Self Determination Theory Broadens and

Builds Employee Flourishing

DR MAREE ROCHE (WINTEC, HAMILTON)&

PROFESSOR JARROD HAAR (MASSEY UNIVERSITY, ALBANY)

Overview

• What is ‘flourishing’ – theoretical background

• Self Determination Theory (SDT)

• Present Study and Findings

• Questions

Flourishing v Floundering

Flourishing Floundering

The Positivity RatioPositiveNegative

Needs to be: > 3 /1 to be effectively in a state of flourishing! Remember, that negativity is natural and places a role ie it is needed!! But, fundamentally, we’d like much more positives than negatives!!

To flourish…

Thus flourishing matters…

How do we calculate ‘flourishing’

Positive Psychology - two views of wellbeing

Dimension

is pursued via…

DefinitionWellbeing

Hedonic

Feelings

Eudaimonic

Functioning

Eudaimonic ModelsSelf

Determination Theory

1. Autonomy (act according to one’s own free will and volition)

2. Competence (master the environment )

3. Relatedness (connection to others)

Psychological Wellbeing

1. Autonomy2. Environmental

mastery3. Personal growth 4. Positive relations5. Purpose in life 6. Self-acceptance

Broaden and Build• Negativity Bias in Humans• Positive Emotions Matter (3:1)• Broaden and Build – through SDT• As per Fredrickson and Losada [oh, and Meatloaf! ]…

we operationalise flourishing as 2 out of 3 [of the SDT factors of satisfaction with need for (1) autonomy, (2) competence and (3) relatedness.

Hypothesis: SDT three needs identifies those flourishing employees. This broadens and builds positive emotions in employees leading to flourishing employees achieving the positivity ratio

Research Model

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Not related

Figure 1: Flourishing and Floundering Employees

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Key: Red Line = Top 1/3 of sample. Black Line = Bottom 1/3 of sample.

Experiences of Autonomy

Positivity Ratio (3 to 1 Frequency of Positive

Experiences to Negative Experiences)

Experiences

of Competence

Experiences of

Relatedness

Flourishing Employees

Floundering Employees

Method• 250 organizations• 600 surveys distributed • 457 surveys complicated• 60% private sector, 32% public sector and 8% in

the not-for-profit sector• Average firm size was large (100+ employees)

Findings

• Employees rated as ‘flourishing’ had a positivity ration of 3.1 compared to 2.0 for non-flourishers.

• Overall we conclude that engagement in (SDT) eudaimonic experiences not only creates the ability for employees to flourish at work, but, this further broadens-and-builds positivity ratios.

• This finding is crucial to developing resources to enable employees to continue to thrive.

Questions and comments…