One Care: A systems approach to individual, team, leadership and organisational aspects of human wellbeing in zoos and aquariums

Abstract

Employee wellbeing in zoos and aquariums (ZOAQs) is fundamental to animal care, conservation, education, and organisational sustainability; however, it remains under-theorised and under-measured. This thesis reconceptualises employee wellbeing as a systemic and ethical phenomenon shaped by the interaction of individual capacities, relational dynamics, organisational design, shared purpose and broader socio-temporal forces. Drawing on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, the One Welfare framework, and the Rhineland approach to organising, this research introduces a novel One Care Model for understanding wellbeing in mission-driven, care-based organisations. Using a mixed-methods design, quantitative survey data from 442 zoo and aquarium professionals across multiple roles were integrated with in-depth qualitative interviews (n = 39) to examine how self-care, self-efficacy, job satisfaction, life satisfaction, leadership, teamwork, and organisational conditions interact across five interconnected levels: individual and family, team and management, organisation, shared purpose, and broader influences across time. The findings demonstrate that wellbeing in ZOAQs is not primarily determined by individual resilience or isolated workplace provisions but by the degree of alignment between values, leadership, systems, and opportunities for agency. Self-efficacy emerged as a central mediating mechanism linking organisational conditions to both job and life satisfaction, while meaningful work and a strong sense of calling were shown to be double-edged, enhancing commitment but increasing vulnerability when systems fail to provide adequate support. Evidence of financial strain, work-life imbalance, misaligned processes, and potentially learned helplessness highlights the structural roots of wellbeing challenges in the field. This thesis positions wellbeing as an ethical infrastructure: a property of how care, responsibility, and meaning are organised across human-animal-environment systems. It concludes with a systems-informed One Care Journey, offering a practical and value-aligned pathway for cultivating cultures of care that can sustain people, animals, and organisational purpose over time.