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Cognitive evaluation theory (CET; Deci, 1975), SDT's first mini-theory, was built from research on the dynamic interplay between external events (e.g., rewards, choice) and people's task interest or enjoyment – that is, intrinsic motivation (IM). At the time, this research was quite controversial, as operant theory (Skinner, 1971) had dominated the psychological landscape. The central assumption of operant theory was that reinforcement contingencies in the environment control behavior, which precluded the existence of inherently satisfying activities performed for non-separable outcomes. During this time, Deci proposed that people – by nature – possess intrinsic motivation (IM), which can manifest as engagement in curiosity-based behaviors, discovery of new perspectives, and seeking out optimal challenges (see also Harlow, 1953; White, 1959). IM thus represents a manifestation of the organismic growth tendency and is readily observed in infants' and toddlers' exploratory behavior and play. Operationally, an intrinsically motivated activity is performed for its own sake – that is, the behavior is experienced as inherently satisfying. From an attributional perspective (deCharms, 1968), such behaviors have an internal perceived locus of causality, as people perceive their behavior as emanating from their sense of self, rather than from experiences of control or coercion.

COVID-19 placed millions of employees under work-from-home/telework. Employers intend extending telework for the long-term, anticipating business benefits. But the benefits are impacted by employees' well-being/ill-being, which is affected by the satisfaction of psychological needs. In turn, need satisfaction is influenced by employees' personal/job attributes. As work-from-home's blended environment disrupts routines, the satisfaction of the psychological need for structure or routines was examined in this study, along with the effect of personal/job attributes.

Cross-section primary data were collected from 500 teleworking information technology employees from India and analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling. Vigour and exhaustion represented well-being and ill-being. Telework self-efficacy, standardised job, technology assistance and supervisor social support were the determinants or personal/job attributes. Need for structure satisfaction was the mediator.

Telework self-efficacy, technology assistance and supervisor social support were positively associated with structure satisfaction. In turn, structure satisfaction was related positively with vigour and negatively with exhaustion, and thus mediated between personal/job attributes and vigour/exhaustion. Standardised job did not affect vigour, exhaustion or structure satisfaction.

Need for structure is mostly studied as a trait, with implications of greater/lesser preference for structure examined. However, this work acknowledges structure as a basic ubiquitous need. Everyone needs some structure. Hence, need for structure is researched from the novel perspective of its satisfaction. This paper also uniquely combines job demands–resources model which identifies personal/job attributes, with concepts of epistemic which posit the need for structure.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between engaging leadership and open conflict norms in teams, with work engagement. A mediating role of basic needs satisfaction between these relations is proposed based on self-determination theory.

Structural equation modeling was used with 133 employees who rated their leader, their team and their own basic need satisfaction and engagement to analyze the direct and indirect effects simultaneously.

The analysis confirmed that both engaging leadership and open conflict norms had an indirect effect on work engagement through basic needs satisfaction. Furthermore, engaging leadership was positively related with open conflict norms.

The current study adds to the validation of engaging leadership as it confirms that engaging leaders strengthen work engagement through basic need satisfaction. Furthermore, it shows that not only the leader is important, but the team can impact their well-being through the creation of other social resources as open conflict norms.

This paper provides evidence that not only leaders are important to increase work engagement through basic needs satisfaction but also other social resources, such as conflict management. This offers a brand new perspective and opportunities on how to increase work engagement using social resources as conflict management.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the association of the satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness with affective commitment and turnover intentions among retail employees in India while also examining the mediating role of job satisfaction in these associations.

Research hypotheses were tested using a cross-organizational sample of 244 employees. Existing, established scales were used to measure the research constructs.

The results of this study show that the satisfaction of the needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness was positively related to affective commitment and negatively related to turnover intentions. Moreover, the results indicate that job satisfaction mediated the association of basic psychological need satisfaction with affective commitment and turnover intentions.

This study highlights the significant role of basic psychological need satisfaction in retaining employees in a rapidly growing economy that is experiencing very high employee turnover. The findings of this study may be helpful for organizational leaders in taking appropriate actions to create working conditions that facilitate the satisfaction of employees’ basic psychological needs. Satisfaction of employees’ basic psychological needs at work may help in retaining them in the current economic scenario, which is witnessing very high employee turnover.

This research tested the applicability of basic psychological need satisfaction to Eastern collectivistic cultures, particularly to India. Recent socio-economic changes, unique workforce demographics and a predominantly collectivistic culture make India distinct from western and European countries, where most of the earlier research on understanding the nature, antecedents, and consequences of basic psychological need satisfaction has been conducted. This research provides an important contribution not only to basic psychological need satisfaction theory, but also to international business literature.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the associations between students' basic psychological needs satisfaction, including novelty satisfaction, and the four aspects of student engagement.

Data were collected from a total sample of 743 undergraduate students from three public universities in northern Malaysia. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to analyse the data.

Competence and relatedness were positively related to the four aspects of student engagement, while autonomy satisfaction was found to relate to agentic engagement. Novelty satisfaction, on the other hand, is related positively with behavioural, emotional and cognitive engagement.

