Date of Award

Winter 10-29-2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Industrial/Organizational Psychology (PhD)

Department

Industrial/Organizational Psychology

First Advisor/Committee Member

Paul R. Yost, Ph.D.

Second Advisor/Committee Member

Bryn Chighizola, Ph.D.

Third Advisor/Committee Member

Hilary Roche, Ph.D.

Keywords

Employee Engagement, Organizational Citizenship Behaviors, Turnover Intentions, Workplace Psychological Well-Being, Work Orientation.

Abstract

Psychological well-being (PWB), positive human functioning, and flourishing, have primarily been studied in the context of the full life span with limited research within the context of the workplace. The well-being research conducted in the workplace is often limited to constructs such as work engagement, job satisfaction and subjective well-being. Furthermore, the research on PWB that has recently been performed tends to overlook existence needs (e.g., adequate pay and benefits, safety) which play a critical role in the tangible and psychological needs of the modern-day worker. This paper adds to the growing workplace psychological need fulfillment literature by extending and validating a 24-item eight-dimension scale (Work Autonomy, Work Competence, Work Growth, Work Purpose, Work Relationships, Work Self-Acceptance, Work Compensation, Work Safety) to assess workplace psychological well-being (W-PWB) and assess how W-PWB affects employee engagement, Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCBs), and turnover intentions. Results indicated existence needs are moderately related and an important component to employees’ overall psychological well-being. Furthermore, W-PWB was significantly related to higher employee engagement, higher OCBs, and lower turnover intentions. Well-being dimensions that appear to be particularly important include competence, growth, and purpose. While employees’ work orientations (i.e., perceptions of their work role as a job, career, or calling) did not moderate the relationship between W-PWB and the outcomes, significant main effects indicated that work orientation, specifically, the extent to which one sees one’s job as a calling is predictive of higher OCBs and lower turnover intentions. Based on the results, theoretical, practical, and future research implications are discussed.

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