Exploring the “dim light” colors of motivational processes at work: The unique roles of need-indifferent behaviors and need unfulfillment

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Huyghebaert-Zouaghi, Tiphaine | Gillet, Nicolas | Morin, Alexandre J.S. | Berjot, Sophie | Fernet, Claude | Ntoumanis, Nikos

Edité par CCSD -

International audience. Recent research has suggested that tripartite conceptualizations of interpersonal styles and psychological needs could extend our understanding of the “dim light colors” (need indifferent behaviors and need unfulfillment), alongside the bright and dark colors of motivational processes. Through multiple studies (including a longitudinal one) based on questionnaire surveys, our goals were to investigate 1) supervisors’ need indifferent behaviors (alongside supportive and thwarting behaviors) and test the validity of a tripartite measure of these behaviors ; 2) whether need unfulfillment constitutes a distinct need state (alongside need satisfaction and frustration) and test the validity of a tripartite measure of these need states; and 3) how the distinct components of supervisory behaviors on one hand, and of psychological need states on the other hand, combine to produce distinct profiles of employees, with differing implications for their functioning. Results supported the distinctiveness of need indifferent behaviors (relative to supportive and thwarting behaviors) and need unfulfillment (relative to need satisfaction and frustration). We also supported the validity of the tripartite instruments measuring these constructs and their added-value in predicting employees’ functioning (e.g., satisfaction, boredom, rumination). Finally, we found that the three types of interpersonal behaviors were not mutually exclusive, in that employees could perceive their supervisors to be concurrently supportive, thwarting, and/or indifferent, with distinct implications for subordinates’ functioning. Similarly, need satisfaction, frustration, and unfulfillment may co-occur in the lives of some employees, with differentiated predictive effects on their work motivation. In sum, these results enrich our understanding of the dim light colors of motivational processes at the socio-contextual (indifferent behaviors) and the personal (need unfulfillment) levels and show that these constructs are associated with a wide array of detrimental consequences.

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