What makes people engaged at work in insecure times? A basic psychological needs and hierarchical needs theory perspective in longitudinal study
基于839名专业人员的三波纵向数据，研究发现基本心理需求满足促进工作投入，而工作不安全感削弱这一正向效应，部分支持了层次需求理论的优先性假设。
Drawing from two prominent theories of human motivation – hierarchical needs and self-determination theories, this three-wave study tested the longitudinal impact of basic psychological needs satisfaction and job insecurity, as well as their interactional effect on work engagement. The key question addressed was whether the lack of lower-order human need satisfaction related to safety, manifested by high job insecurity, would modify the impact of the three basic needs (autonomy, competence, and relatednes) on employee engagement over time with emphasize on within-person effects. Data were collected from 839 human service professionals in three occupational sectors (education, health care, and customer service) at three waves, with eight-month intervals between measurements. Panel data analysis was employed to verify the hypotheses. The results revealed that satisfaction of the three basic needs was associated with higher engagement both within and across waves. Job insecurity was negatively linked to work engagement within each wave and diminished the positive impact of the three basic needs on employee engagement over time, albeit to a small extent. These findings bolster self-determination theory’s universality claim – need satisfaction sustains engagement even in adverse contexts, while placing qualified limits on hierarchical needs theory’s prepotency assumption.