{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,17]],"date-time":"2026-09-17T06:03:58Z","timestamp":1789625038669,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,17]],"date-time":"2026-09-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789603200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Individual psychological flexibility is reliably associated with worker health, and interventions that raise it improve how individuals fare; yet such interventions do not reliably change the organizations those individuals belong to. This paper takes that disparity as its starting point and argues that the missing link is propagation rather than production: organizational flexibility is not the aggregate of flexible individuals but a pattern of coordinated, values-consistent action that is retained and spread across an organization, or absorbed and extinguished, depending on the conditions it meets. Integrating Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, the Prosocial approach, and a multilevel account of selection by consequences, the paper proposes a three-level model in which whether an increase in individual flexibility reaches the organizational level depends on two conditions: the leverage of the affected members over the consequences their colleagues encounter, and whether the surrounding culture reinforces or penalizes values-consistent action. Bond\u2019s emphasis on the flexibility of leaders is recovered as a high-leverage special case of this more general mechanism. The model is developed conceptually and yields a set of testable propositions, together with the measures their testing would require. Throughout, worker health is treated as a value worth pursuing in its own right rather than as an instrument of performance.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1918803","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,17]],"date-time":"2026-09-17T05:34:08Z","timestamp":1789623248000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Propagation, not aggregation: linking individual psychological flexibility to organizational functioning"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Simone","family":"Guida","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Business, Law, Economics and Consumer Behavior \u201cCarlo A. Ricciardi\u201d, Universit\u00e0 IULM","place":["Milan, Italy"]},{"name":"Behavior and Brain Lab IULM \u2013 Neuromarketing Research Center, Universit\u00e0 IULM","place":["Milan, Italy"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Claudia","family":"Minutola","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Business, Law, Economics and Consumer Behavior \u201cCarlo A. Ricciardi\u201d, Universit\u00e0 IULM","place":["Milan, Italy"]},{"name":"Behavior and Brain Lab IULM \u2013 Neuromarketing Research Center, Universit\u00e0 IULM","place":["Milan, Italy"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Giovambattista","family":"Presti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Enna \u201cKore\u201d","place":["Enna, Italy"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","volume-title":"Prosocial: Using Evolutionary Science to Build Productive, Equitable, and Collaborative Groups","author":"Atkins","year":"2019"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"273","DOI":"10.1037\/ocp0000056","article-title":"Job demands\u2013resources theory: taking stock and looking forward","volume":"22","author":"Bakker","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Occup. Health Psychol."},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev.psych.52.1.1","article-title":"Social cognitive theory: an agentic perspective","volume":"52","author":"Bandura","year":"2001","journal-title":"Annu. Rev. Psychol."},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"47","DOI":"10.1016\/S0962-1849(96)80026-6","article-title":"Should the behavioral sciences become more pragmatic? The case for functional contextualism in research on human behavior","volume":"5","author":"Biglan","year":"1996","journal-title":"Appl. Prev. Psychol."},{"key":"ref5","first-page":"131","volume-title":"Evolution and Contextual Behavioral Science: An Integrated Framework for Understanding, Predicting, and Influencing human Behavior","author":"Bond","year":"2018"},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"113","DOI":"10.1300\/J075v26n01_05","article-title":"The ability of psychological flexibility and job control to predict learning, job performance, and mental health","volume":"26","author":"Bond","year":"2006","journal-title":"J. Organ. Behav. Manag."},{"key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"645","DOI":"10.1037\/0021-9010.93.3.645","article-title":"The influence of psychological flexibility on work redesign: mediated moderation of a work reorganization intervention","volume":"93","author":"Bond","year":"2008","journal-title":"J. Appl. Psychol."},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1236","DOI":"10.47470\/0016-9900-2021-100-11-1236-1243","article-title":"Work-related mental health: current state of the art (literature review)","volume":"100","author":"Bukhtiyarov","year":"2021","journal-title":"Hygiene Sanit."},{"key":"ref9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"357","DOI":"10.1177\/014920639902500305","article-title":"Health and well-being in the workplace: a review and synthesis of the literature","volume":"25","author":"Danna","year":"1999","journal-title":"J. Manag."},{"key":"ref10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.4337\/9781781008263","volume-title":"Financialization and the World Economy","author":"Epstein","year":"2005"},{"key":"ref11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"162","DOI":"10.1111\/irj.12418","article-title":"Employee well-being outcomes from individual-level mental health interventions: cross-sectional evidence from the United Kingdom","volume":"55","author":"Fleming","year":"2024","journal-title":"Ind. Relat. J."},{"key":"ref12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1022102","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2022.1022102","article-title":"Positive psychology in the working environment: job demands-resources theory, work engagement and burnout: a systematic literature review","volume":"13","author":"Galanakis","year":"2022","journal-title":"Front. Psychol."},{"key":"ref9002","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"133","DOI":"10.1007\/BF03393175","article-title":"Individual behavior, culture, and social change","volume":"27","author":"Glenn","year":"2004","journal-title":"The Behavior Analyst"},{"key":"ref13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"373","DOI":"10.1016\/S0305-0483(99)00057-2","article-title":"Towards a definition of flexibility: in search of the holy grail?","volume":"28","author":"Golden","year":"2000","journal-title":"Omega"},{"key":"ref14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jacceco.2005.01.002","article-title":"The economic implications of corporate financial reporting","volume":"40","author":"Graham","year":"2005","journal-title":"J. Account. Econ."