Microbreaks are short, voluntary breaks taken during the workday that have been found to be beneficial in the recovery process as they are less structured and can be taken when an employee is feeling heightened levels of fatigue. Self-determination theory provides an important lens through which to study the possible association between microbreaks and work performance. Self-determination theory states that when an individual's needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness are satisfied the individual will have intrinsic motivation which will drive performance. In this experience sampling study, I recruited employees to respond to four surveys per day for five days. Based on the results of 100 participants, using unconflated multilevel modeling I found that higher work engagement covaried with higher personal initiative. Using multilevel structural equation modeling and focusing on between-person relationships, I found that autonomy need satisfaction during microbreaks covaried with increased intrinsic work motivation, while relatedness covaried with decreased intrinsic work motivation. Also, focusing on the between-person relationships, higher intrinsic work motivation covaried with higher work engagement, which then covaried with higher personal initiative. At the between-person level autonomy influenced personal initiative indirectly via enhancements in work engagement extending from intrinsic motivation. In this dissertation, I provided a comparative analysis of microbreak activities and implications of need satisfaction on various work-related constructs. / Doctor of Philosophy / Recent research surrounding recovery has focused on breaks after work, during the weekend, or vacations. Microbreaks are short, voluntary breaks that are beneficial in that they allow employees to relax. Microbreaks are less structured and can be taken when employees feel the greatest level of tiredness from their work. I hypothesized that when employees satisfy their needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness during microbreaks, they will experience greater intrinsic work motivation. I also hypothesized that this increase in intrinsic work motivation will correlate with increased work engagement, finally, correlating with increased personal initiative and helping behaviors. Results from 100 participants indicated that higher work engagement correlated with increased personal initiative. I also focused on relationships between people and found that individuals who experienced greater autonomy correlated with increased intrinsic work motivation, while individuals who experienced greater relatedness correlated with decreased intrinsic work motivation. Also, with the between-person relationships, individuals who had more intrinsic work motivation positively correlated with work engagement, which then positively correlated with personal initiative.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/110109 |
| Date | 17 May 2022 |
| Creators | Rost, Emily Alexis |
| Contributors | Psychology, Calderwood, Charles, Breaux, Rosanna, Hauenstein, Neil M., Axsom, Danny K. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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