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Despite their prevalence, workplace diversity and inclusion (D&I) practices continue to produce inconsistent effects on employee attitudes and behaviors. This shines a light on the need for evidence‐based approaches in understanding how employees enact D&I goals. Drawing on self‐determination theory, we argue that employee D&I motivation is an untapped pathway for understanding how inclusion‐supportive employee outcomes (i.e., more inclusion and less exclusion) emerge. In addition, we leverage attribution theory to inform when employee motivation can be shaped, demonstrating that employee attributions of the intentions behind their organization's D&I practices play an important role in shaping their subsequent D&I motivation. Across two studies, latent profile analysis identified five distinct profiles of D&I motivation, which were differentially related to inclusion and exclusion (Study 1) and predicted by D&I attributions (Studies 1 and 2). Combined, these findings highlight the importance of understanding employee motivations and attributions within the context of D&I. Such knowledge can inform how employees enact inclusion goals, which has the potential to help organizations realize the desired benefits of diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employees are frequently interrupted when doing their work, sometimes with tasks that seem unreasonable or unnecessary. Drawing on stress-as-offence-to-self and stress appraisal theories, we expected that perceived illegitimacy of an interrupting task is detrimental to employees' affective (i.e., anxiety, fatigue, vitality) and cognitive (i.e., task focus, attention residue) reactions to an interruption, because such interruptions are appraised as more of a hindrance and less of a challenge. To test this, we first used a within-persons recall study, where participants (N = 144) recalled two interrupting tasks, one perceived as legitimate, and one illegitimate. As expected, perceived illegitimacy of the interrupting task was associated with more anxiety and less task focus, because of more hindrance appraisal. Perceived illegitimacy also was associated with less vitality, task focus, and more attention residue, because of less challenge appraisal. Second, using a between-persons manipulation of an interrupting task in a work simulation (N = 231), perceived illegitimacy was associated with more anxiety, fatigue, attention residue, and less task focus, because of more hindrance appraisal. Furthermore, participants performed worse on the interrupting task because of more hindrance appraisal and less task focus. Overall, interrupting tasks perceived as illegitimate can be more negatively impacting, because such interruptions are appraised as hindering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does job control act as a stress-buffer when employees' type and level of work self-determination is taken into account? It was anticipated that job control would only be stress-buffering for employees high in self-determined and low in non-self-determined work motivation. In contrast, job control would be stress-exacerbating for employees who were low in self-determined and high in non-self-determined work motivation. Employees of a health insurance organization (N=123) completed a survey on perceptions of role overload, job control, work self-determination, and a range of strain and engagement indicators. Results revealed that, when individuals high in self-determination perceived high job control, they experienced greater engagement (in the form of dedication to their work). In addition, when individuals high in non-self-determination perceived high job demands, they experienced more health complaints. A significant 3-way interaction demonstrated that, for individuals low in non-self-determination, high job control had the anticipated stress-buffering effect on engagement (in the form of absorption in their work). In addition, low job control was stress-exacerbating. However, contrary to expectations, for those high in non-self-determination, high job control was just as useful as low job control as a stress-buffer. The practical applications of these findings to the organizational context are discussed. (Contains 3 tables and 3 figures.)

Drawing on conservation of resources theory and self-determination theory, coworker support and work motivation were investigated as resources that should buffer or mitigate the negative consequences of career insecurity for professional musicians. We surveyed 200 professional musicians. Analyses revealed that only those musicians with low career insecurity and better-quality motivation (i.e., either high autonomous or low controlled) were less prone to problem drinking. Importantly, the combination of high coworker support and high autonomous motivation was associated with less emotional exhaustion from career insecurity. These resources were not simply stress-buffers of career insecurity, but helped well-resourced musicians thrive on career insecurity. Additionally, it was found that career insecurity was associated with greater intentions to leave the profession for all musicians, except for those with high controlled motivation when they also had access to high coworker support. For these musicians, having access to supportive coworkers was important for persisting with their music career despite the insecurity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]