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Previous research has shown that both receiving support and providing support enhance employee well-being and work engagement. In the current study, we integrate social exchange theory (SET) and conservation of resources (COR) theory to investigate under which conditions receiving and providing daily support are most likely to occur. Specifically, we test the hypotheses that receiving requested support and reciprocating received support are more likely when the support is requested or received from a co-worker who perceives the quality of the exchange relationship as high (vs. low), and less likely when the support is requested or received from a co-worker high (vs. low) on workaholism. To test these hypotheses, we collected data among 45 employees and their co-workers during two moments per day for five consecutive working days (N = 90 participants; N = 614 work episodes). Multilevel analyses supported all hypotheses, except for the moderating effect of partner's workaholism on the link between receiving and providing support. These findings imply that receiving and providing support do not occur automatically but are dependent on characteristics of the exchange relationship and the exchange partner. We discuss the implications for SET and COR theories, as well as practical implications.

In line with control theory and related self-regulation perspectives as well as the dual pathway to creativity model, proactivity and mindfulness are both expected to enhance employee task performance and creativity. However, whether proactivity and mindfulness strengthen or undermine each other’s effects remains an open question. To address this question, we conducted a cross-sectional (Study 1; N = 255 employees) and a 4-week diary study (Study 2; N = 143 employees), and we adopted a latent profile analysis (LPA) approach with task performance and creativity as focal outcomes. Even though several employee profiles emerged from the datasets, two of them were replicated across both studies namely, the “proactive employees” (reporting high proactivity and low mindfulness) and the “proactive mindful employees” (reporting high proactivity and high mindfulness). Findings of both studies showed that the “proactive mindful employees” report the highest levels of creativity. The analyses of Study 2 furthermore revealed that both profiles display superior task performance compared to other profiles. The findings are discussed in light of the current debate in the literature, and recommendations for future research as well as for individual employees are provided (e.g., formulating mindful goals in a proactive way or proactive goals in a mindful way).

Drawing on enrichment theory and the identity-based integrative crafting model, the present paper explores the impact of leisure crafting on creativity and meaning at work using both the compensation and the spillover perspectives. We hypothesized that leisure crafting relates to employee creativity, particularly when employees experience low work engagement; and that leisure crafting predicts meaning at work via employee creativity, particularly for employees with low work engagement. We also expected that cognitive developmental and affective leisure-to-work enrichment acts as the mediator in the link between leisure crafting and creativity. Study 1, a three-wave survey study with 1-week time intervals among 191 employees confirmed that the indirect effect of leisure crafting on meaning at work via creativity is stronger among employees reporting low work engagement. Study 2, a follow-up study of a similar design among 421 employees revealed that leisure crafting leads to creativity via cognitive developmental resources and that leisure crafting leads to creativity via affective resources for employees who report low levels of work engagement. Our findings highlight that leisure crafting possesses the inherent capacity to enhance meaning at work through employee creativity (spillover), especially for those employees who experience a lack of fulfillment at work (compensation). We also refine work-life enrichment theories by uncovering that leisure crafting may enrich work via different pathways for different employees.

Previous research has shown that both receiving support and providing support enhance employee well-being and work engagement. In the current study, we integrate social exchange theory (SET) and conservation of resources (COR) theory to investigate under which conditions receiving and providing daily support are most likely to occur. Specifically, we test the hypotheses that receiving requested support and reciprocating received support are more likely when the support is requested or received from a co-worker who perceives the quality of the exchange relationship as high (vs. low), and less likely when the support is requested or received from a co-worker high (vs. low) on workaholism. To test these hypotheses, we collected data among 45 employees and their co-workers during two moments per day for five consecutive working days (N = 90 participants; N = 614 work episodes). Multilevel analyses supported all hypotheses, except for the moderating effect of partner's workaholism on the link between receiving and providing support. These findings imply that receiving and providing support do not occur automatically but are dependent on characteristics of the exchange relationship and the exchange partner. We discuss the implications for SET and COR theories, as well as practical implications.

