Compensation profiles among private sector employees in Sweden: Differences in work-related and health-related outcomes.

How experiences and perceptions of pay and pay setting relate to employees' job performance, willingness to remain in the organization, and health has been the subject of much debate. Previous research has typically used a variable-centered approach to investigate associations between different pay-related factors and such outcomes. In contrast, we used latent profile analysis to explore combinations of compensation characteristics (pay level, perceived horizontal pay dispersion, and procedural quality, i.e., transactional leadership and procedural pay-setting justice), combining relevant theories on the subject. Based on a nationally representative sample of private sector employees in Sweden (N = 1,146), our study identified six compensation profiles. Our key findings show, first, that higher levels of pay were generally associated with better performance, lower turnover intention, better self-rated health, and lower work-related exhaustion, especially when combined with perceptions of high procedural quality. Second, in terms of perceived horizontal pay dispersion, the results indicate that pay compression may be associated with beneficial outcomes, particularly when combined with high procedural quality. Third, procedural quality was generally associated with favorable work-related and health-related outcomes, although such positive effects may be contingent upon pay level and perceived horizontal pay dispersion. In conclusion, while pay level, perceptions of horizontal pay dispersion, and procedural quality may all matter for employee outcomes, it is important to consider their combinations.

Understanding and shaping the future of work with self-determination theory.

Self-determination theory has shaped our understanding of what optimizes worker motivation by providing insights into how work context influences basic psychological needs for competence, autonomy and relatedness. As technological innovations change the nature of work, self-determination theory can provide insight into how the resulting uncertainty and interdependence might influence worker motivation, performance and well-being. In this Review, we summarize what self-determination theory has brought to the domain of work and how it is helping researchers and practitioners to shape the future of work. We consider how the experiences of job candidates are influenced by the new technologies used to assess and select them, and how self-determination theory can help to improve candidate attitudes and performance during selection assessments. We also discuss how technology transforms the design of work and its impact on worker motivation. We then describe three cases where technology is affecting work design and examine how this might influence needs satisfaction and motivation: remote work, virtual teamwork and algorithmic management. An understanding of how future work is likely to influence the satisfaction of the psychological needs of workers and how future work can be designed to satisfy such needs is of the utmost importance to worker performance and well-being.

Transformational Leadership and Incivility: A Multilevel and Longitudinal Test.

This research examines group-level perceptions of transformational leadership (TFL) as negative longitudinal predictors of witnessing person-related (e.g., insults/affronts) and work-related (e.g., negation/intentional work overload) acts of incivility at work. Witnessing workplace incivility was also postulated to negatively predict employee need satisfaction. Data were collected among production employees in different Canadian plants of a major manufacturing company (N = 344) who worked for 42 different managers (Mgroup size = 9.76). Two waves of data collection occurred 1 year apart. Results from multilevel analyses showed that workgroups where managers were perceived to engage in more frequent TFL behaviors reported reduced levels of person- and work-related incivility 1 year later. However, group-level incivility did not predict change in group-level need satisfaction 1 year later. At the individual level, results showed that witnessing higher levels of person-related incivility than one's colleagues predicted reduced satisfaction of the need for relatedness 1 year later. These longitudinal findings build upon previous literature by identifying TFL as a potential managerial strategy to reduce incivility in workgroups over time. They also show that mere exposure to workplace misbehavior still affects employees' adjustment, suggesting that every effort to reduce deviance in workplaces is worthwhile.

Testing a continuum structure of self-determined motivation: A meta-analysis.

Self-determination theory proposes a multidimensional representation of motivation comprised of several factors said to fall along a continuum of relative autonomy. The current meta-analysis examined the relationships between these motivation factors in order to demonstrate how reliably they conformed to a predictable continuum-like pattern. Based on data from 486 samples representing over 205,000 participants who completed 1 of 13 validated motivation scales, the results largely supported a continuum-like structure of motivation and indicate that self-determination is central in explaining human motivation. Further examination of heterogeneity indicated that while regulations were predictably ordered across domains and scales, the exact distance between subscales varied across samples in a way that was not explainable by a set of moderators. Results did not support the inclusion of integrated regulation or the 3 subscales of intrinsic motivation (i.e., intrinsic motivation to know, to experience stimulation, and to achieve) due to excessively high interfactor correlations and overlapping confidence intervals. Recommendations for scale refinements and the scoring of motivation are provided. (PsycINFO Database Record

An Exercise in Resistance: Inoculation Messaging as a Strategy for Protecting Motivation During a Monotonous and Controlling Exercise Class.

