Considering flow as a non-ergodic process (i.e., non-homogeneous across individuals and non-stationary over time) that happens at the within-individual level, in this research we work with Bakker's model that propose flow as made up by three components: intrinsic motivation, enjoyment, and absorption. Taking into account that flow theory can be considered as an intrinsic motivation theory, and the recent proposals about the need to distinguish between pre-conditions of flow and the flow experience itself, we look at interest as a moderator between the challenge/skills balance and the experience of flow, rather than a component of the flow experience. A total of 3640 recordings were collected from a sample of 58 workers using an experience sampling method (several registers a day, during 21 working days). The data was analyzed using regression techniques in each participant (i.e., at within-individual Additionally, carrying out the analysis following non-linear techniques explained more variance as well (R 2 = 0,67), and this increment was significant. These results support the idea that interest should be considered as a key precondition for the appearance of flow, and this relationship is non-linear. We could say that these findings are exemplary in the field and brings up questions for their application in further research.Key words: flow, challenge/skills balance, interest, non-ergodic process, non-linear modelling. 3Flow can be considered a positive, rewarding experience, which cultivates positive emotions such as excitement, joy, happiness, and pride (Ceja and Navarro in press). Flow is known to be correlated with better performance (e.g., Demerouti 2006) because it is a highly functional state, enticing individuals to immerse themselves in an activity, and "individuals experiencing flow are more motivated to carry out further (learning) activities" in order to experience flow again (Engeser and Rheinberg 2008, p. 160). An individual cannot experience the same intensity of flow with the exact same activity more than once, and after every episode of flow, individuals are slightly different from who they were before, as they have increased their skill level regarding a specific task (Ceja and Navarro 2012, in press).The dynamic nature of flow as well as the different ways to measure flow in recent decades has aroused our interest in this topic, specifically in understanding whether interest should be considered as a necessary pre-condition for the appearance of flow, instead of as an indicator of flow at work, as it is considered in most research up to date. In our opinion this is important because flow theory is considered a theory of intrinsic motivation (e.g. Csikszentmihalyi, Abuhamdeh, and Nakamura 2005) and, in this sense, the decision of including interest as an indicator of flow experience can be considered as a tautology. We will develop this argument further later.To achieve our aim we will structure this introduction as follows: first, we will define key terms used in this research (flow, c...
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