Employee Sustainable Performance (E-SuPer): Theoretical Conceptualization, Scale Development, and Psychometric Properties

Abstract

Although the concept of employee sustainable performance has received considerable attention in the practitioner literature, academic research still lacks a clear conceptualization and empirical operationalization of this concept. Defining employee sustainable performance as a regulatory process in which an individual worker enduringly and efficiently achieves particular desired work goals while maintaining a satisfactory level of well-being, this paper describes a corresponding instrument called E-SuPer, and examines its psychometric properties. The E-SuPer instrument was tested and cross-validated using two cross-sectional survey studies (n = 153 and n = 160), focusing on factorial validity, internal consistency, and discriminant and concurrent validity. Psychometric findings across the two samples revealed that the E-SuPer instrument consists of one general factor of ten items with good internal consistency. Discriminant validity and concurrent validity with other relevant constructs (task performance, counterproductive work behavior, and employee vitality) were also confirmed, showing promising results. Finally, theoretical and practical implications, as well as suggestions for future research, are outlined.

The Impacts of Environmental Dynamism on Chinese Tour Guides’ Sustainable Performance: Factors Related to Vitality, Positive Stress Mindset and Supportive Policy

“…As we have mentioned before, some scholars hold the belief that vitality is an important aspect of employee sustainability [ 78 ]; in the current study, we proved vitality and sustainable performance are separate and vitality could affect it. This result strongly supported Tianchang Ji et al’s point: as an expression of well-being, vitality was a crucial determinant of an employee’s sustainable performance [ 17 ]. Moreover, this study also found a new antecedent of vitality—environmental dynamism—which means we enriched the theoretical study of vitality.…”

“…Tour guides’ sustainable performance. We used a developed ten-item scale to measure tour guides’ sustainable performance [ 17 ]. Sample items were: “During my entire tour guide career, I will be able to continuously achieve the objectives of my job”; “During my entire tour guide career, I will be able to permanently meet the criteria for my job performance” and so on.…”

“…Being generally believed beneficial to physical and mental health, vitality has a positive effect on individual self-control performance and creativity [ 15 ]. Vitality is defined as “maximizing work performance as well as worker health and well-being” [ 16 ]; employee sustainable performance is often overlooked in the academic literature [ 17 ]. Thus, it is crucial to investigate vitality’s impacts on tour guides’ performance, especially sustainable performance.…”

“…This study aims to explore the impacts of environmental dynamism caused by COVID-19 on tour guides’ vitality at work and sustainable performance by conducting a series of surveys about Chinese tour guides. We intended to determine the relationship between vitality and sustainable performance, as there is still no consensus about it in existing research [ 17 , 21 ]. More especially, this research explores the moderating roles of the positive stress mindset and supportive policy from individual and social levels, which is in line with practice and could expand the study of boundary conditions of the relationships between crisis impacts and individual performance theoretically.…”

“…In recent years, more and more researchers have realized the necessity to study the performance of organizations as well as employees from a sustainable perspective [ 17 ]. The concept of employee sustainable performance (E-super) was proposed because some researchers believe that employees fall into the trap of increasing demand for work and decreasing work resources and job compensation [ 16 , 33 , 34 , 35 ].…”