Beyond Skills: Building Work Environments That Foster Social Love

Our paper explores the intersection of well-being, emotional intelligence, and social love within organizations through empirical research findings, with the aim of integrating theoretical and empirical perspectives from management and organizational studies investigating emotions and love (Pirson, ed. 2022) with social love research (Iorio, Cataldi 2023). Building on the recognized importance of professional purpose and social connectedness in work, we propose a new approach to foster a thriving work environment. Our research focuses on the five essential competencies, established by the EU, for organizational success (Self Management Skill, Innovation Skill, Cooperation Skill, Social Engagement Skill, and Emotional Resilience) (Soto, Napolitano, Sewell, Yoon & Roberts, 2022), but introduces a crucial preliminary step: emotion-based team formation. Traditionally, team training focuses solely on skills; here the hypothesis is that grouping individuals according to levels of happiness, empathy and emotional contagion can create a more positive and productive work environment. The approach used is experimental and the research process was carried out in 3 stages. 1) the sampling procedure was initiated and applied research was conducted. Non-probabilistic reasoned choice sampling was used.

2) work was done in working environments without distinction of mode. 3) all participants were subjected to the implicit association test, which allows the strength of the association between an item A and B to be objectively investigated through so-called implicit associations. Finally, a focus group was conducted using Grounded Theory.

This research explores the positive side of the “work-vocation” theme as provided by the social love framework, characterized by non-utilitarian care and collective well-being.

The research examines how certain mechanisms improve the balance between individual outcomes and collective benefits in different work environments. This research reveals the actual dynamics of social love in work environments and possible practices to foster it.