Perceived Motivational Climates and Employee Energy: The Mediating Role of Basic Psychological Needs

Christina G L Nerstad; Marjolein C J Caniëls; Glyn C Roberts; Astrid M Richardsen

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01509

Perceived Motivational Climates and Employee Energy: The Mediating Role of Basic Psychological Needs

Front Psychol. 2020 Jul 10:11:1509. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01509. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Christina G L Nerstad^{1

2}, Marjolein C J Caniëls³, Glyn C Roberts⁴, Astrid M Richardsen²

Affiliations

¹ Oslo Business School, OsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, Norway.
² Department of Leadership and Organizational Behavior, BI Norwegian Business School, Oslo, Norway.
³ Faculty of Management, Open Universiteit, Heerlen, Netherlands.
⁴ Institute of Sport and Social Sciences, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway.

Abstract

This study draws on achievement goal theory and self-determination theory to examine the associations among two motivational climates (i.e., mastery and performance) and two indicators of energy at work (i.e., vigor and emotional exhaustion), as well as the mediating role of basic psychological need satisfaction (i.e., autonomy, relatedness, and competence). A two-wave longitudinal study was conducted collecting data from 1,081 engineers and technologists. We applied previously validated instruments to assess the variables of interest. Structural equation modeling analyses were conducted to test the hypotheses. Our findings show that mastery climate is positively and significantly related to each of the three basic needs, whereas a performance climate is negatively and significantly related to each of the three basic needs. Further, the results indicate that the basic needs are significantly associated with both measures of energy, negatively with emotional exhaustion and positively with vigor. This pattern of results suggests that basic psychological need satisfaction mediates the relationship between motivational climates and energy at work.

Keywords: autonomy; competence; emotional exhaustion; mastery climate; performance climate; relatedness; vigor.