Emerging trends in the workforce point to the necessity of facilitating work lives that foster constructive and balanced relationships between professional and private spheres in order to retain employees. Drawing on the conservation of resources theory, we propose that motivational climate influence turnover intention through the facilitation of work–home spillover. Specifically, we argue that employees working in a perceived mastery climate are less likely to consider voluntarily leaving their employer because of increased positive—and reduced negative—work–home spillover experiences. We further argue (...) that employees working in a perceived performance climate are more likely to consider voluntarily leaving their employer because of reduced positive—and increased negative—work–home spillover experiences. In a cross-lagged survey of 1074 employees in a Norwegian financial-sector organization, we found that work–home spillover partly mediates the relationship between a perceived mastery climate and turnover intention. Specifically, mastery climates seem to facilitate positive—and reduce negative—spillover between the professional and private spheres, which in turn decreases employees’ turnover intention. We discuss implications for practice and future research. (shrink)

This study draws on achievement goal theory and self-determination theory to examine the associations among two motivational climates (i.e. mastery and performance) and two indicators of energy at work (i.e. vigour and emotional exhaustion), as well as the mediating role of basic psychological need satisfaction (i.e. autonomy, relatedness, and competence). A two-wave longitudinal study was conducted collecting data from 1081 engineers and technologists. We applied previously validated instruments to assess the variables of interest. Structural equation modeling analyses were conducted to (...) test the hypotheses. Our findings show that mastery climate is positively and significantly related to each of the three basic needs, while a performance climate is negatively and significantly related to each of the three basic needs. Further, the results indicate that the basic needs are significantly associated with both measures of energy, negatively with emotional exhaustion and positively with vigour. This pattern of results suggests that basic psychological need satisfaction mediates the relationship between motivational climates and energy at work. (shrink)

In the present study we investigated the stability and malleability of cadets’ definitions of success (mastery and performance goal orientations) contextualized within a certain motivational climate (mastery and performance climates). Based on data from three military academies, the results revealed that cadets’ goal orientations and their perceptions of the motivational climate remained relatively stable throughout the two years of study across three time-points. We also found that a mastery climate predicted individual mastery orientation, and that a performance climate predicted individual (...) performance orientation. These findings contribute to achievement goal theory by clarifying the importance of considering goal orientation contextualized within a certain motivational climate over time. Implications for future research and practice are discussed. (shrink)