Self-determined Work Motivation Research Articles

On the global and specific nature of psychological need satisfaction and work motivation in predicting employees' wellbeing: a self-determination theory perspective

Abstract Using data from 708 French-Canadian nurses, the present study relies on self-determination theory (SDT) and its proposed motivation mediation model to examine the associations between need satisfaction, work motivation, and various manifestations of psychological wellbeing (work satisfaction, emotional exhaustion, and turnover intentions). To increase the precision and accuracy of these analyses, we relied on analytic approaches that explicitly account for the dual global/specific nature of both work motivation and need satisfaction. Results revealed that nurses' global psychological need satisfaction, and their specific autonomy and competence satisfaction, were positively associated with their global self-determined work motivation and specific intrinsic motivation. In turn, global self-determined work motivation and specific intrinsic motivation were associated with more desirable outcome levels. Nurses' global need satisfaction and specific autonomy satisfaction were also directly associated with more desirable outcome levels. Our results provided support for a partially mediated version of SDT's motivation mediation model.

The Moral Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Nurses' Burnout, Work Satisfaction and Adaptive Work Performance: The Role of Autobiographical Memories of Potentially Morally Injurious Events and Basic Psychological Needs.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in unprecedented exposure to Potentially Morally Injurious Events (PMIEs) for nurses, in which they were both moral transgressors and moral victims, with deleterious consequences on their psycho-social health and functioning. Our experimental design compared memories of PMIEs with memories of severe moral transgressions (SMTs), in which participants were only moral transgressors. Drawing from Self-Determination Theory and research on moral auto-biographical episodic memories, we assessed a conceptual model describing the impact of recalling a single PMIE or SMT event on nurses’ burnout, work satisfaction and adaptive performance. Our convenience sample comprised 614 Romanian nurses, and data was analyzed with path analysis, general linear modelling, and t-tests. Findings showed that memories of PMIEs, compared to SMTs, were more autonomy thwarting, being associated with more controlled work motivation, less moral learning, higher burnout, less work satisfaction, and adaptive performance. Burnout, moral learning, and work satisfaction were significant mediators of the relationships between PMIE and SMT recall and, respectively, adaptive performance. Our results highlight the urgency for organizational practices of moral repair for nurses after the pandemic, along with interventions meant to increase their autonomy and self-determined work motivation.

An Investigation of Self-Determined Work Motivation Among Young Adult Survivors of Central Nervous System Cancer

An Investigation of Self-Determined Work Motivation Among Young Adult Survivors of Central Nervous System Cancer

Teachers' Personal and Collective Work-Identity Predicts Exhaustion and Work Motivation: Mediating Roles of Psychological Job Demands and Resources.

The aim of this study was to investigate the mediating roles of teachers' psychological job demands and resources regarding personal and collective work-identity, respectively, and exhaustion and self-determined work motivation, respectively. A total of 2,905 members of a Swedish teacher's trade union received an online questionnaire by e-mail; 768 individuals answered the questionnaire and so participated in this study. The data were obtained by self-reported measures (e.g., emotional and cognitive components of work-identity, psychological job demands and resources, exhaustion and work motivation) and analyzed by mediation regression analyses. The results showed that teachers' psychological job demands (prosocial extra-role performance) mediated relationships between cognitive personal work-identity and emotional collective work-identity, respectively, and exhaustion. Teachers' psychological job resources (educational inspiration) mediated relationships between emotional personal work-identity and cognitive collective work-identity, respectively, and self-determined work motivation. Thus, teachers might be disadvantaged by stronger personal work-related thinking and collective work-related feeling when related to exhaustion, to some extent accounted for by psychological job demands, and they might find advantage in stronger personal work-related feeling and collective work-related thinking when related to work motivation, to some extent accounted for by psychological job resources.

