Document Type
Peer-Reviewed Article
Publication Date
2018
Abstract
Senior executives’ decisions can have a substantial impact on their own lives, their families, their organizations’ workers and employees, and society. This quantitative study (1) investigated the relationship between basic psychological need satisfaction (BPNS) at work and psychological well-being (PWB) in 142 senior executives as antecedent of their decision making and (2) compared the results to two other managerial level samples of 260 managers and 445 employees. The results have implications for theory and practice. Our findings contribute the new theoretical perspectives of differences in the relationship between BPNS at work and PWB by managerial level and senior executives’ gender (“complementarity effect”). In turn, our research provides evidence for practical organizational applications such as the design and implementation of effective human resource development programs based on BPNS. Our findings further underscore the importance of senior executive psychology as a field of academic inquiry and provide directions for future research focused on further improving senior executives’ optimal functioning.
DOI
10.18639/MERJ.2018.04.734411
Recommended Citation
Mueller, M., Lovell, G. (2018). Senior executives' basic psychological need satisfaction and psychological well-being: Is it different at the top? Management and Economics Research Journal, 4, 289-304. Doi:10.18639/MERJ.2018.04.734411
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Included in
Human Resources Management Commons, Industrial and Organizational Psychology Commons, Organizational Behavior and Theory Commons
Comments
Open access journal, Creative Commons Attribution License.