Twentieth International Conference on Knowledge, Culture, and Change in Organizations

Abstract

It is a leader’s job to facilitate their team member’s productivity and stimulate a prosperous work environment (Pretorius, Steyn, and Bond-Barnard, 2018). Happiness at work (HAW) should be one of the leaders’ main concerns, because employees who are happy are more loyal, productive, and creative (Angela-Eliza and Valentina, 2017). Yet, the relevance of HAW has only begun to be recognized in modern time (Angela-Eliza and Valentina, 2017). The main purpose of this study was to investigate if there is a significant difference between leaders who live in the USA and Brazil in their perception of their efforts to make their group members happy. An online survey was sent through emails and social media. The instrument was composed of several Likert scale indexes extracted from the International Personality Item Pool. The surveys in English and Portuguese reached a total n of 1,572 participants, and 163 subjects identified as managers living in the aforementioned countries. The Perceived Leadership scale questioned if he/she believed they tried to make their group members happy, and the answers were used to compare and contrast managers who lived in the USA (115) and managers who lived in Brazil (48). The results showed a significant difference of p=0.017 between the means of both groups when equal variance was not assumed. Managers who live in Brazil appeared to be more invested in the happiness of their group members. Companies that are expanding to South America or have Brazilian workers may find it important to be aware of this difference.