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. 2023 Sep 6:14:1216450.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1216450. eCollection 2023.

Psychological need satisfaction across work and personal life: an empirical test of a comprehensive typology

Claude Fernet  1 , Alexandre J S Morin  2 , Marcus B Mueller  3 , Nicolas Gillet  4   5 , Stéphanie Austin  1
Affiliations

Psychological need satisfaction across work and personal life: an empirical test of a comprehensive typology

Claude Fernet et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Introduction: A comprehensive typology of the satisfaction of psychological needs at work and in personal life was developed and tested. The typology proposes five scenarios (Enriched, Middling, Impoverished, Work-Fulfilled, and Personal Life-Fulfilled) accounting for various profiles of employees showing distinct configurations of global and specific levels of need satisfaction at work and in personal life.

Methods: The scenarios were tested in a sample of 1,024 employees.

Results: Using latent profile analysis, five profiles were identified that were consistent with four or the five scenarios, either aligned (Globally Satisfied, Globally Unsatisfied) or misaligned (Globally Satisfied at Work with High Relatedness, Globally Satisfied in Personal Life with High Autonomy, and Globally Satisfied in Personal Life with Low Autonomy) across domains. No profile corresponding to the Middling scenario was observed.

Discussion: The results indicate that perceived job and individual characteristics predicted membership in distinct profiles. More importantly, unlike the profile Globally Unsatisfied, the profile Globally Satisfied contributed substantially to higher well-being (vitality and lower psychological distress), and to more favorable job attitudes (job satisfaction and lower turnover intentions) and behaviors (self-rated job performance and lower absenteeism, presenteeism, and work injuries). Furthermore, two of the misaligned profiles were also substantially associated with highly desirable outcome levels.

Keywords: job attitudes and behaviors; latent profile analyses; need satisfaction; well-being; work and personal life balance.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Final five-profile solution. Profile 1: Globally Unsatisfied; Profile 2: Globally Satisfied in Personal Life with High Autonomy; Profile 3: Globally Satisfied in Personal Life with Low Autonomy; Profile 4: Globally Satisfied at Work with High Relatedness; and Profile 5: Globally Satisfied; Profile indicators are factor scores estimated in standardized units with a mean of 0 and a standard deviation of 1.
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