Abstract:

Thriving at work is a psychological state in which individuals experience both the sense of vitality and learning at work. The contextual enablers, such as leadership, organizational support and fairness, job characteristics, and peers, can facilitate thriving at work. Drawing from the Trait Activation Theory and Self-Determination Theory, the model of “psychological mechanism of organizational context affecting thriving at work” is built: “omnibus” and “discrete” contextual factors can either directly affect the satisfaction of basic psychological needs, or activate traits, then affect the satisfaction of basic psychological needs and subsequently influence thriving at work. Future studies are suggested to pay more attention to the “omnibus” context and its intermediary mechanism; to conduct the multi-level research that simultaneously examines individual and contextual variables, or articulates the social and task levels; and to utilized the dynamic research method to study the relationship between organizational context and thriving at work, and hence to predict thriving at work.

Key words: organizational context, thriving at work, trait, basic psychological needs, omnibus context