Weak situations and work motivation

Wider research context Especially in knowledge-intensive jobs, employees face an ever-growing scope of action as to where, when, and how they achieve their work goals (Allvin et al., 2013), making their work situation similar to those of the self-employed who traditionally face high levels of flexibility (Rauch & Frese, 2007). Although emphasizing the benefits of work flexibility on job control, previous research provided inconclusive results regarding its effect on performance and wellbeing. This might be due to the previous neglect of potential hidden costs and of motivation as crucial prerequisite for performance and wellbeing (Ryan & Deci, 2017). In order to clarify its impact, we study work flexibility from a situational strength perspective because recognizing the lower strength of flexible work situations reveals two opposite motivational mechanisms. By linking situational strength theory (Meyer et al., 2010), self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2017), and job demandsresources model (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007), we develop a psychological model to predict intrinsic motivation of flexible working employed and self-employed workers. Hypotheses We hypothesize that the lower the work-related situational strength the more control workers have over their workplace, time, and/or method. Control promotes intrinsic motivation through satisfying the basic needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Flexible, work situations characterized by low situational strength fail to provide information on possible and appropriate workplaces, times, and/or methods. Consequently, we hypothesize that low situational strength is associated with higher workers’ unclarity and thus indirectly decreases intrinsic motivation. However, the lack of information may be compensated by means of personal (e.g., experience) and social resources (e.g., informational support) that buffer the hidden cost of work flexibility on unclarity. Methods We grouped our three-year research endeavor into five work packages including interviews, questionnaire development and validation, a longitudinal panel study, and an experimental vignette study. Innovation The project will be the first to investigate intrinsic work motivation from a situational strength perspective. This will enable us to outline a psychological model of work motivation that is salient in a flexible world of work and urgently needed if we are to understand the performance and wellbeing of employees and the selfemployed. Primary researchers involved Christian Korunka and Jana Kühnel will lead the project and a team of one postdoctoral (Julia Schöllbauer), one doctoral researcher, and one student assistant at the University of Vienna. This project continues a series of FWF-funded research in which Christian Korunka and Jana Kühnel have studied work in the light of social and technological change.