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The present paper describes a quasi‐experimental research presenting a workplace training program aimed at helping managers to be more supportive of their employees' autonomy. Drawing on self‐determination theory, we built a pre/post questionnaire design measuring perceived autonomy support, need satisfaction, need frustration, autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, work engagement and job burnout. Seven managers were trained according to the autonomy support training program. We assessed 39 of their employees before and after the intervention. Moreover, 133 employees whose managers were not included in the training program constituted the control group. Regarding the experimental group, the results showed significant statistical differences regarding perceived autonomy support from managers, autonomous motivation, need satisfaction, work engagement and job burnout. No significant effects regarding perceived autonomy support from coworkers controlled motivation, or need frustration were observed. This study provides added value to the theory of need satisfaction and demonstrates that training managers to be need‐supportive may be effective in improving positive work‐related outcomes and reducing negative outcomes.

In the present research, we validated a new scale developed from self-determination theory (SDT) to assess the functional meaning of cash rewards offered in the workplace. According to SDT, rewards can take on different meanings based on the way they are perceived by individuals. In a series of three studies in different socioeconomic contexts, we replicated the two-factorial structure of the scale measuring respectively workplace cash rewards’ informative and controlling meanings. In Study 1, we validated the English version of the scale by exploring and then confirming its two-factor structure with two English-speaking employee samples. We further replicated its two-factor structure in a French-speaking employee sample of employees in Study 2 and in a Greek-speaking employee sample in Study 3, allowing us to validate its French and Greek version. Results from our three studies show how distinct meanings attributed to cash rewards, i.e., informative or controlling, relate differently to autonomous and controlled forms of motivation based on SDT. These findings suggest that workplace cash rewards differently influence employees’ motivation depending on whether they are perceived as informative or controlling, thus providing empirical evidence for the theoretical and practical implications of SDT’s concept of functional meaning of cash rewards. Our research contributes to the assessment and understanding of employees’ experience of workplace cash rewards and provides empirical evidence that the concept of the functional meaning of cash rewards is a distinct concept from other money-related concepts such as subjective pay satisfaction, performance-contingent rewards, and financially contingent self-worth.

This study sheds light on the strengths-based approach and the deficit correction approach regarding training and development at work. The former is operationalized by perceived organizational support for strength use (POSSU) and strengths use behaviors (SUB), and the latter through perceived organizational support for deficit correction (POSDC) and deficit correction behaviors (DCB). Using self-determination theory (SDT), we argue that both approaches might enhance employees' optimal functioning (i.e., task performance, contextual performance, and psychological well-being), by increasing autonomous motivation through need satisfaction and decreasing controlled motivation through need frustration. More precisely, this study tends to identify which approach has the most impact on performance and well-being within the workplace. Two independent samples were collected to test the proposed model: the first one explored the implication of POSSU and POSDC as antecedents of basic psychological needs, while the second examines SUB and DCB. In the first sample (N = 341), structural equation modeling (SEM) shows that POSSU increases autonomous motivation through need satisfaction and reduces controlled motivation by diminishing need frustration. While POSDC favors controlled motivation through need frustration. In the second sample (N = 454), SEM demonstrates that SUB increases autonomous motivation through need satisfaction and reduces controlled motivation by diminishing need frustration. While DCB favors controlled motivation through need frustration. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Self-determination theory (SDT) has proven to be a versatile and useful theory when applied to the work setting. This chapter addresses the various consequences of the different types of work motivation and psychological need satisfaction and frustration by reviewing recent meta-analyses and research on these subjects. It then presents the research efforts that have been done on three different streams of basic psychological needs’ antecedents: compensation, interpersonal relationship/leadership, and job design. Discussing total pay, inequities, and transparency as well as wealth and taxes as a duty for redistribution, the chapter opens up the debate about how SDT can be used not only for organizational research but also for studying macro topics related to the job market and the economy in general. It concludes by arguing that SDT has established itself as one of the leading theories of work motivation.