Sustained attention has been devoted to studying the factors that support (or thwart) individuals' enjoyment of, interest in, and value judgments regarding their exercise activities. We employed a resistance-inducing (i.e., inoculation theory) messaging technique with the aim of protecting these desirable perceptions in the face of environmental conditions designed to undermine one's positive exercise experiences. Autonomously motivated exercisers (N = 146, Mage = 20.57, SD = 4.02) performed a 25-min, group-based, instructor-led exercise circuit, in which the activities were deliberately monotonous, and during which the confederate instructor acted in a disinterested, unsupportive, and critical manner. Shortly before the session, participants received either a control message containing general information about the exercise class or an inoculation message containing a forewarning about potential challenges to participants' enjoyment/interest/value perceptions during the class, as well as information about how participants might maintain positive perceptions in the face of these challenges. Despite there being no between-conditions differences in presession mood or general exercise motives, inoculated (relative to control) participants reported greater interest/enjoyment in the exercise session and higher perceptions of need support from the instructor. Perceptions of need support mediated the relationship between message condition and interest/enjoyment.

Evidence against the continuum structure underlying motivation measures derived from self-determination theory.

Self-determination theory (SDT) proposes a multidimensional conceptualization of motivation in which the different regulations are said to fall along a continuum of self-determination. The continuum has been used as a basis for using a relative autonomy index as a means to create motivational scores. Rasch analysis was used to verify the continuum structure of the Multidimensional Work Motivation Scale and of the Academic Motivation Scale. We discuss the concept of continuum against SDT's conceptualization of motivation and argue against the use of the relative autonomy index on the grounds that evidence for a continuum structure underlying the regulations is weak and because the index is statistically problematic. We suggest exploiting the full richness of SDT's multidimensional conceptualization of motivation through the use of alternative scoring methods when investigating motivational dynamics across life domains.

Helpful Self-Control: Autonomy Support, Vitality, and Depletion.

Why someone exerts self-control may influence how depleting a task is. Feeling compelled to exert self-control require more self-control strength than exerting self-control for more autonomous reasons. Across three experiments, individuals whose autonomy was supported while exerting self-control performed better on a subsequent test of self-control as compared to individuals who had more pressure placed upon them while exerting self-control. The differences in self-control performance were not due to anxiety, stress, unpleasantness, or reduced motivation among the controlled participants. Additional analyses suggested that the decline in self-control performance was mediated by subjective vitality. Feelings of autonomy support lead to enhanced feelings of subjective vitality. This increased vitality may help replenish lost ego-strength, which lead to better self-control performance subsequently.

What individuals believe they can and cannot do: explorations of realistic and unrealistic control beliefs.

We examined construct validity and implications of scales that assess perceived control over controllable events (realistic control belief) and perceived control over uncontrollable events (unrealistic control belief). We found that people high in unrealistic control belief are less likely to discriminate between controllable and uncontrollable situations and to distort task outcomes so as to make them appear more favorable (more under control). We also found that people high in realistic control belief are more likely to assume responsibility for past mistakes. In additional studies on coping and health risk behavior, higher realistic control belief was related to direct engagement with the stressor and to less risky sexual behavior; higher unrealistic control belief was related to less emotional processing and to more risky sexual behavior. The results demonstrate a need to discriminate between the two types of control beliefs.

Les passions de l'ame: on obsessive and harmonious passion.

Passion is defined as a strong inclination toward an activity that people like, that they find important, and in which they invest time and energy. Two types of passion are proposed: obsessive and harmonious. Obsessive passion (OP) refers to a controlled internalization of an activity in one's identity that creates an internal pressure to engage in the activity that the person likes. Harmonious passion (HP) refers to an autonomous internalization that leads individuals to choose to engage in the activity that they like. HP promotes healthy adaptation whereas OP thwarts it by causing negative affect and rigid persistence. Results from four studies involving more than 900 participants from different populations supported the proposed conceptualization.

Testing discrepancy effects: a critique, a suggestion, and an illustration.

To assess the effects of discrepancy between two independent variables, investigators sometimes compute difference scores and correlate such scores with a criterion variable. However, the correlation of the difference with the criterion is accounted for by the correlations of the difference constituents with the criterion and the constituents' variances. It follows that when investigators are testing a prediction that is not captured by the difference constituents' main effects, using the difference correlation analysis may be misleading. Under these circumstances, the effects of a discrepancy between two independent variables can be assessed by a test of their interaction. The problems inherent in using difference scores and the advantage of testing the interaction are illustrated in relation to research programs on two separate topics in social psychology.

Facilitating autonomous motivation for smoking cessation.

Physicians used either an autonomy-supportive or a controlling interpersonal style to counsel smokers based on National Cancer Institute guidelines. Physician autonomy support was rated from audiotapes, and patients' perceived competence and autonomous motivation for quitting were self-reported on questionnaires. Validated point prevalences for 6, 12, and 30 months and for continuous cessation were examined. The intervention did not have a direct effect on quit rates; however, structural equation modeling supported the self-determination process model of smoking cessation. The model indicated that the autonomy-supportive intervention was rated as more autonomy supportive, that rated autonomy support predicted autonomous motivation, and that autonomous motivation predicted cessation at all points in time. Perceived competence contributed independent variance to cessation only at 6 months.