’ and spouses’ health was most strongly related to employees’ health • Coworkers’ and spouses’ productivity was most strongly related to employees’ productivity