Vigor as a Positive Affect at Work: Conceptualizing Vigor, Its Relations with Related Constructs, and Its Antecedents and Consequences

Abstract

Vigor refers to individuals' feelings that they possess physical strength, emotional energy, and cognitive liveliness, and represents a moderate-intensity affect experienced at work. Though it has been assessed in past research as a mood state, vigor has hardly been the focus of any integrative theoretical treatise. I first provide a description of vigor's conceptual framework and also of past attempts to conceptualize and measure it. Then, a summary of vigor's relations with other attitudinal constructs to which it is related is provided. Next, based on the Conservation of Resources theory, I outline possible antecedents of vigor. Using the Broaden-and-Build theory, the next section depicts proposed consequences of vigor. The two theoretical perspectives are combined to construct a theoretical model describing vigor, its antecedents and consequences. I then suggest several open research questions concerning the study of vigor at work.