From thriving to task focus: the role of needs-supplies fit and task complexity

Abstract

Can thriving at work be a self-sustaining phenomenon? In our study we incorporated the person-environment fit perspective into socially embedded model of thriving by Spreitzer’s et al. (Organization Science, 16(5), 537–549, 2005) to explore how and when thriving affects individuals’ task focus, an agentic behavior often considered an antecedent of thriving. We proposed that individuals who thrive at work tend to perceive that the rewards supplied by the job meet their needs of growth and development, which leads to more focus on their tasks. We also proposed that task complexity interacts with thriving to influence the mechanism of needs-supplies (N-S) fit. Based on two-wave data from 170 product engineers, the results of our study showed that thriving indirectly affects task focus through perceived N-S fit. When faced with high-complexity tasks, high-thriving employees generated higher N-S fit perceptions. When thriving was low, N-S fit was highest in in the low-complexity task context, suggesting that matching thriving to task complexity could be an important strategy by which managers might maintain higher levels of task focus, which we speculate could in turn promote thriving. Our study advances research on thriving, fit perceptions and work behavior by revealing these relationships.