Distinguishing Gratitude and Feedback at Work: Implications for Employees’ Burnout and Physical Symptoms

Few studies examined the effects of receiving gratitude in organizational contexts. Moreover, no studies determined whether the effects of received gratitude at work are distinct from those of feedback. In this study, we tested whether received gratitude protects employees from burnout and physical symptoms. Moreover, we argued that received gratitude and feedback are qualitatively different types of job resources that should interact with different types of job demands in predicting employees’ strain. Specifically, we hypothesized that received gratitude would interact with emotional demands, whereas feedback would interact with role ambiguity. A sample of 550 Romanian employees participated in the research. Only gratitude was a significant predictor of exhaustion and physical symptoms. Both received gratitude and feedback negatively predicted disengagement. No significant interaction effects with job demands were found. Taken together, the results suggest that received gratitude is distinct from feedback and that it may more strongly relate to employees’ health.