Flow, job performance and psychological wellbeing: the role of psychological ownership and trust in the ICT work place

Abstract

Purpose This paper, drawing on self-enhancement theory and from employee perspective, aims to develop and validate an integrative theoretical model that centers on the trust–psychological ownership (PO) link to investigate information and communications technology (ICT) employee work outcomes. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional survey with PLS-SEM analysis of 424 employees in ICT industry in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, reports that all of 10 hypotheses are empirically supported. Findings PO is found to be an important driver of employee flow, job performance and psychological wellbeing. Moreover, it is posited that trust acts a moderator of the relationship between flow experience and job performance, and between job performance and psychological wellbeing. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is among the first to affirm that trust in work environment serves as both an enabler for PO and a moderator for the relationship between flow experience–job performance as well as between job performance–psychological wellbeing path. The study also affirms that flow state plays a mediating role in the PO–job performance path, and that job performance acts as a mediator in the flow experience–psychological wellbeing sequence. Finally, new evidence expectedly highlights the positive impact of job performance, a short-term work outcome, on psychological wellbeing, a long-term work outcome.