},{"key":"ref15","first-page":"11","volume-title":"Varieties of scientific Contextualism","author":"Hayes","year":"1993"},{"key":"ref16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jcbs.2012.09.004","article-title":"Contextual behavioral science: creating a science more adequate to the challenge of the human condition","volume":"1","author":"Hayes","year":"2012","journal-title":"J. Contextual Behav. Sci."},{"key":"ref17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.brat.2005.06.006","article-title":"Acceptance and commitment therapy: model, processes and outcomes","volume":"44","author":"Hayes","year":"2006","journal-title":"Behav. Res. Ther."},{"key":"ref18","volume-title":"Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: An Experiential Approach to Behavior Change","author":"Hayes","year":"1999"},{"key":"ref19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"173","DOI":"10.1093\/SER\/mwi008","article-title":"The financialization of the American economy","volume":"3","author":"Krippner","year":"2005","journal-title":"Socio-Econ. Rev."},{"key":"ref20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1093","DOI":"10.1093\/icc\/dtt019","article-title":"The risk-reward nexus in the innovation-inequality relationship: who takes the risks? Who gets the rewards?","volume":"22","author":"Lazonick","year":"2013","journal-title":"Ind. Corp. Change"},{"key":"ref21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"13","DOI":"10.1080\/030851400360541","article-title":"Maximizing shareholder value: a new ideology for corporate governance","volume":"29","author":"Lazonick","year":"2000","journal-title":"Econ. Soc."},{"key":"ref22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"13869","DOI":"10.3390\/su132413869","article-title":"Identifying psychosocial risks and protective measures for workers' mental wellbeing at the time of COVID-19: a narrative review","volume":"13","author":"Lulli","year":"2021","journal-title":"Sustainability"},{"key":"ref23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"419","DOI":"10.1093\/ser\/mwae059","article-title":"When shareholder power kicks in: corporate financialization as ratchet behaviour and sticky payouts","volume":"23","author":"Mertens","year":"2025","journal-title":"Socio-Econ. Rev."},{"key":"ref24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"249","DOI":"10.5465\/amr.1999.1893935","article-title":"The structure and function of collective constructs","volume":"24","author":"Morgeson","year":"1999","journal-title":"Acad. Manag. Rev."},{"key":"ref9001","volume-title":"Niche construction: The neglected process in evolution","author":"Odling-Smee","year":"2003"},{"key":"ref25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"863","DOI":"10.1093\/cje\/ben009","article-title":"Financialisation and capital accumulation in the non-financial corporate sector: a theoretical and empirical investigation on the US economy: 1973\u20132003","volume":"32","author":"Orhangazi","year":"2008","journal-title":"Camb. J. Econ."},{"key":"ref26","volume-title":"Handbook of Psychology: Industrial and Organizational Psychology","author":"Ostroff","year":"2012"},{"key":"ref27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9780511807763","volume-title":"Governing the commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action","author":"Ostrom","year":"1990"},{"key":"ref29","first-page":"15","volume-title":"The ACT matrix: A new Approach to Building Psychological Flexibility across Settings & Populations","author":"Polk","year":"2014"},{"key":"ref30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"192","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jad.2021.07.084","article-title":"Group-based acceptance and commitment therapy interventions for improving general distress and work-related distress in healthcare professionals: a systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"295","author":"Prudenzi","year":"2021","journal-title":"J. Affect. Disord."},{"key":"ref31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e70139","DOI":"10.1111\/aphw.70139","article-title":"A scoping review and research agenda: psychological flexibility and wellbeing in organisations","volume":"18","author":"Roche","year":"2026","journal-title":"Appl. Psychol. Health Well Being"},{"key":"ref32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"719","DOI":"10.1093\/cje\/beh032","article-title":"Financialisation and the slowdown of accumulation","volume":"28","author":"Stockhammer","year":"2004","journal-title":"Camb. J. Econ."},{"key":"ref33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"452","DOI":"10.1080\/09638237.2021.2022628","article-title":"Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) for professional staff burnout: a systematic review and narrative synthesis of controlled trials","volume":"32","author":"Towey-Swift","year":"2023","journal-title":"J Mental Health (Abingdon, England)"},{"key":"ref34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"99","DOI":"10.1093\/ser\/mwt020","article-title":"Making sense of financialization","volume":"12","author":"van der Zwan","year":"2014","journal-title":"Socioecon. Rev."},{"key":"ref28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"S21","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jebo.2012.12.010","article-title":"Generalizing the core design principles for the efficacy of groups","volume":"90","author":"Wilson","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Econ. Behav. Organ."},{"key":"ref35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"13989","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-020-70632-8","article-title":"Core design principles for nurturing organization-level selection","volume":"10","author":"Wilson","year":"2020","journal-title":"Sci. Rep."}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Psychology"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1918803\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,17]],"date-time":"2026-09-17T05:34:11Z","timestamp":1789623251000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1918803\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,17]]},"references-count":37,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1918803"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1918803","relation":{},"ISSN":["1664-1078"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1664-1078","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,17]]},"article-number":"1918803"}}