Further thoughts on the happy-productive worker - Reply

Ledford's commentary on our paper titled, 'Affect and favorable work outcomes: Two longitudinal tests of the happy-productive worker thesis', is a thought-provoking attempt to place the research and its findings in a larger theoretical context. His comments address three general questions. First, why have so many academics and practitioners alike been willing to accept the existence of the happy-productive worker relationship? Second, to what extent do Wright and Staw's findings shed additional light on the happy-productive worker thesis? Finally, what are the study's implications for future research? We will comment briefly on each of these issues. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.