Title:
Review of Toxic Positivity: The Smile That Kills Organizational Culture

Authors:
Unang Toto Handiman, Yuli Fitriana, Yustins Rawi Dandono, Bintoro Ariyanto, Indonesia

Abstract:

Toxic positivity occurs when we push positive emotions too far too often and too relentlessly and it not only squelches effective emotional expression among teams, but harms their overall well-being by a wide margin. While there is a general link between positivity and better performance outcomes, accumulating research suggests that excessive winking is associated with various negative consequences that may sabotage the very goals it seeks to promote. This systematic review aims to consolidate the extant literature thus far and offer a more nuanced comprehension of the conceptualization, antecedent factors and multidimensional effects of toxic positivity in organizational contexts. Following a PRISMA-based Systematic Literature Review methodology, 56 articles published in peer-review portals from the period spanning 2015 to 2025 were analysed. These findings from this critical analysis indicate that toxic positivity is endemic in everyday leadership practices, pervasive organizational culture and performance pressure. The outcome of this toxic atmosphere is undermined psychological safety, increased emotional exhaustion among employees and for the company one of the worst outcomes are that organizational performance declines sharply. This study offers one meaningful theoretical contribution building on emotional labour, psychosocial safety climate and toxic leadership concepts in an integrated way. Future research should mainly aim on empirical studies, valid instruments and cross-cultural studies. Those efforts will be necessary to better understand toxic positivity and develop strategies to help reduce its negative impacts in organizations.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.51505/IJEBMR.2026.10405