Self‐compassion at work: A self‐regulation perspective on its beneficial effects for work performance and wellbeing

Abstract

The work environment is fraught with complex demands, hardships, and challenges, highlighting the need to approach work with self‐compassion each day. We propose that work self‐compassion—a mindset of kindness, gentleness, and care toward oneself as an employee—may generate the resources and motivation needed for self‐regulation at work. Drawing from integrated self‐control theory (ISCT) and theory on self‐compassion, we suggest that on days when employees hold a work self‐compassionate mindset, they will exhibit greater work performance and wellbeing via enhanced resource capacity and motivation. In an experimental experience sampling study, we found that a work self‐compassionate mindset reduced depletion and increased work self‐esteem and thereby heightened daily work engagement and daily resilience. Consequently, employees made greater goal progress at work and experienced higher meaning in life. In a supplemental study, we show that state self‐compassion at work is associated with unique variance in work outcomes beyond compassion received from coworkers. We discuss theoretical and practical implications for self‐compassion in organizational contexts.

Walking on eggshells: A self-control perspective on workplace political correctness.

“…Thus, while we agree with Goncalo et al (2015) that political correctness is potentially beneficial in the workplace, its enactment seems to be depleting for the actor. This finding is important because not only is depletion itself a valuable dependent variable (Lanaj et al, 2016), but as we and others have shown, it can impact employees both at home (i.e., more angry and withdrawn marital behavior as we showed, but admittedly did not replicate, alongside reduced psychological detachment; Lanaj et al, 2021) as well as at work (e.g., more deviant behavior and unethical behavior and reduced helping and engagement—effects we did not explicitly test, but have been shown frequently; Jennings, Lanaj, & Kim, 2022; Klotz et al, 2018; Koopman, Lin, et al, 2020; Lanaj et al, 2019; McClean et al, 2021; Mitchell et al, 2019; Puranik et al, 2021).…”

Train driver selection: The impact of cognitive ability on train driving performance

“…However, over the last 30 years, elements from and predictions based on this theory have influenced and appeared in social and behavioral sciences research, for example, psychology, developmental sciences, educational sciences, health‐risk behavior research, and more, which highlights the transdisciplinary nature of self‐control theory (e.g., DeLisi, 2013; Duckworth & Seligman, 2005; Eisenberg et al, 2005; Miller, 2011; Tangney et al, 2004). Of relevance to the present study, self‐control theory has appeared in studies examining dangerous driving behaviors (e.g., Ellwanger & Pratt, 2014; Lin, 2009) and recently in organization research more generally (e.g., Behrendt et al, 2023; Jennings et al, 2023; Lussier et al, 2021).…”

“…However, COR theory has been criticized for being overly broad and vague in how “resources” are conceptualized (see Halbesleben et al, 2014; Lazarus, 2001). Self‐control theory was chosen for this study as it has been widely applied across a broad range of research disciplines including driving and organization research (e.g., Ellwanger & Pratt, 2014; Jennings et al, 2023) and it specifically links cognitive ability to self‐control and impulsive behavior, which can be counterproductive to train driving performance (Naweed, 2013).…”

A review on health and well‐being at work: More than stressors and strains

“…Organizational research has begun to adopt these methods and perspectives to design EMIs. For example, micro‐interventions help leaders reduce depletion and enhance work engagement and meaning through a brief positive self‐reflection (Lanaj et al., 2019) or the activation of a self‐compassionate mindset (Jennings et al., 2022) in the morning. Indeed, a recent special issue on “positive psychology interventions in organizations” covers innovative EMIs implemented through smartphone apps and daily surveys to improve hedonic and eudemonic well‐being (Woerkom et al., 2021).…”