Leisure crafting (i.e., proactive leisure activities targeted at goal-setting, human connection, and personal development) may have context-free and work-related benefits for individuals. With Study 1 of the present paper, we aimed at making causal inferences about leisure crafting outcomes: A 4-week randomized controlled trial compared an online leisure crafting intervention against a control group on context-free outcomes (meaning in life, need satisfaction, self-efficacy and context-free creativity) and work-related outcomes (work engagement, seeking challenges, and employee creativity). Analyses revealed that the intervention group experienced a greater increase in meaning, self-efficacy, work engagement and employee creativity compared to the control group. Study 2, a cross-sectional survey, replicated the findings of Study 1; additionally, it revealed positive links between leisure crafting and other-ratings of subjective well-being and context-free creativity. We discuss and integrate the findings of our studies and formulate recommendations on how organizations can use leisure crafting to create a happy workforce.

Social support is in its essence a dyadic exchange process – it has important benefits for those who receive and those who provide support. In the present paper, we develop a model integrating insights from mattering and social exchange theories. We propose that self-determined support behaviors satisfy the provider’s feelings of mattering, which have a spillover effect on positive emotions at home. In addition, we hypothesize that positive emotions of the support receiver (co-worker) strengthen this indirect relationship. Hypotheses were tested in a sample of 67 dyads of co-workers (N = 280–305 data points). Results show that autonomous support behaviors positively relate to the provider’s positive emotions during the evening via mattering. Furthermore, employees felt that they mattered more and experienced more positive emotions when they supported co-workers with high (vs. low) positive emotions. These findings advance social support, mattering and spillover literatures by showing that brief episodes of helping behavior can satisfy mattering needs at work and help employees experience more positive emotions at home.

Public servants’ intrapreneurship (entrepreneurial actions performed by employees from within an organization) is gaining importance as a micro-foundation of public sector innovation and improved service delivery. This study addresses this topic from a proactive motivation perspective and using weekly diary surveys filled out by 757 public servants from 37 departments of the Dutch national public administration for five consecutive weeks (n = 2279 datapoints). Confirmatory factor analyses showed that antecedents of intrapreneurship could be grouped into three categories of proactive motivation: (1) reason-to (prosocial impact, job accountability), (2) can-do (job autonomy, self-efficacy, optimism), and (3) energized-to (work engagement). Multilevel structural equation modeling showed that public servants reported more intrapreneurial behavior when they had more reason-to and were energized-to be proactive. Can-do motivation moderated (strengthened) these relationships. Necessary conditions analyses showed that each predictor was essential, emphasizing the importance of careful alignment of human resource practices aimed at evoking different types of proactive motivation.

We use emotional contagion and social resources theories to hypothesize that individual team members may use mood-enhancing, energizing, and uniting behaviors (i.e., team boosting behaviors) to boost team-level work engagement and performance. We further build on complementary- and supplementary-fit perspectives to hypothesize that environments that are open to fun and distractions will either hamper or bolster the beneficial role of team boosting behaviors. A total of 246 employees from 61 teams (team-level response rate = 56%) reported team boosting behaviors, work engagement, and the moderators; 68 team leaders rated team performance. Results suggest that team work engagement mediated the relationship between teams’ pooled team boosting behaviors and team performance. This finding supports emotional contagion and social resources theories, and indicates that individual behavior is important for the affective-motivational states and functioning of the team as a whole. In addition, supporting a supplementary-fit perspective, the positive indirect association of team boosting behaviors with performance through team work engagement was strongest in teams high (vs. low) in fun-orientation or high (vs. low) openness to distractions. We discuss the pivotal role mood-enhancing, energizing, and uniting behaviors may play in boosting the team’s emergent states, collective effort, and team performance.

Given the challenges inherent in starting companies, investigation of how entrepreneurs use their time at work to develop ventures has received prominent attention by scholars. We argue that how entrepreneurs use their leisure time has not received commensurate scrutiny. Leisure crafting, the proactive pursuit of particular leisure activities for specific goals, could play an important role in the entrepreneurial process. Herein, we develop and test a theoretical model describing how leisure crafting among entrepreneurs affects opportunity recognition and venture performance. Using three studies we provide strong evidence that leisure crafting positively relates to opportunity recognition and venture performance, which is mediated by thriving at work and moderated by work task focus. These findings provide generative insights into the nature of leisure and the micro-processes that drive entrepreneurship.

