The importance of autonomy support and the mediating role of work motivation for well-being: Testing self-determination theory in a Chinese work organisation

2014 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 245-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youyan Nie ◽  
Bee Leng Chua ◽  
Alexander Seeshing Yeung ◽  
Richard M. Ryan ◽  
Wai Yen Chan
2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Manli Gu ◽  
Li Liu ◽  
Ester Ellen Trees Bolt

PurposeResearch has shown that autonomy support is a powerful predictor of employee well-being in the West. Despite this importance in the West, the role of autonomy in relation to employee well-being remains relatively understudied in other contexts, such as Malaysia. This is presumably so due to the assumption that employees in a country of excessive hierarchy, like Malaysia, do not value autonomy. Drawing on self-determination theory (SDT), this paper aims to investigate the relationship between employee perceived autonomy support and well-being in the context of Malaysia.Design/methodology/approachThe authors propose that employee-perceived autonomy support is positively related to employee well-being (measured as work engagement and emotional exhaustion) mediated by basic psychological need satisfaction. The authors also hypothesize that the positive relationship is even stronger when employees are less autonomy-oriented. The authors tested this moderated mediation model using a survey of 125 interns in Malaysia.FindingsThe results provide strong evidence for the mediating role of need satisfaction when intern well-being is measured as work engagement, while the evidence is less conclusive when employee well-being is measured as emotional exhaustion. Moreover, the moderating effect of autonomy orientation is insignificant.Originality/valueThis paper enhances understanding of the cross-culture applicability of SDT and thereby provided a nuanced understanding of the boundary conditions of autonomy support.


2021 ◽  
pp. 003329412110484
Author(s):  
Chang C Xiang ◽  
Xu Wang ◽  
Ting T Xie ◽  
Cheng L Fu

Surface acting—the management of emotional displays as part of a nurse’s work role—is increasingly getting scholars’ attention in organizational behavior. Previous research focused on the relationship between surface acting and outcomes (such as psychological well-being) on the basis of resource-centric theories, ignoring the subjective stance of surface acting provider. According to self-determination theory, surface acting affects an individual’s well-being through stimulating autonomous or controlled work motivation. Taking nurses as the subjects, the current study proposed that surface acting would affect job satisfaction and further psychological well-being through nurses’ controlled work motivation, and work and family support would moderate the above relationships in diverse directions. An online survey of n = 342 nurses working at a hospital in central China was conducted, evaluating surface acting, job satisfaction, psychological well-being, workplace support, and family support. Results indicated that surface acting negatively influenced nurses’ psychological well-being through job satisfaction. In addition, the results highlighted the two-faced aspect of social support, in which work support positively moderated the relationships between surface acting, job satisfaction, and psychological well-being, while family support intensified the abovementioned relationships negatively. These findings have important implications for surface acting, social support research, and managerial practices.


2009 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valery I. Chirkov

In this article I highlight recent (published after 2000) cross-cultural studies on the role of autonomous academic motivation and autonomy support in students' cognitive and psychological development. The self-determination theory (SDT) thesis of a universal beneficial role of autonomous motivation is supported by numerous empirical results from educational researchers from diverse educational settings around the world. These results are discussed in terms of the importance of recognizing students' basic needs for autonomy in learning environments, and the cultural deterministic models of socio-cultural differences that have obscured that need. Studies within the SDT provide strong psychological evidence to support a more interactive, multidimensional picture of human nature in various sociocultural contexts.


Author(s):  
Martin S. Hagger ◽  
Cleo Protogerou

Self-determination theory has been applied to understand the role of affect in motivation and behavior in health contexts. According to self-determination theory, autonomous forms of motivation, reflecting self-endorsed reasons for acting and the satisfaction of psychological needs, are related to participation and persistence in health behavior. Research examining the role of affect in determining health behavior from the perspective of the theory is relatively sparse. Affect has served as both an outcome and process in applications of the theory to health behavior. Positive affect and psychological well-being have been identified as important outcomes of participating in behaviors for autonomous reasons. Affect is inextricably linked to motivational processes through eudaimonic and hedonic well-being, the passionate pursuit of activities, and the regulation of behavior through active management of aversive emotional responses. The chapter outlines how support for autonomous motivation by significant others may lead to adaptive behavioral engagement and affective responses in health behavior.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin S Hagger ◽  
Cleo Protogerou

