Psychological need satisfaction, frustration, and unfulfillment profiles in the workplace: Their nature, predictors, and outcomes

Abstract

Based on self-determination theory, this research relied on person-centered analyses to show how the distinct components of psychological need states combine to produce distinct profiles. We also explored contemporarily antecedents (perceptions of the organization’s environmental corporate social responsibility and negative moral emotions related to the organization’s environmental (ir)responsibility) and organizational outcomes (affective organizational commitment, turnover intentions, and cyberslacking). Questionnaire surveys were completed by 525 French employees. Four profiles characterized by configurations of psychological need states were identified and showed well-differentiated patterns. Negative moral emotions predicted membership in the most detrimental need states profiles while corporate social responsibility perceptions did not. As expected, we found opposite patterns of associations between profile membership and affective organizational commitment and turnover intentions, while the highest levels of cyberslacking were found in the most positive need states profiles. The results add to person-centered research and emphasize the importance of psychological experiences in the workplace and organizational outcomes.