On the temporal stability of self-determined work motivation profiles: a latent transition analysis

ABSTRACTThis study extends the research and theory on work motivation by examining temporal stability and change in employees’ self-determined work motivation profiles and their differential relations to various predictors and outcomes. We gathered data at two time points over a 24-month period from a sample of 438 newly registered public health care nurses. Results of latent profile and latent transition analyses revealed four distinct profiles (strongly, moderately, self-determined, and poorly motivated), estimated from the position of global and specific behavioural regulations on the motivation continuum proposed by self-determination theory. These profiles were entirely stable at the within-sample level, although within-person changes in profile membership occurred for 30–40% of employees. Of particular interest, perceptions of job resources were consistently associated with greater likelihood of membership in the strongly and moderately motivated profiles. These profiles were also consistently associated with lower emotional exhaustion and intentions to leave the occupation and the organization and with higher in-role performance compared to the self-determined and poorly motivated profiles.

Testing an integrated self-determined work motivation model for people with disabilities: A path analysis.

Individuals with disabilities are more likely to live in poverty, have more health issues, and be less likely to be employed than their same-aged peers. Although these issues may be attenuated by vocational rehabilitation services, amotivation and ambivalence to employment can limit the readiness of persons with disabilities to engage in these services. Drawing on self-efficacy, self-determination, and stages of change theories, the purpose of this study was to develop and test an integrated self-determined work motivation model for people with disabilities. Participants included 277 people with disabilities recruited through vocational rehabilitation agencies across 8 states. Path analysis was used to evaluate the contribution of functional disability, self-determination, and social efficacy variables in a hypothesized integrated self-determined work motivation model. Model estimations used maximum likelihood estimation and model-data fit was examined using several goodness-of-fit indices. The initial path analysis indicated a less than optimal fit between the model and the observed data. Post hoc model modifications were conducted based on examination of the critical ratios and modification indices and theoretical consideration. The respecified integrated self-determined work motivation model fit the data very well, χ²ldf = 1.88, CFI = .99, and RMSEA = 0.056. The R2 for the endogenous variables in the model ranged from .19 to .54. Findings from this study support the integrated self-determined work motivation model in vocational rehabilitation as a useful framework for understanding the relationship among functioning levels, self-determination and self-efficacy factors, vocational rehabilitation engagement, and readiness for employment. (PsycINFO Database Record

How perceptions of organizational politics influence self-determined motivation: The mediating role of work mood

Abstract The relationship between perceptions of organizational politics (POPs) and self-determined work motivation has yet to be understood rigorously. Drawing on self-determination theory, affective events theory, and emotion-associated theories, we propose (1) that organizational politics is a crucial factor affecting self-determined motivation in organizations and (2) that work mood (e.g. anxiety and depression) is a psychological mediator affected by POPs and affecting self-determined motivation. We tested the model by using a Taiwanese sample of considerable variability in gender, hierarchical level, and tenure. Analysis results indicate that POPs diminish intrinsic motivation, autonomous extrinsic motivation, and controlled extrinsic motivation, but increase amotivation. Anxiety is a partial mediator in the POPs–intrinsic motivation, POPs–autonomous extrinsic motivation, and POPs–controlled extrinsic motivation relationships, but anxiety does not mediate the relationship between POPs and amotivation. In contrast, depression is a partial mediator in the POPs–intrinsic motivation and POPs–amotivation relationships, and it is a complete mediator in the POPs–autonomous extrinsic motivation and POPs–controlled extrinsic motivation relationships. Given that work motivation is an important determinant of employee work behaviors; our results specify a possible link between POPs and employee outcomes. The distinct mediating roles of anxiety and depression in the POPs-work motivation relationships imply that different types of political behavior might induce distinctive work moods that produce divergent organizational outcomes.

"What Goes Around Comes Around": Antecedents, Mediators, and Consequences of Controlling vs. Need-Supportive Motivational Strategies Used by Exercise Professionals.