The results provide a new understanding on the importance of novelty satisfaction alongside existing needs in self-determination theory (SDT) in enhancing student engagement.

Educators are encouraged to develop strategies to provide novelty support and facilitate students' basic needs satisfaction in order to establish a motivational learning environment that vitalises students' engagement.

This study breaks new ground by testing the unique relationships of novelty satisfaction along with the psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness, with the four aspects of student engagement in higher education.

This study investigated a mechanism by which challenge stressors may affect employee well-being outcomes. This study tested a within-person longitudinal model in which the effects of challenge demands relate to basic psychological need satisfaction/thwarting and worker well-being outcomes. In particular, basic psychological need satisfaction and thwarting were hypothesized to mediate challenge demands and outcomes at the intraindividual level.

Data from 84 employees from a weekly survey across four weeks (308 observations) were used in Bayesian multilevel path analyses to test hypotheses.

Although significant indirect effects showed that basic psychological needs mediate between demands and worker outcomes, only a few specific indirect effects (e.g. the path from time pressure via thwarting the need for autonomy to emotional exhaustion) operated as hypothesized. Interestingly, in this study, time pressure was only mediated via thwarting the need for autonomy when considering undesirable worker outcomes (i.e. increased emotional exhaustion, decreased job satisfaction). Job complexity, however, led to decreased emotional exhaustion via the need for competence satisfaction. Implications for need satisfaction and thwarting as mechanisms in the challenge–hindrance framework are discussed.

This study (1) extends the challenge–hindrance framework to include basic psychological needs as a mechanism, (2) expands basic psychological needs to include need thwarting and (3) may enhance our understanding of stressor categories.

Job demands can contribute to nurses’ turnover intention and this can have an impact on health services among the general population. It appears important to identify the work environment factors associated with turnover intention, as well as the psychological resources liable to act on this relationship. Drawing on self-determination theory (SDT), the purpose of this study (n=1179) is to investigate the relationship between two job demands (role ambiguity and role conflict) and turnover intention, as well as the moderating role of basic need satisfaction (autonomy, competence and relatedness) within these relationships.

This cross-sectional study was conducted among nurses (Québec, Canada). Nurses completed an online questionnaire. To test the proposed moderating effect of satisfaction of the three psychological needs (i.e. autonomy, competence and relatedness) in the relationship between job demands (i.e. role ambiguity and role conflict) and turnover intention, path analysis was conducted using Mplus v.8 (Muthén and Muthen, 2017). Two models, one for each demand, were tested.

As expected, role ambiguity and role conflict are positively related to turnover intention. Results reveal a significant interaction between role ambiguity and satisfaction of the need for autonomy in the prediction of turnover intention. The satisfaction of the need for competence and the satisfaction of the need for relatedness did not moderate the relationship between role ambiguity and turnover intention. Satisfaction of the need for autonomy moderated the relationship between role conflict and turnover intention. Moreover, results revealed a significant interaction between role conflict and satisfaction of the need for competence in the prediction of turnover intention. Satisfaction of the need for relatedness did not moderate the relationship between role conflict and turnover intention.

The results align with the theoretical propositions of several leading theories in occupational health which state that workers’ psychological functioning derives not only from the job characteristics of their work environment, but also from the psychological resources at their disposal. The study contributes to SDT. First, to date, this is the first study to investigate basic psychological need satisfaction as a moderator in the relationship between contextual factors and workers’ functioning. Second, the findings revealed the importance of assessing psychological needs separately, as each contributes in a specific way to workers’ work-related attitudes and adaptation to their professional environment.

Perceptions of autonomy and competence act as key psychological resources for nurses. Managerial support for autonomy (e.g. providing nurses with meaningful information regarding their work) and competence (e.g. providing nurses with frequent positive feedback regarding their work efforts) constitutes a series of key management practices that can foster perceptions of autonomy and competence. The findings show that two role stressors predict nurses’ turnover intention. As such, health care establishments are encouraged to focus on interventions that reduce uncertainties and conflicting situations from nurses (provide clear job descriptions and effective communication).

By promoting a sense of effectiveness and feelings of self-endorsement at work, health care establishments can reduce nurses’ turnover intention and help prevent staffing shortages among this important work group.

Although past research shows that workers’ motivational profile can modulate the relationship between characteristics within the work environment and workers’ functioning, studying the quality of work motivation is not sufficient to completely understand the factors that can influence workers’ reactions to job demands. Need satisfaction is crucial to the development and maintenance of high quality motivation. Evaluating need satisfaction as a moderator in the stressor–strain relationship could offer a better understanding of the psychological experiences that can promote workers’ adaptation to their work environment. To date, no study has investigated the buffering role of psychological needs in the stressor–strain relationship.

This study aims to examine the relationship between perceived overqualification, perceived employability, perceived job insecurity and global psychological needs satisfaction, considering the moderating role of age groups.

A cross-sectional survey design with a sample of 350 individuals was used in this study.

A cross-sectional survey design with a sample of 350 individuals was used in this study.

By addressing the moderating role of age, this study is original and has practical implications for age diversity management.