We examined the link between victimisation and life satisfaction for 85,301 gay and bisexual individuals across 44 European countries. We expected this negative link to be stronger when the internalised homonegativity of the victim was high (e.g. because the victim is more vulnerable) and weaker when victimisation occurs in countries that express intolerance towards homosexuality (e.g. because in such contexts victims expect victimisation more and they attribute it to their external environment). Additionally, we expected internalised homonegativity to relate negatively to life satisfaction. Multilevel analyses revealed that victimisation (i.e. verbal insults, threats of violence, minor or major physical assaults) and internalised homonegativity were negatively related to life satisfaction. Furthermore, as we expected, the negative link between victimisation and life satisfaction was stronger when high internalised homonegativity was reported (and the interaction effect occurred for verbal insults and major assaults as outcome variables), while it was weaker when there was low national tolerance of homosexuality (and the interaction effect occurred for verbal insults and for minor assaults). Future research and social policy should consider how the consequences of victimisation are dependent on personal as well as national attitudes towards homosexuality., Nous avons examiné le lien entre la victimisation et la satisfaction de vivre chez 85,301 personnes gays et bisexuelles dans 44 pays européens. Nous nous attendions à ce que ce lien négatif soit plus marqué lorsque l’homonégativité intériorisée est forte (par exemple, parce que la personne qui souffre de cette victimisation est plus vulnérable), et plus faible lorsque la victimisation se manifeste dans les pays où l’intolérance vis-à-vis de l’homosexualité est exprimée (par exemple, parce que dans ce contexte, de manière plus forte, les victimes s’attendent à la victimisation et l’attribuent à l’environnement externe). De plus, nous anticipions un impact négatif de l’homonégativité intériorisée sur la satisfaction de vivre. Nos analyses multiniveaux ont révélé que la victimisation (c’est-à-dire, les insultes verbales, les menaces de violence, les agressions physiques mineures ou sévères) et l’homonégativité intériorisée avaient un impact négatif sur la satisfaction de vivre. En outre, comme nous nous y attendions, le lien négatif entre victimisation et satisfaction de vivre était plus marqué en présence d’une forte homonégativité intériorisée rapportée (et les effets d’interaction pour les insultes verbales et les agressions sévères se sont révélés en tant que variables des résultats), tandis qu’il était moins marqué dans un contexte de faible tolérance de l’homosexualité à l’échelle nationale (et les effets d’interaction se sont révélés pour les insultes verbales et les agressions mineures). À l’avenir, la recherche et les politiques sociales doivent prendre en compte la manière dont les conséquences de la victimisation dépendent des attitudes à la fois personnelles et nationales vis-à-vis de l’homosexualité., Aquí analizamos el vínculo entre victimización y satisfacción con la vida de 85.301 homosexuales y bisexuales de 44 países europeos. Previmos que este vínculo negativo sería más fuerte cuando la víctima presenta un nivel alto de homonegatividad interiorizada (p. ej., porque la víctima es más vulnerable) y más débil cuando la victimización ocurre en países que expresan intolerancia hacia la homosexualidad (p. ej., porque en tales contextos las víctimas esperan que la victimización sea mayor y la atribuyen a su entorno externo). Además, esperábamos que la homonegatividad interiorizada estuviese relacionada negativamente con la satisfacción con la vida. En análisis de varios niveles se observó que la victimización (es decir, insultos verbales, amenazas de violencia, agresiones físicas leves o graves) y la homonegatividad interiorizada estaban negativamente relacionadas con la satisfacción con la vida. Asimismo, tal como esperábamos, el vínculo negativo entre victimización y satisfacción con la vida era más fuerte cuando se informaba una alta homonegatividad interiorizada (y el efecto de interacción ocurría en casos de insultos verbales y agresiones graves como variables de resultado), mientras que era más débil cuando había un nivel bajo nacional de tolerancia hacia la homosexualidad (y el efecto de interacción ocurría en casos de insultos verbales y agresiones leves). En los estudios futuros y las políticas sociales debería tenerse en cuenta el modo en que las consecuencias de la victimización dependen tanto de la actitud personal como de las actitudes nacionales hacia la homosexualidad.

Although openness to experience has been consistently related to employee creativity, we know less about how this relationship manifests when one makes a distinction between incremental creativity (i.e., minor modifications of existing practices) and radical creativity (i.e., major departures from existing practices). Our present work is driven by two expectations. First, we expect that openness more strongly relates to radical than incremental creativity. Second, we expect that the link between openness and incremental creativity becomes stronger when leaders display closing behaviors (i.e., they control adherence to rules) or they refrain from opening behaviors (i.e., they do not emphasize the importance of free experimentation). To test our propositions, we conducted four studies: one survey study with self-ratings of openness and creativity, one survey study with both self-ratings and other ratings of openness and creativity, one semi-experimental survey study, and one weekly diary survey study. Our studies largely provide support to the idea that openness has stronger links with radical than incremental creativity. Furthermore, our weekly study revealed that the link between openness and incremental creativity is stronger when closing leader behaviors are high and, at the same, opening leader behaviors are low. We discuss our findings and suggest how managerial practice can guide open employees to improve their potential for incremental creativity.