Research into the factors associated with the use of different motivational strategies by exercise professionals is of empirical and practical utility. Grounded in self-determination theory, this study sought to analyze putative antecedents, mediators, and work-related well- and ill-being consequences of two types of motivational strategies reported by exercise professionals. Participants were 366 exercise professionals (193 males; experience = 7.7±5.8 years). Questionnaires assessing psychological need satisfaction frustration, self-determined work motivation, motivational strategies (need-supportive vs. controlling), emotional exhaustion, and personal accomplishment were completed online. Path analysis was used to test the hypothesized model. Model with good fit [χ 2 (5)=9.174, p>.05; CFI=.984; TLI=.936; RMSEA=.048; SRMR=.022] showed need satisfaction as positively associated with supportive strategies and personal accomplishment (β between .267 and .399) and negatively with emotional exhaustion (β=-.145). Need frustration was negatively associated with work motivation and personal accomplishment (β=-.315; -.176), and positively with controlling strategies and emotional exhaustion (β=.195; .226). Furthermore, supportive strategies and work motivation were positively associated with personal accomplishment (β=.134; .184), whereas controlling strategies were positively associated with emotional exhaustion (β=.178). Findings have theoretical implications, providing evidence of need satisfaction and frustration as being differently associated with work-related motivation, type of strategies used, and work-related emotional outcomes. Practical implications convey the importance of these variables in relation to the standard of motivational strategies provided and their role on work-related well- and ill-being indicators.

Assessing Vocational Competency of People with Serious Mental Illness through Self-Report: A Brief Clinical Measure

Self-determination theory (SDT) can be used as a framework to assess self-determined work motivation and vocational recovery in people with serious mental illness (SMI). Vocational competency is a key SDT construct associated with self-determined motivation, rehabilitation engagement, and vocational recovery. The purpose of this study was to validate a brief vocational competency measure, the LSI-Vocational Competency Scale (LSI-VCS), which was adapted and abbreviated from the Life Skills Inventory (LSI), for people with SMI. Results confirmed a two-factor measurement structure and the two factors were labeled as job performance self-efficacy and job seeking self-efficacy. Both factors demonstrated acceptable levels of internal consistency reliability and correlated with other SDT vocational constructs in the expected directions. The LSI-VCS is a brief and psychometrically sound self-report measure that can be used to assess vocational competency of people with SMI in psychiatric rehabilitation research and practice.

Linking Job Design to Subjective Career Success

We tested a predictive model based on self-determination theory (SDT) to demonstrate how job design choices contribute to subjective career success. Data collected at Time 1 demonstrated that the job characteristics of autonomy support and competence support had direct and interactive effects on employees’ need satisfaction. Need satisfaction at Time 1 mediated the relationship between autonomy support and self-determined work motivation at Time 2. Work motivation, in turn, mediated the relationships between need fulfillment and career attitudes that characterize subjective career success. These findings are theoretically important because they demonstrate that SDT can bridge job design theory and career theory, pointing to new ways that job and career experiences are interrelated. From a practical standpoint, the results are valuable because they show that job enrichment efforts guided by SDT have important implications for promoting career success perceptions and vocational retention among experienced workers.

Assessing Self-Determined Work Motivation in People with Severe Mental Illness: A Factor-Analytic Approach

Background: Self-determination theory (SDT) has increasingly been used as a theoretical framework for evaluating key elements of the recovery paradigm in rehabilitation and mental health services research and policy-making for people living with severe mental illnesses.Purpose: The purpose of this study was to validate the Behavioral Regulation in Work Questionnaire (BRWQ), an adaptation of the Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire-2, as a measure of self-determined work motivation for use in psychiatric rehabilitation settings.Methods: One hundred and twenty-four individuals with severe mental illness were recruited from eight Clubhouse programmes in Hawaii. Factorial validity of the BRWQ was evaluated using exploratory factor analysis.Findings: Principal components analysis of the BRWQ yielded four factors (amotivation, external regulation, introjection and autonomous motivation). The autonomous motivation factor was found to be significantly related to other SDT constructs, including competency, relatedness, outcome expectancy and vocational rehabilitation engagement.Conclusions: The BRWQ is a psychometrically sound SDT measure for assessing self-determined work motivation and could contribute to the use of self-determination as a paradigm for improving recovery and employment outcomes of people with severe mental illness in rehabilitation settings.

