Title: What makes bank employees happy: work properly and consume experientially

Authors: Sevcan Ozturk Kilic; Derya Gultekin

Addresses: Graduate School of Management, Istanbul Technical University (ITU), Ayazaga Campus, 34469, Maslak, Turkey ' Department of Management Engineering, Istanbul Technical University (ITU), Macka Campus, 34367, Macka, Istanbul, Turkey

Abstract: Happiness is an emotional state in which positive emotions predominate in the lives of individuals. Individual happiness can vary depending on various factors. This study focuses on the determinants of the happiness levels of employees in the banking sector, characterised by a highly educated professional workforce. The paper examined the relationship between the happiness levels of bank employees and their experiential spending behaviours and working conditions. An online questionnaire was applied to bank employees in Istanbul that were accessed by snowball sampling method. The dataset of 139 cases was subjected to dimension reduction with confirmatory factor analysis, and the number of dimensions was reduced to three in the questionnaire consisting of 16 questions. The relations between the dimensions and variables were tested by a structural equation model. Findings indicate that bankers' working conditions and experiential consumption positively affect their happiness levels.

Keywords: happiness levels; working conditions; experiential spending behaviours; confirmatory factor analysis; CFA; structural equation modelling; bank employees; decent work.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIR.2026.153091

International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, 2026 Vol.39 No.4, pp.498 - 519

Received: 19 Jan 2023
Accepted: 28 Jan 2023
Published online: 22 Apr 2026 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article