Happiness and Catching-up

Traditionally, economic "catching-up” has been judged by how emerging market countries and firms achieve economic growth like GDP or sales, productivity and innovation. But recently, greater recognition has been given to evaluating the progress of catching up in terms of people's subjective well-being such as satisfaction and positive emotions. Do people have the expectation of a high quality life filled with greater satisfaction, and positive energy and emotion? At the country level, national gross happiness has been widely acknowledged as an effective way to evaluate sustainable development beyond economic wellness. At the firm level, research has shown that the long-term success is significantly related to its happiness. An organization's happiness benefits productivity by stimulating individual's creativity and commitment, facilitating the organization's cooperation capability, and generates a collectivist environment that can lead to more positive inter-organizational interaction and human prosperity. This perspective recognizes that in social systems, such as countries and organizations, people seek a feeling of connection with one another, a need for belonging, and a desire to be cared for and respected.