Publisher
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Place of Publication
Chattanooga (Tenn.)
Abstract
Bereavement is a common life experience that can extend into the workplace, yet employees differ considerably in how they experience grief and what they need from their organizations following a loss. This study examines the relationship between grief intensity and employees’ satisfaction with workplace bereavement support and whether individual differences help explain variability in this relationship. We hypothesize that greater grief intensity will be associated with lower satisfaction with bereavement support. We further examine whether Big Five and Dark Triad personality traits moderate this relationship. Hypotheses will test the roles of emotional stability, agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, narcissism, and psychopathy, while the roles of openness to experience and machiavellianism will be examined as research questions. We will also examine how satisfaction with grief bereavement support relates to organizational commitment and turnover intentions. Approximately 500 U.S. adults who were employed full-time when they experienced the death of someone in their life will be recruited through Prolific to complete an online survey. The study uses a cross-sectional design. Grief intensity will be assessed using the 13-item Texas Revised Grief Inventory (TRIG). Participants will complete measures of the Big Five personality traits and the Dark Triad traits of machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism. Workplace support will be assessed through measures of social support and specific work and organizational supports received following the loss. Satisfaction with bereavement support will be assessed using satisfaction ratings for organizational resources and overall support from the organization, supervisor(s), and coworkers. Participants will also complete measures of turnover intentions and organizational commitment. Planned analyses will include descriptive statistics, scale reliability, and bivariate relationships among study variables, followed by regression analyses testing the relationship between grief intensity and satisfaction with bereavement support. Moderated regression analyses will test whether individual differences moderate this relationship. Analyses will also examine relationships between satisfaction with support, organizational commitment, and turnover intentions. We expect greater grief intensity to correspond with lower satisfaction with organizational support and expect this relationship to vary depending on personality trait. Findings will extend bereavement research by identifying factors that contribute to variation in employees’ workplace experiences following loss. Practically, results may help organizations better understand how to support grieving employees, in particular by moving beyond one-size-fits-all bereavement practices toward more flexible and individualized approaches to employee support.
Date
November 2026
Subject
Industrial and organizational psychology
Document Type
posters
Language
English
Rights
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Included in
Grief at work: The role of individual differences in shaping satisfaction with organizational bereavement support
Bereavement is a common life experience that can extend into the workplace, yet employees differ considerably in how they experience grief and what they need from their organizations following a loss. This study examines the relationship between grief intensity and employees’ satisfaction with workplace bereavement support and whether individual differences help explain variability in this relationship. We hypothesize that greater grief intensity will be associated with lower satisfaction with bereavement support. We further examine whether Big Five and Dark Triad personality traits moderate this relationship. Hypotheses will test the roles of emotional stability, agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, narcissism, and psychopathy, while the roles of openness to experience and machiavellianism will be examined as research questions. We will also examine how satisfaction with grief bereavement support relates to organizational commitment and turnover intentions. Approximately 500 U.S. adults who were employed full-time when they experienced the death of someone in their life will be recruited through Prolific to complete an online survey. The study uses a cross-sectional design. Grief intensity will be assessed using the 13-item Texas Revised Grief Inventory (TRIG). Participants will complete measures of the Big Five personality traits and the Dark Triad traits of machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism. Workplace support will be assessed through measures of social support and specific work and organizational supports received following the loss. Satisfaction with bereavement support will be assessed using satisfaction ratings for organizational resources and overall support from the organization, supervisor(s), and coworkers. Participants will also complete measures of turnover intentions and organizational commitment. Planned analyses will include descriptive statistics, scale reliability, and bivariate relationships among study variables, followed by regression analyses testing the relationship between grief intensity and satisfaction with bereavement support. Moderated regression analyses will test whether individual differences moderate this relationship. Analyses will also examine relationships between satisfaction with support, organizational commitment, and turnover intentions. We expect greater grief intensity to correspond with lower satisfaction with organizational support and expect this relationship to vary depending on personality trait. Findings will extend bereavement research by identifying factors that contribute to variation in employees’ workplace experiences following loss. Practically, results may help organizations better understand how to support grieving employees, in particular by moving beyond one-size-fits-all bereavement practices toward more flexible and individualized approaches to employee support.
Department
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Dept. of Psychology