PhD Defence Rizqi A'yuninnisa | Job flourishing: Multilevel determinants and mechanisms

Job flourishing: Multilevel determinants and mechanisms

Rizqi A'Yuninnisa is a PhD student in the department Change Management & Organization Behaviour. (Co)Promotors are prof.dr. C.P.M. Wilderom and dr. L. Carminati from the faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences.

Job flourishing is a positive psychological construct representing a mental-health state at work. It is characterized by the presence of emotional, psychological, and social well-being. In other words, it comprises both the eudemonic (i.e., function well) and hedonic (i.e., feeling well) types of well-being. Prior empirical research on flourishing in the workplace has been mainly built on its conceptualization in the general or life domain, leading to lack of robustness in examining and measuring it in the work-specific domain. Hence, little is still known about how it may unravel in the work domain and how its determinants look like. Hence, to advance current knowledge on job flourishing, this dissertation sets out to answer the following overarching question: “What can explain individual job flourishing within organizations?”

This dissertation consists of three stand-alone yet interlaced papers, constituting the three core chapters of this book, namely a conceptual review (Chapter 2) and two quantitative empirical studies (Chapter 3 and 4). In each chapter, the variables explaining job flourishing as well as its underlying mechanisms are examined. More specifically, Chapter 2 identifies and condenses the existing empirical facts on job flourishing by providing the evidence on the theoretical frameworks and their variables utilized to explain job flourishing as an ultimate state of well-being at work. The findings from this systematic literature review led to the development of a multilevel conceptual model of job flourishing with matching propositions as well as a future research agenda. Building on this systematic review, Chapter 3 and 4 test two different research models, justified by the different combinations of three main organizational behavior theories (i.e., job demands-resources, self-determination, and social cognitive theory). Each chapter examines a set of predictors and mechanisms of job flourishing, as seen from the perspectives of eudemonic and hedonic well-being: to provide a thorough understanding of job flourishing as an integrative construct. The models were tested using two-wave multilevel survey design, involving 1,211 teachers and 169 primary school leaders in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The findings of both empirical chapters emphasize the importance of resourceful personal variables and resourceful work-contextual variables to induce motivation states and positive feelings in individuals to sustain flourishing and performance at work.

The overall contributions of this dissertation are threefold. First, it provides deeper insight into the conceptual and theoretical development of job flourishing. Second, it offers robust evidence regarding the predictors of job flourishing, as viewed from both eudemonic and hedonic perspectives. Third, it advances (also, statistically) a multilevel perspective on job flourishing. In addition, this dissertation offers practical implications by suggesting what can be done by individual employees, leaders, co-workers/teams, and organizations to enable the promotion of job flourishing and performance.