Is happiness based on psychological harmony? Exploring the mediating role of psychological harmony in the relationship between personality characteristics and occupational well-being

This study proposed and tested a theoretical model for specifying the structural relationship between personality characteristics (including core self-evaluation, social comparison, philosophies of human nature, psychological capital), psychological harmony, and occupational well-being in a higher education setting. We analysed data from 617 Chinese university teachers (female = 56.9%, junior lecturers = 49.1%) using structural equation modelling to examine the role of psychological harmony in occupational well-being. Results indicated that psychological harmony partially mediated the relationship between psychological capital and occupational well-being, but fully mediated the relationships between core self-evaluation, opinion comparison, cynicism, trustworthiness, and occupational well-being. These findings suggest that the relationship between personality characteristics and occupational well-being is predominantly indirect and enhanced by the sense of psychological harmony.