Flow at Work and Basic Psychological Needs: Effects on Well‐Being

Abstract

Recent conceptual work draws meaningful distinctions between experiential and declarative well‐being (Shmotkin, ), but little has been done to apply such distinctions in organisational psychology. We use this framework to integrate self‐determination theory (Deci & Ryan, ) and flow theory (Csikszentmihalyi, ), leading to hypotheses proposing that flow experiences at work (experiential well‐being) lead to declarative well‐being outcomes through their influence on the satisfaction of basic psychological needs for competence and autonomy. Findings from a two‐week experience sampling study of full‐time employees offer support for our hypotheses. This study also shows support for the moderating effect of individual differences in personality on the relationships among flow experiences, need fulfillment, and declarative well‐being.