Dynamic patterns of flow in the workplace: Characterizing within‐individual variability using a complexity science approach

Ceja, Lucia; Navarro, José

doi:10.1002/job.747

Cited by 76 publications

(67 citation statements)

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“…Better performance for the high flow cases is not surprising for catastrophe-theory models. Previous research has found a link between nonlinear behavior and employee well-being at various levels of analysis (e.g., high levels of work motivation, see Arrieta et al, 2008; high levels of flow, see Ceja and Navarro, 2011; flourishing business teams, see Losada and Heaphy, 2004). Hence, employees experiencing high levels of wellbeing (e.g., high levels of flow) are likely to present discontinuities in their optimal experiences at work, a hallmark of nonlinear behavior.…”

Section: Modeling High Levels Of Flowmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Applications of nonlinear dynamical systems models have demonstrated the link between nonlinear change (i.e., where changes in one variable can have a disproportionate impact on the state of other variables) and employee well-being at different levels of analysis (e.g., high levels of work motivation, see Arrieta et al, 2008; high levels of flow, see Ceja and Navarro, 2011; flourishing business teams, see Losada and Heaphy, 2004). Following the experience fluctuation model (EFM, Delle Fave et al, 2011), Ceja andNavarro (2011) found that the flow state is associated with nonlinear behavior (i.e., unstable dynamic patterns but with the presence of regularities), whereas the anxiety state is associated with linear behavior (i.e., regular and stable patterns across time) and the apathy state is associated with random behavior (i.e., a total absence of any pattern).…”

Section: Rethinking the Study Of Flow: From Linear To Nonlinear Appromentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Following the experience fluctuation model (EFM, Delle Fave et al, 2011), Ceja andNavarro (2011) found that the flow state is associated with nonlinear behavior (i.e., unstable dynamic patterns but with the presence of regularities), whereas the anxiety state is associated with linear behavior (i.e., regular and stable patterns across time) and the apathy state is associated with random behavior (i.e., a total absence of any pattern). Likewise, high levels of the antecedents of flow (i.e., balance of perceived challenges and skills) and the core components of flow (e.g., merging of action and awareness, etc.)…”

Section: Rethinking the Study Of Flow: From Linear To Nonlinear Appromentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Catastrophe theory (Thom, 1975;Zeeman, 1977) can offer an appealing approximation for understanding these dynamical changes (Ceja and Navarro, 2011). It has provided successful approximations for other organizational processes, such as work motivation (e.g., Guastello, 1987), employee turnover (e.g., Sheridan, 1985;Sheridan and Abelson, 1983), decision making (e.g., Wright, 1983), personnel selection (e.g., Guastello, 1982), organizational change (e.g., Bigelow, 1982), and competitive dynamics (e.g., Kauffman and Oliva, 1994).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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‘Suddenly I get into the zone’: Examining discontinuities and nonlinear changes in flow experiences at work

Ceja

Navarro

2012

Human Relations

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Work-related flow is defined as a sudden and enjoyable merging of action and awareness that represents a peak experience in the daily lives of workers. Employees' perceptions of challenge and skill and their subjective experiences in terms of enjoyment, interest, and absorption were measured using the experience sampling method, yielding a total of 6,981 observations from a sample of 60 employees. Linear and nonlinear approaches were applied in order to model both continuous and sudden changes. According to the R 2 , AICc, and BIC indexes, the nonlinear dynamical systems model (i.e., cusp catastrophe model) fit the data better than the linear and logistic regression models. Likewise, the cusp catastrophe model appears to be especially powerful for modeling those cases of high levels of flow. Overall, flow represents a nonequilibrium condition that combines continuous and abrupt changes across time. Research and intervention efforts concerned with this process should focus on the variable of challenge, which, according to our study, appears to play a key role in the abrupt changes observed in work-related flow.

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Section: Modeling High Levels Of Flowmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Rethinking the Study Of Flow: From Linear To Nonlinear Appromentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Rethinking the Study Of Flow: From Linear To Nonlinear Appromentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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‘Suddenly I get into the zone’: Examining discontinuities and nonlinear changes in flow experiences at work

Ceja

Navarro

2012

Human Relations

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“…Ceja and Navarro (2011) have shown that flow follows nonlinear dynamics (i.e. chaotic dynamics) over time.…”

Section: In a Popular Paper Called A Manifesto On Psychology As An Imentioning

confidence: 99%

Interest as a Moderator in the Relationship Between Challenge/Skills Balance and Flow at Work: An Analysis at Within-Individual Level

et al. 2016

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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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Employee well‐being in organizations: Theoretical model, scale development, and cross‐cultural validation

et al. 2015

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SummaryIn this study, we explore the theoretical model and structural dimensions of employee well-being (EWB) in organizations. Specifically, using both qualitative and quantitative methods, we find that EWB comprises three dimensions: life well-being, workplace well-being, and psychological well-being. We establish the reliability and validity of the newly developed EWB scale through a series of quantitative studies, which indicate that EWB is significantly correlated with affective organizational commitment and job performance based on the data collected from multiple sources at two points in time. We find that EWB has measurement invariance (configural invariance) across Chinese and American contexts. We also discuss the theoretical contributions of these findings to cross-cultural organizational behavior studies, along with the practical implications of our results.

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Dynamic patterns of flow in the workplace: Characterizing within‐individual variability using a complexity science approach

Cited by 76 publications

References 68 publications

‘Suddenly I get into the zone’: Examining discontinuities and nonlinear changes in flow experiences at work

‘Suddenly I get into the zone’: Examining discontinuities and nonlinear changes in flow experiences at work

Interest as a Moderator in the Relationship Between Challenge/Skills Balance and Flow at Work: An Analysis at Within-Individual Level

Employee well‐being in organizations: Theoretical model, scale development, and cross‐cultural validation

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