The predictors of absenteeism due to psychological disability: A longitudinal study in the education sector

Being absent from work because of a psychological disability is costly for both individuals and organizations and frequent in employees working in the field of education. Absenteeism from work has been mostly studied as an organizational withdrawal behavior related to negative factors. The purpose of this longitudinal study is to define the predictors of absenteeism due to psychological disability by taking into account resources, such as Self-determined work motivation and Subjective well-being, as well as symptoms of Psychological distress. The sample consisted of 261 employees from a Canadian public school organization. Independent sample t-tests were conducted to compare the mean scores of participants who were not absent from work and participants who were absent due to psychological disability. Logistic regression analyses were computed for the dependent variable to assess the contribution of the three independent variables. Participants who were absent from work due to psychological disability in the year following the data collection scored significantly lower on resources, and higher on symptoms than those participants who were not absent. The three-predictor model was found to be significant. However, only Self-determined work motivation and Psychological distress significantly predicted absenteeism due to psychological disability. Results are discussed in terms of psychological processes regulating the relationships between the work-related factors (i.e., work motivation) and life-related factors (i.e., psychological distress and subjective well-being) of personal adjustment and accomplishment.

Perceived organizational support, motivation, and engagement among police officers.

Using self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2008) as a guiding theoretical framework, the present research tested a model that incorporates (a) police officers’ perceptions of organizational and supervisor support (i.e., the degree to which organizations or supervisors value the police officers’ contributions and care about their well-being); (b) global, domain specific (i.e., work) and situational (i.e., in a training session) motivation; and (c) engagement. The hypothesized model was tested using two samples of police officers. In Study 1, results revealed that work motivation was significantly related to both intraindividual (global motivation) and contextual (organizational support) factors. In addition, self-determined work motivation was positively related to work engagement. Using a cross-sectional design with multiple measurement points, these results were replicated at the situational level (i.e., in a training session) in Study 2. The present results underscore the importance of understanding the mechanisms through which work engagement can be enhanced. Specifically, to improve police officers’ work engagement, organizations and supervisors must attempt to promote the police officers’ self-determined motivation.

Authentic Leadership, Authentic Followership, Basic Need Satisfaction, and Work Role Performance

Authentic leadership occurs when individuals enact their true selves in their role as a leader. This article examines the role of authentic followership in the previously established relationship between authentic leadership and follower in-role and extrarole performance behaviors. Consideration of followers who enact their true selves is important to understand how authentic leadership fosters follower self-determined work motivation and thus work role performance. Using self-determination theory (SDT) as a guiding framework, the authors propose that authentic leadership, authentic followership, and their interplay are positively related to the satisfaction of followers’ basic needs, which, in turn, are positively related to follower work role performance. The authors conducted a survey study of 30 leaders and 252 followers in 25 Belgian service companies. The results provide evidence of positive relationship for both authentic leadership and authentic followership with follower basic need satisfaction in a cross-level model where authentic leadership was aggregated to the group level of analysis. Cross-level interaction results indicated that authentic leadership strengthened the relationship between authentic followership and follower basic need satisfaction. Follower basic need satisfaction was shown to mediate the relationship of authentic leadership and authentic followership with follower work role performance. A test of mediated moderation further demonstrated that basic need satisfaction mediates the interaction of authentic leadership and authentic followership on follower work role performance. The implications for leadership research and practice are explored.

Self-determined work motivation predicts job outcomes, but what predicts self-determined work motivation?

Self-determined work motivation predicts important job outcomes, such as job satisfaction [Richer, S. F., Blanchard, C., & Vallerand, R. J. (2002). A motivational model of work turnover. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 32, 2089–2113], but what predicts self-determined work motivation is less fully understood. We tested general causality orientation—specifically autonomy and control orientation—as a predictor of self-determined work motivation, which in turn was expected to predict job satisfaction and identification commitment as job outcomes. Regression analyses confirmed our hypotheses such that autonomy orientation predicted job outcomes via increased self-determined work motivation. Control orientation predicted self-determined work motivation but did not affect either of the two job outcomes. Findings are discussed with respect to the importance of individual differences in understanding job outcomes.