Self-determination theory has been applied to understand the role of affect in motivation and behavior in health contexts. According to self-determination theory, autonomous forms of motivation, reflecting self-endorsed reasons for acting and the satisfaction of psychological needs, are related to participation and persistence in health behavior. Research examining the role of affect in determining health behavior from the perspective of the theory is relatively sparse. Affect has served as both an outcome and process in applications of the theory to health behavior. Positive affect and psychological well-being have been identified as important outcomes of participating in behaviors for autonomous reasons. Affect is inextricably linked to motivational processes through eudaimonic and hedonic well-being, the passionate pursuit of activities, and the regulation of behavior through active management of aversive emotional responses. The chapter outlines how support for autonomous motivation by significant others may lead to adaptive behavioral engagement and affective responses in health behavior.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 436
Author(s):  
Jian Gao ◽  
Jianguo Wang ◽  
Jianming Wang

This study uses a conceptual research model to explore the mediating role of need satisfaction for competence, relatedness, and autonomy in the relationship between pro-environmental preference (PEP) and consumers’ perceived well-being (PWB). The data were collected on WJX (a Chinese online recruitment platform) from a sample of 514 respondents and analyzed using Smart PLS 3. The results indicated that two need satisfactions (competence and autonomy) fully mediate the relationship between PEP and consumers’ PWB. However, surprisingly, relatedness need satisfaction has no mediation effect in the relationship between PEP and consumers’ PWB. The results demonstrate the pivotal role of self-determination theory in explaining the primary psychological needs that must be met for consumers to perceive heightened states of well-being. Moreover, the results can signify to policymakers how to translate the impact of PEP into consumers’ PWB.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1944 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xi Chen ◽  
Shaofen Fang ◽  
Yujie Li ◽  
Haibin Wang

The motivation behind online consumption behavior is different from that of online social behavior, and research is lacking regarding the impact of identification on e-commerce consumption. The current research examines the influence of identification, which is perceived anonymity, and intrinsic motivation on the continuous purchasing behaviors on retailing e-commerce websites based on self-determination theory. The mediating role of intrinsic motivation was also empirically tested from a sample of 661 frequent consumers using the partial least squares approach. The findings were: (1) Identification negatively influences perceived anonymity, and its low, but significantly positive, influence on continuous e-commerce consumption were totally mediated by perceived competence, perceived autonomy, and perceived relatedness. (2) Perceived anonymity positively influences self-determination factors, which has partly mediating impact between perceived anonymity and continuous consumption. (3) The authenticity and concealment of identity are based on different mechanisms, but both of them are conducive to promoting continuous purchases. On retailing e-commerce websites, customers’ identity management should consider both identification in the background and anonymity perception in the service, and the contributions of the service to promote consumers’ perceived competence and perceived autonomy are important in continuous consumption.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joachim Waterschoot ◽  
Sofie Morbée ◽  
Branko Vermote ◽  
Katrijn Brenning ◽  
Nele Flamant ◽  
...  

Although the COVID-19 crisis is a worldwide threat to individuals’ physical health and psychological well-being, not all people are equally susceptible to increased ill-being. One potentially important factor in individuals’ vulnerability (versus resilience) to ill- being in the face of stress is emotion regulation. On the basis of Self-Determination Theory, this study examined the role of three emotion regulation styles in individuals’ mental health during the COVID-19 crisis, that is, integration, suppression, and dysregulation. Participants were 6584 adults (77 % female, M age = 45.16 years) who filled out well-validated measures of emotion regulation, depression, anxiety, life satisfaction, and sleep quality. To examine naturally occurring combinations of emotion regulation strategies, hierarchical k-means clustering was performed, yielding 3 profiles: (a) low scores on all strategies (indicating rather low overall levels of worry; 27%), (b) high scores on integration only (41%), and (c) high scores on suppression and dysregulation (33%). Participants in the profiles scoring high on suppression and dysregulation displayed a less favorable pattern of outcomes (high ill-being, low life satisfaction, and poorer sleep quality) compared to the other two groups. Between- cluster differences remained significant even when taking into account the corona- related worries experienced by people. Overall, the findings underscore the important role of emotion regulation in individuals’ mental health during mentally challenging periods such as the COVID-19 crisis. Practical implications and directions for future research are discussed.


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