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VAM-Velferd, arbeid og migrasjon

Motivational processes in occupational health

Alternative title: Motivasjonelle prosesser i arbeidsrelatert helse

Awarded: NOK 8.0 mill.

A major focus in both science and practices today is well-being in the workplace. The aim of the project is to use motivational concepts to better understand occupational health in the 21st century. Work motivation is an important factor to consider with regards to occupational health as it represents the energetic forces originating in the interaction between the individual and the external work environment. The project will combine the study of important factors in the work environment with knowledge on motivational processes. This will provide increased insight into conditions of the work context needed to ensure and facilitate healthy and productive employees and organizations. The focus on motivational processes in the relation between social-contextual factors and various indicators of occupational health will increase knowledge on not only "why", but also "how" the workplace gives implications on peoples' health and well-being. The project has three thematic focus areas all relating to the overall theme. First, the project seeks to examine the general work climate in relation to designing positive experiences in the workplace (WP1 and WP4). Second, it seeks to study the relations between payment systems and workers health, well-being, and work performance (WP2). Third, the study seeks to examine how specific strategies for increased job recovery interplay with motivational processes in relation to occupational health (WP3). The project will use a unique combination of rigorous quantitative and qualitative research methods to gain more in-depth knowledge regarding optimal working conditions and outcomes in organizations. WP1 and WP4: Workplace interventions for motivation and health By using the theoretical framework of self-determination theory, this part of the project will focus on creating optimal work contexts for the benefits of positive occupational health outcomes as well as organizational performance through designing a comprehensive and multilevel workplace intervention. WP2: Payment systems Theoretically based on self-determination theory this part of the project aims at resolving some of the contradictions within the research field on the effects of compensation by conducting a rigorous and comprehensive study of various forms of payment in relation to motivation and performance. In addition, the effects of various forms of payment on occupational health will be examined. The study is a correlational longitudinal study using multimethod sources, where the goal is to examine the interplay between payment systems, work motivation, well-being, and work performance. WP3: Health Promotion Through Job Recovery and Motivation The aim of this work package is to examine the role of employees' recovery strategies and work motivation for successful job recovery, and if a better recovery is further related to better occupational health and performance, benefiting both employees and organizations. Theoretically based on the stressor-detachment model, conservation of resources theory and self-determination theory, the studies in this work package bring detailed information on how recovery can be enhanced in practice through individual strategies and work motivation. Job recovery is examined in two studies. The first study focuses on job recovery in daily life across a period of two weeks, with a detailed view on how the process of job recovery unfolds in practice. In a second study, a recovery intervention is developed to examine if individuals' recovery strategies can be enhanced. Whether the intervention is effective in improving the occupational health and performance of individuals is also tested.

The proposed project goes beyond the state of the art by focusing on some specific topics within occupational health psychology to address occupational health challenges of the 21st century. First, the proposed research seeks to carry out a more comprehensive study than any in the literature that relates payment systems to basic psychological needs, work, motivation, health and well-being, and work performance. Second, by examining specific strategies for increased job recovery, the proposed project emphasizes the job recovery process as an important factor in occupational health in today’s knowledge society where work life increasingly has blurry lines to employees’ leisure time that may have unwanted consequences for occupational health. Third, the project emphasizes psychological, physiological and organizational outcomes of relevance to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the various outcomes and their interplay. Fourth, the proposed project introduces rigorous research designs to study the temporal psychological- and motivational processes leading to these various occupational health outcomes. This involves going beyond cross-sectional self-reports designs and incorporating multiple methods and longitudinal structures to enable more definitive conclusions. By using a combination of a longitudinal design with objective measures, interventions based on sophisticated quasi-experimental designs, as well as qualitative interview approaches, the proposed project is unique and can contribute to gaining more in-depth knowledge to the process of which optimal working conditions and outcomes can be emphasized in organizations. Moreover, by using the theoretical framework of self-determination theory, the focus becomes on creating optimal work climates for the benefits of positive occupational health outcomes as well as organizational performance rather than focusing on “fixing” what is already broken.

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VAM-Velferd, arbeid og migrasjon