State Epistemic Curiosity in Organizations

Abstract

Despite decades of research, epistemic curiosity and its consequences remain misunderstood. In a series of three studies, we develop a measure of state curiosity and explore the role it plays in organizations. We argue that curious states are proximal predictors to several relevant workplace outcomes. Specifically, we look at how state curiosity influences worker adjustment, including affect and task engagement, as well as worker behavior, including information elaboration, learning behaviors, resilience, and turnover intentions. In order to better understand these relationships, we investigate two types of state curiosity: interest and deprivation. We examine these dimensions in Study 1, demonstrating initial validation evidence of a new state measure of curiosity. In Study 2, we replicate our validation of our new measure, doing so using experience sampling methodology (ESM). Further, Study 2 finds these two states to be differentially related to positive and negative affect, job satisfaction, and task engagement. Finally, in Study 3 we expand these ideas in a panel investigation. For this study, we further examined the impact of the two dimensions of state curiosity on workplace outcomes, including task engagement, affect, information elaboration, learning behaviors, resilience, and turnover intentions. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.