If the Body Keeps the Score, What Happens When You Bring the Body to Work? Exploring the Health Effects of Trauma on Human Capital

Keywords

workplace trauma, human capital, employee performance

Abstract

Data reveal that the physical effects of trauma exposure increasingly surface in business, social, and other settings. Exposure to trauma at any point in life can cause employee health concerns, yet many firms do not acknowledge or address this. Herein, we combine trauma theory with human capital theory to explain how manifestations of trauma exposure—hyperarousal, intrusion, and constriction—impact employee health and performance. This article outlines how each manifestation affects human capital deployment, and thus employee performance. It further demonstrates how these human capital deployment issues have individual- and unit-level performance implications. This article offers a theory linking health effects of trauma to performance outcomes at work. It suggests how managerial awareness of trauma manifestations is a necessary step toward workplaces becoming supportive or healing. Our model offers new explanations related to why some individuals behave as they do at work and connects trauma to employee behavior and value creation.

Original Publication Citation

"Jones Christensen, L.; Badger-Newman, A. & Embry, E. (2023). If the body keeps the score, what happens when you bring the body to work? Exploring the effects of trauma on employee human capital. Revise and Resubmit at Business & Society, special issue on health in management research."

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2023

Publisher

Business & Society

Language

English

College

Marriott School of Business

Department

Marketing

University Standing at Time of Publication

Associate Professor

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS