Beyond companionship: pets are non-human beings that protect humans' health

Pets offer various benefits to humans, such as increased happiness. However, their potential influence within organizational contexts remains largely underexplored, despite possible impacts on daily work life. Using Affective Events Theory and Conservation of Resources theory as foundations, we developed a framework to examine how pets may shape the relationship between situational factors (i.e., daily micro-events) and physical and psychological outcomes (health, vitality, and mental well-being) via affective processes. Furthermore, we presented theoretical arguments supporting the pet-human health effect, demonstrating that pets act as boundary conditions that influence this indirect relationship, thereby serving as protective factors for employees' physical and mental health. To test our framework, we conducted two diary studies over five consecutive days. The first study was conducted during the mandatory confinement imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and included 204 teleworkers (total observations = 1,020). The second study was conducted post-confinement and involved 98 working adults (total observations = 490). Our findings revealed that pet owners consistently reported higher levels of health, mental well-being, and vitality compared to non-pet owners. Moreover, multilevel analyses showed that (1) daily micro-events significantly influenced all three health indicators via affective responses at the within-person level, and (2) pets strengthened this mediation, with the effect being more pronounced for pet owners than non-owners. In summary, we demonstrate that pets are not merely companions; they function as important resources for their humans' health. Pets enhance the positive effects of daily micro-events on health, supporting the concept of the pet-human health effect. Our research contributes to the expansion of the affective events theory by introducing pets as external factors that shape the link between daily micro-events and health outcomes through affective mechanisms.