Social support is in its essence a dyadic exchange process – it has important benefits for those who receive and those who provide support. In the present paper, we develop a model integrating insights from mattering and social exchange theories. We propose that self-determined support behaviors satisfy the provider’s feelings of mattering, which have a spillover effect on positive emotions at home. In addition, we hypothesize that positive emotions of the support receiver (co-worker) strengthen this indirect relationship. Hypotheses were tested in a sample of 67 dyads of co-workers (N = 280–305 data points). Results show that autonomous support behaviors positively relate to the provider’s positive emotions during the evening via mattering. Furthermore, employees felt that they mattered more and experienced more positive emotions when they supported co-workers with high (vs. low) positive emotions. These findings advance social support, mattering and spillover literatures by showing that brief episodes of helping behavior can satisfy mattering needs at work and help employees experience more positive emotions at home.

We use emotional contagion and social resources theories to hypothesize that individual team members may use mood-enhancing, energizing, and uniting behaviors (i.e., team boosting behaviors) to boost team-level work engagement and performance. We further build on complementary- and supplementary-fit perspectives to hypothesize that environments that are open to fun and distractions will either hamper or bolster the beneficial role of team boosting behaviors. A total of 246 employees from 61 teams (team-level response rate=56%) reported team boosting behaviors, work engagement, and the moderators; 68 team leaders rated team performance. Results suggest that team work engagement mediated the relationship between teams’ pooled team boosting behaviors and team performance. This finding supports emotional contagion and social resources theories, and indicates that individual behavior is important for the affective-motivational states and functioning of the team as a whole. In addition, supporting a supplementary-fit perspective, the positive indirect association of team boosting behaviors with performance through team work engagement was strongest in teams high (vs. low) in fun-orientation or high (vs. low) openness to distractions. We discuss the pivotal role mood-enhancing, energizing, and uniting behaviors may play in boosting the team’s emergent states, collective effort, and team performance.

Although unattained work goals and tasks are often viewed by management as an undesired state, the present paper proposes that daily lack of closure can sometimes boost rather than block job performance. Lack of closure is defined as an employee state or subjective feeling whereby the tasks, goals, or projects of a working day remain incomplete. This state is hypothesized to positively relate to job performance for high trait-level employee reflexivity and high day-level employee mindfulness and to negatively relate to job performance for low reflexivity and low mindfulness. To test expectations, a diary survey study was conducted among 209 employees of different sectors. Results supported both hypotheses but with a different temporal pattern for each moderator: On the one hand, previous-day lack of closure negatively related to day-level performance for low employee mindfulness and positively related to day-level performance for high employee mindfulness. On the other hand, day-level lack of closure negatively related to same-day performance for low employee reflexivity and positively related to same-day performance for high employee reflexivity. Theoretical implications of the findings are discussed and practical recommendations are formulated about how employee reflexivity and mindfulness can be enhanced, for example, though workplace interventions.

In teams, some people are truly noticed when present, and sorely missed when absent. Often they are described as the “life of the party”, but in a formal team context, we refer to their behaviors as “team boosting behavior”. These behaviors have the potential to affect the team’s processes. In three consecutive studies, we conceptualized these behaviors and developed and validated a questionnaire to measure them. In Study 1, we defined team boosting behaviors as the extent to which team members exhibit mood-enhancing, energizing, and uniting behaviors, directed towards team members. In Study 2, we developed and validated an instrument to measure team boosting behaviors using a sample of team members in work and sports teams (N = 385). Results supported a three-factor structure and indicated positive relationships with conceptually similar constructs. In Study 3, we cross-validated the three-factor structure among the members of 120 work teams and offer evidence for convergent and criterion validity of the Team Boosting behavior scale. The behaviors related positively to a positive team climate, team work engagement, and leader-rated team performance. The scale provides a useful tool for future empirical research to study the role of individual team boosting behaviors in shaping team processes and outcomes.