Workplace gratitude in Indian organizations: individual and institutional drivers in a Non-WEIRD context

Purpose This study aims to investigate how individual (gender, age, education, income, marital status and work experience) and institutional factors (sector, leadership style, organizational culture, work environment, recognition of efforts and communication style) shape workplace gratitude in a non-Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic (WEIRD) context, drawing on affective events theory (AET). Design/methodology/approach Survey data were collected from 1,286 employees in manufacturing and service organizations in India. Workplace gratitude was measured using the Gratitude at Work Scale and data were analyzed using, including exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, t-tests and analysis of variance. Findings Results revealed significant variation in gratitude across both demographic and organizational factors. Women and older employees reported higher gratitude, whereas gratitude declined with increasing education and showed a non-linear relationship with income. Employees in service organizations, supportive leadership contexts and informal communication climates reported higher gratitude than those in manufacturing and hierarchical settings. These patterns diverge from findings commonly reported in WEIRD societies, indicating that workplace gratitude in India is shaped by organization culture and organizational practices rather than universal emotional tendencies. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study provides one of the first empirical examinations of workplace gratitude in the Indian non-WEIRD context. By integrating multiple individual and institutional factors within a single model and grounding the analysis in AET, the study extends gratitude research beyond Western settings and offers novel, context-sensitive insights for both theory development and organizational practice.