This article makes the critical role that the construct of energy plays in motivation research and reviews six literatures related to human energy in a work context: (1) conservation of resources, (2) attention restoration theory, (3) ego-depletion theory, (4) energetic activation, (5) interaction ritual chain, and (6) self-determination theory. We clarify definitions of human energy, show how they are related to constructs like flow, motivation, and resources, and show how ideas related to energy can be integrated across these literatures.We use the literatures to build and integrative model of human energy in organizations. The model captures the dynamics of human energy, demonstrates how energy can be both a scarce and an abundant resource, integrates resources and resourcing into the model, and how motivation needs to account for the creation of resources as well as the use of resources. We also use the model to provide insights into important future research in this area.

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This article examined a curvilinear relationship between job insecurity and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Drawing from social exchange theory and research on personal control, we developed and tested an explanation for employees' reactions to job insecurity based on their conceptualization of their social exchange relationship with the organization at different levels of job insecurity. Using data from 244 Chinese employees and 102 supervisory ratings of OCB, we found support for a U-shaped relationship between job insecurity and OCB. Moreover, 2 factors--psychological capital and subordinate-supervisor guanxi--moderated the curvilinear relationship, such that the curvilinear relationship is more pronounced among those with lower psychological capital or less positive subordinate-supervisor guanxi.