Psychological resource pathways to life satisfaction in South Africa and India: a cross-national pilot study with implications for employee resilience

IntroductionPsychological resources are critical to employee well-being and are widely regarded as enabling resilient functioning in the face of uncertainty. Evidence from non-Western contexts, however, remains limited. This cross-national pilot study examined whether psychological resources, operationalized as a composite of mental well-being (WEMWBS), flourishing (Flourishing Scale), and work engagement (UWES-3), predicted life satisfaction (SWLS) directly and/or indirectly via perceived stress (PSS-4) among employees in South Africa and India. The findings are discussed in relation to their implications for employee resilience theory and resource-building practice.MethodsAn explanatory-sequential mixed-methods design was used. The quantitative phase comprised South African pharmaceutical employees (n = 87) and Indian IT employees (n = 65), for a total of N = 152. After z-standardizing indicators within each country, we formed a Resources composite. We estimated simple mediation (Resources → PSS → SWLS) within each country and a pooled moderation model (standardized SWLS) with Country and interaction terms. The qualitative phase included 2 focus groups and 29 one-on-one interviews (South Africa n = 19; India n = 10), which were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis to explain statistical patterns.ResultsResources showed a strong, positive association with life satisfaction (pooled model: b = 0.71, SE = 0.11, p < 0.001; R2 = 0.358). Resources were linked to lower perceived stress (South Africa: a = −0.88, p < 0.001; India: a = −0.69, p = 0.016). However, perceived stress did not uniquely predict life satisfaction once Resources were included (pooled b = −0.10, SE = 0.10, p = 0.331), while bootstrapped indirect effects included zero in both countries. Country did not moderate the relationship between Resources and life satisfaction, nor between perceived stress and life satisfaction (Resources × Country: p = 0.165; PSS × Country: p = 0.782). Qualitative themes explained the resource-dominant pathway: in South Africa, Ubuntu-based meaning, complex family support, masculine help-seeking norms, and economic/infrastructure strain characterized the resource-dominant pathway; whereas in India, technology-sector pride and aspirational mobility offset AI-related job insecurity, urban infrastructure burdens, and family separation characterized the resource-dominant pathway.DiscussionThe findings support resource-building interventions and motivate future testing of alternative mediators (e.g., meaningful work, positive affect, self-efficacy) through adequately powered longitudinal studies. The cross-country similarity suggests functional equivalence of mechanisms with culturally specific content.