Editorial summary. This is our text summary of an article published by frontiers-orgpsych. Charts, figures, and the author’s full voice are at the original — read it there .
Editorial verdict
Methodologically sound mapping exercise. The core finding — that only 1.5% of 886 workplace wellbeing instruments contain any Enterprise Community Involvement item — is credible and highlights a genuine measurement gap, though the proposed four-subtheme framework is explicitly preliminary and unvalidated.
Executive summary
This scoping review addresses the underrepresentation of Enterprise Community Involvement (ECI) — defined by the WHO as an organization's voluntary actions supporting community wellbeing — within existing workplace wellbeing (WWB) measurement instruments. The authors argue that despite the WHO's Healthy Workplace Framework identifying ECI as one of four core avenues of healthy workplaces, existing WWB instruments have systematically neglected this domain. Following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, the authors searched six databases (1960–2022) and identified 886 unique WWB instruments, examining each for the presence of at least one ECI-related item. Results revealed that only 13 instruments (1.5%) contained any ECI content, with Employee-Family Wellbeing and Eco-Friendly CSR being the most represented subthemes (each in 6 instruments), followed by Societal Philanthropy (5 instruments) and Protection of Vulnerable Groups (3 instruments). Psychometric validation of ECI-specific items was nearly absent across all identified instruments. The authors propose a preliminary four-subtheme descriptive framework intended to guide future ECI scale development, explicitly noting it is not an empirically validated measurement instrument. The review concludes that ECI represents a theoretically recognized but empirically neglected dimension of WWB assessment.
Key insights
- 1Only 1.5% (13 of 886) of identified workplace wellbeing instruments contain any item measuring Enterprise Community Involvement, indicating a near-total absence of ECI operationalization in current WWB measurement tools.
- 2ECI items that do exist are typically embedded within broader CSR, ethical climate, or human resource scales rather than as standalone validated subscales, and almost none have psychometric validation specific to ECI content.
- 3Four inductively derived ECI subthemes were identified from existing instruments: Employee-Family Wellbeing, Eco-Friendly CSR, Societal Philanthropy, and Protection of Vulnerable Groups — the first two being the most frequently represented, the last being the least.
Practical takeaways
- Organizations assessing workplace wellbeing with existing instruments are likely missing the ECI dimension entirely, meaning the impact of community-oriented organizational activities on employee outcomes remains unmeasured in standard assessments.
- The four-subtheme framework (Societal Philanthropy, Eco-Friendly CSR, Employee-Family Wellbeing, Protection of Vulnerable Groups) offers a preliminary conceptual scaffold for organizations and researchers seeking to develop or augment WWB instruments with ECI content, pending rigorous psychometric validation.
Frameworks mentioned
WHO Healthy Workplace Framework
World Health Organization framework outlining four avenues of workplace wellbeing: physical work environment, psychosocial environment, personal health resources, and enterprise community involvement.
Conservation of Resources (COR) Theory
Theoretical model proposing that stress results from the actual or threatened loss of personal resources, used here to explain indirect pathways through which ECI may enhance worker wellbeing.
PRISMA-ScR
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews; the methodological reporting guideline used to structure this review.
COSMIN
COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments; a guideline framework referenced for future ECI scale development and psychometric validation.
References
- World Health Organization (2010).WHO Healthy Workplace Framework and Model: Background and Supporting Literature and Practices.
- Frontiers in Public Health (2023).Wellbeing measures for workers: a systematic review and methodological quality appraisal.
- European Commission (2021).EU Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work 2021–2027.
- Journal of Applied Psychology (1985).Job Descriptive Index.
- University of Minnesota (1967).Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire.
- Educational and Psychological Measurement (2003).Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-9.
- Mind Garden, Inc. (2018).Maslach Burnout Inventory Manual (4th Edition).
- COSMIN (2018).COSMIN Methodology for Systematic Reviews of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) – User Manual.
- American Journal of Public Health (2015).Considerations for incorporating 'well-being' in public policy for workers and workplaces.
- Journal of Organizational Behavior (2015).Employee well-being in organizations: theoretical model, scale development, and cross-cultural validation.
- Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (2018).Development and validation of the work-related well-being index: analysis of the federal employee viewpoint survey.
- American Psychologist (1989).Conservation of resources: a new attempt at conceptualizing stress.
Source & Provenance
frontiers-orgpsych
Jean H. Kim
July 27, 2026
Meta-Analysis/Review
Global
Original source metadata is preserved. AI analysis is generated separately.
Like this? Get the Monday Decision Brief — free, every week.
No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Rate this article
Want the full article? Read it at the original source — free, no paywall.
Read original article