Este estudo tem como objetivo estudar a relação entre a sobrequalificação, a empregabilidade, a insegurança no trabalho percebidas e satisfação das necessidades psicológicas globais, considerando o papel moderador dos grupos etários.

Foi utilizado neste estudo um desenho de pesquisa transversal com uma amostra de 350 indivíduos.

A sobrequalificação percebida, a empregabilidade percebida e a insegurança no trabalho percebida estão, em geral, significativamente relacionadas com a satisfação das necessidades psicológicas globais. No entanto, essas relações diferem entre as faixas etárias. Ou seja, para os indivíduos mais jovens, foi observada uma relação negativa entre a perceção de sobrequalificação e a satisfação das necessidades psicológicas globais, e para os indivíduos de meia-idade, a empregabilidade percebida está positivamente relacionada à satisfação das necessidades psicológicas globais, enquanto a insegurança no trabalho percebida e a sobrequalificação percebida estão negativamente relacionadas à satisfação das necessidades psicológicas globais. Finalmente, para os indivíduos mais velhos, a insegurança no trabalho percebida e a sobrequalificação percebida estão negativamente relacionadas à satisfação das necessidades psicológicas globais.

Ao abordar o papel moderador da idade, este estudo é original e tem implicações práticas para a gestão da diversidade em função do grupo etário.

Este estudio examina la relación entre la sobrecualificación percibida, la empleabilidad percibida, la inseguridad laboral percibida y la satisfacción de las necesidades psicológicas globales, considerando el papel moderador de los grupos de edad.

En este estudio se utilizó un diseño de encuesta transversal con una muestra de 350 individuos.

La sobrecualificación percibida, la empleabilidad percibida y la inseguridad laboral percibida estaban, en general, significativamente relacionadas con la satisfacción de las necesidades psicológicas globales. Sin embargo, estas relaciones difieren entre los grupos de edad. En concreto, para los individuos más jóvenes, se observó una relación negativa entre la sobrecualificación percibida y la satisfacción de las necesidades psicológicas globales, y para los individuos de mediana edad, la empleabilidad percibida se relacionó positivamente con la satisfacción de las necesidades psicológicas globales, mientras que la inseguridad laboral percibida y la sobrecualificación percibida se relacionaron negativamente con la satisfacción de las necesidades psicológicas globales. Finalmente, para los individuos de mayor edad, la inseguridad laboral percibida y la sobrecualificación percibida se relacionaron negativamente con la satisfacción de las necesidades psicológicas globales.

Al abordar el papel moderador de la edad, este estudio es original y tiene implicaciones prácticas para la gestión de la diversidad de edad en el contexto de las políticas de RRHH de las organizaciones.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of emotional culture on the quality of employee–organization relationships (EORs). To understand the nuances of the influence of positive and negative emotional cultures on employee relational outcomes, this study specifically examined four fundamental emotional cultures, namely, joy, love, fear and sadness, in the cultivation of EORs. Further, as more recent emotional connotations of culture delve into the connections between employees’ fundamental need for psychological satisfaction and business success, likewise, this study proposes employees’ psychological need satisfaction as a potential mediator that explains how emotional culture influences employee–organization relational outcomes.

To test the hypothesized model, the authors conducted an online survey on a random sample of 509 employees working in 19 diverse industry sectors in a one-week period in February 2017, with the assistance of a premier global provider of survey services, Survey Sampling International. To test the hypothesized model, structural equation modeling analysis was employed using AMOS 24.0 software.

Results indicated that joy, happiness, excitement, companionate love, affection and warmth could meet employees’ psychological need for mutual respect, care, connection and interdependence within the organization. Such culture contributed to employees’ feelings of trust, satisfaction, mutual control and commitment toward the organization. By contrast, employees in organizations with a dispirited, downcast and sad emotional culture were less inclined to develop quality relationships with the organization. Employees in organizations where the emotional culture was fearful, anxious, tense or scared were less likely to satisfy their psychological need for relatedness.

This study is among one of the earliest attempts to theorize and operationalize organizational emotional culture, which fills the research gap in decades of organizational culture research that focused predominantly on the cognitive aspect. Also, this study expands the thriving relationship management literature, in particular, employee relationship management research by showing the positive impact of emotional culture of joy and love and negative impact of emotional culture of sadness on employee relational outcomes.

How to foster voice behavior has always been a hot topic in organizational research; however, the mechanism through which performing decent work affects employee voice behavior remains to be fully understood. To address this deficiency, the current study investigates how basic need satisfaction may relate to perceived decent work and voice behavior and the moderating role of gender. Our research draws upon self-determination theory and social information processing theory.

The theoretical model was tested using two-wave investigation data collected from a sample of 349 employees and 85 supervisors in Southwest China.

Decent work perception was positively related to voice behavior, and this relationship was partially mediated by basic need satisfaction. In addition, the relationship between decent work perception and basic need satisfaction as well as the indirect effect of decent work perception on voice behavior via basic need satisfaction was stronger for men than for women.

This study highlights the pivotal roles of basic need satisfaction and gender in the consequences of decent work perception in the workplace. The authors provide new insights into the relationship between decent work perception and voice behavior and inspire scholars to elucidate other explanatory mechanisms in this link.