Basic Psychological Needs at Work: Their Relationship with Psychological Well-Being and Healthy Organisational Outcomes with a Gender Perspective

Abstract

The aim of the study is to evaluate the mediating role of psychological well-being between the satisfaction/frustration of Basic Psychological Needs (BPN) and Healthy Organisational Outcomes, with a gender perspective. In a sample of 565 workers (65% women, response rate 72%) from two Colombian food companies, using Multigroup Structural Equation Models to test the invariance among gender, the study hypotheses were partially supported. The results show that: (1) psychological well-being fully mediates the relationship between BPN satisfaction and Healthy Organisational Outcomes; and (2) only work engagement mediates the relationship between BPN frustration and Healthy Organisational Outcomes. Specifically, people (women and men) whose basic needs are satisfied experience greater well-being and better Healthy Organisational Outcomes. In contrast, people whose BPN are frustrated experience lower levels of work engagement, which, in turn, influences their Healthy Organisational Outcomes. However, structural differences were observed among the variables, attending to gender, when invariance model grouping by gender was tested. Furthermore, ANOVA by gender found significant differences in the autonomy dimension of frustration and organisational affective commitment, in favour of men. The present study contributes to the scarce research on the role of BPN levels as a relevant driver in the development of psychological well-being and Healthy Organisational Outcomes.

What Do Engineering and Other STEM Faculty Need? Exploring the Nuances of Psychological Needs

“…Furthermore, no gender differences seemed to emerge from expressions of autonomy. This differs from prior workplace studies, which reported higher satisfaction of autonomy needs for men than women in the food industry [19] as well as in another male-dominated fieldinvestment banking [16]. However, academia is already such a high-autonomy job that this might overcome effects of gender bias, at least with respect to autonomy.…”

“…Unfortunately, the study was not able to discern whether managers gave women less autonomy support than men or that women simply perceived the same support to be less conducive to autonomy. A similar result was found in a study of workers in the food industry where men reported less frustration of autonomy needs than women [19]. Like the study of investment bankers, it was unclear whether this finding was a result of the way managers treat their employees or of the way employees perceive their managers.…”

“…Similar positive outcomes have been demonstrated in a wide range of workplace studies in the twenty-first century. For example, satisfaction of the three basic psychological needs has been clearly linked to greater job satisfaction for employees working in psychiatric facilities [15], better performance evaluations and well-being at work in the high stress world of investment banking [16], greater overall psychological health in government organizations [17], more hours and greater engagement among volunteers at an animal shelter [18] and greater well-being, job performance, and affective commitment to the job for food industry workers [19]. Further, the mere perception that managers support the basic psychological needs of their subordinates has been associated with reduced somatic system burden (i.e., physical symptoms that have no medical explanation but are related to poor quality of life and disability) [20].…”

“…While these studies demonstrate gender differences in the satisfaction and frustration of two of the three basic psychological needs, other studies have revealed important gender differences in how these needs impact work outcomes. For example, a study of food workers [19] found gender differences in the factors that mediate the relationship between BPN and organizational outcomes including job performance and affective commitment. For men, happiness including measures of general, hedonic, eudemonic, and social well-being fully mediated the relationship between the satisfaction of BPN and these work outcomes.…”

Engineering CAReS: Measuring Basic Psychological Needs in the Engineering Workplace

“…Similar positive outcomes have been demonstrated in a wide range of workplace studies in the twenty-first century. For example, satisfaction of the three basic psychological needs has been clearly linked to greater job satisfaction for employees working in psychiatric facilities [17], better performance evaluations and well-being at work in the high stress world of investment banking [18], greater overall psychological health in government organizations [19], more hours and greater engagement among volunteers at an animal shelter [20], and greater well-being, job performance, and affective commitment to the job for food industry workers [21]. Further, the mere perception that managers support the basic psychological needs of their subordinates has been associated with reduced somatic system burden (i.e., physical symptoms that have no medical explanation but are related to poor quality of life and disability) [22].…”