The mediating role of social safeness on the relationship between work meaning and happiness

The aim of this research is to examine the mediating role of social safeness on the relationship between work meaning and happiness. The study group consisted of 390 employees who work in Bilecik Municipality, Eskişehir Odunpazarı Municipality and Bozüyük Municipality. Convenience sampling method was used to collect the data. The data were collected with three measuring tools. The data on the level of work meaning of participants were measured with Work and Meaning Scale; the data for social safeness levels were obtained with Social Safeness and Satisfaction Scale and the data on the level of happiness were obtained by the Subjective Happiness Scale. The data for demographic variables were obtained from the Personal Information Form. First, the data were encoded and uploaded to the computer. Statistical Package for Social Sciences statistical program was used to analyze the data. The relationships between the work meaning, social safeness and happiness levels of the employees were analyzed by correlation analysis; the predictive role of social safeness in the relation between the work meaning and happiness levels of the workers were analyzed by regression analysis; the differences of employees about work meanings, social safeness, and subjective happiness levels according to gender, marital status and employment status in private or public institutions were analyzed by t test; the differences of employees between the work meanings, social safeness and subjective happiness levels according to the years of work were analyzed by analysis of variance. According to the research findings, there was a significant relationship between work meaning, social safeness and happiness levels. Moreover, as the first step in testing the mediating role of social safeness between work meaning and happiness, it was seen that there was a positive relationship between job meaning and social safeness. Secondly, it was found that there was a positive relationship between social safeness and happiness. In the the third stage of mediating analysis, it was found that work meaning was positively related to happiness. In the fourth stage, the meaning of work and social safeness was analyzed together as the predictors of happiness and it was seen that the coefficient of regression of the work meaning on happiness fell in comparison with the third stage, but the relationship was still meaningful. This result revealed that social safeness had a partial mediating role in the relationship between work meaning and happiness levels. In the light of the findings, the results were discussed and suggestions for future researches were presented.