A Within-Person Field Experiment to Test an Affect-Resource Model of Employee Effectiveness at Work

Autor(en)

Vera M. Schweitzer, Wladislaw Rivkin, Stefan Diestel, Fabiola Heike Gerpott, Jana Kühnel, Roman Prem

Abstrakt

We expand research on the daily dynamics of employee effectiveness at work by integrating conservation of resources theory with a broaden-and-built perspective on positive emotions. Specifically, we expect that on days with high work-related self-control demands, employees experience regulatory resource depletion, which makes them less effective at work because they enter a resource preservation mode. Recognizing that positive affect replenishes employees’ regulatory resources and thereby serves as a signal to approach challenges, we further propose that increasing positive affect can prevent employees from conservation of regulatory resources after dealing with high self-control demands. To test our integrated affect-resource model, we developed a daily micro-intervention that induces positive affect and tested it in a within-person field experiment (daily diary study design) over 12 workdays with 85 employees. Consistent with our predictions, the adverse effects of morning self-control demands on afternoon measures of employee effectiveness (work engagement, organizational citizenship behavior, creativity) via regulatory resource availability was attenuated on days when participants experienced increases in positive affect due to a text- or video-based positive affect intervention. This was not the case on days when a control condition was administered to participants. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of our affect-resource model.

Organisation(en)

Institut für Arbeits-, Wirtschafts- und Sozialpsychologie

Externe Organisation(en)

Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management, Trinity College Dublin, Bergische Universität Wuppertal

Journal

Academy of Management Proceedings

Band

2021

ISSN

0065-0668

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5465/AMBPP.2021.13074abstract

Publikationsdatum

2021

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

501002 Angewandte Psychologie

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/a-withinperson-field-experiment-to-test-an-affectresource-model-of-employee-effectiveness-at-work(9f8d3b6b-b461-4d59-a513-fad6aa35e7ad).html