Great to speak to you in person: face-to-face communication during office days relates to employee basic need satisfaction via job resources
基于111名员工10天的日记研究，发现办公室日面对面的工作沟通和闲聊通过社会支持满足关联需求，工作沟通还通过角色清晰满足能力需求。
Drawing on the literature of communication, work design, and self-determination theory, this study examines the within- and between-person associations of face-to-face communication on office days with the satisfaction of the basic needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence. We expect that these relationships will be mediated by three job resources: role clarity, social support, and task significance. A total of 111 employees participated in a 10-day daily diary study completing a survey at the end of each working day in the office. Hypotheses were tested using multilevel structural equations modelling to account for both within-person daily fluctuations in communication and between-person differences. At the within- and between-person levels, the results indicated that face-to-face work-related communication and small talk have a positive indirect association with relatedness need satisfaction through the experience of social support. At the between-person level, we found support for a positive indirect association between work-related communication and competence need satisfaction, which was mediated by role clarity. These results point at within- and between-person face-to-face communication as an important strategy for organizations to enhance employees’ satisfaction of their basic psychological needs for relatedness and competence on office days.