关键词: 工作场所自然接触, 自我领导力, 自我控制动机, 任务分割, 自我控制整合理论

Abstract:

Nature exposure at work, which refers to employees’ direct or indirect contact with natural elements in the workplace, has received increasing attention in organizational psychology. Previous studies have primarily adopted a resource-restoration perspective, depicting employees as passive beneficiaries of natural environments which help replenish depleted cognitive or emotional resources. However, this view overlooks the individual’s proactivity and agency in deriving benefits from nature exposure. Drawing on integrative self-control theory, we propose that nature exposure at work influences employees’ self-leadership through self-control motivation. Furthermore, we propose that task segmentation moderates both the direct relationship between nature exposure and self-control motivation, and the indirect relationship between nature exposure and self-leadership through self-control motivation.
We conducted two studies to test our hypotheses. In Study 1, we employed a 2 (nature exposure at work: present vs. absent) × 2 (task segmentation: high vs. low) between-subjects factorial design. A total of 199 full-time employees were recruited and randomly assigned to one of the four experimental conditions. Participants were first presented with scenarios depicting either high or low task segmentation. Subsequently, they viewed either nature-rich or neutral workplace images and were asked to imagine themselves working in these settings. They then reported their self-control motivation and demographics. Study 2 adopted a three-wave field design with one-week intervals, ultimately yielding a final sample of 380 working adults from diverse industries in China. At Time 1, participants completed measures of nature exposure at work and task segmentation. At Time 2, they completed scales assessing self-control motivation, vitality, and self-efficacy. At Time 3, participants reported self-leadership and demographics.
The results of Study 1 revealed that nature exposure at work significantly enhanced self-control motivation, F (1, 195) = 17.86, p < 0.001, and this effect was significantly moderated by task segmentation, F (1, 195) = 5.30, p = 0.022. Specifically, nature exposure significantly increased self-control motivation under high task segmentation (M = 4.80 vs. 3.99, p < 0.001), but not under low segmentation (M = 4.18 vs. 3.94, p = 0.176).
The results of Study 2 showed that nature exposure at work significantly predicted self-control motivation (b = 0.12, p = 0.0015), which in turn significantly predicted self-leadership (b = 0.12, p = 0.016). Mediation analysis confirmed the indirect effect of nature exposure on self-leadership via self-control motivation. Furthermore, task segmentation moderated both the effect of nature exposure on self-control motivation (b = 0.09, p < 0.001) and the indirect effect of nature exposure on self-leadership, which was significant only under high task segmentation (indirect effect = 0.03, 95% CI [0.003, 0.058]).
This study offers several important theoretical and practical implications. First, we move beyond the previous resource-restoration framework by advocating a motivation-based perspective on nature exposure. This reconceptualization provides a more dynamic account of how nature exposure can activate and sustain motivational processes. Second, we highlight the role of individual agency and autonomy, proposing that employees—as active decision-makers—strategically harness and regulate the “energy replenishment” derived from nature, thereby transforming their role from passive beneficiaries to active managers. Third, our study pioneers the exploration of ecological antecedents of self-leadership, advancing research on self-leadership into emerging ecological contexts. Finally, the findings of this study offer valuable guidance for designing biophilic work environments and nature-based interventions aimed at fostering employees’ self-leadership in organizational settings.

Key words: nature exposure at work, self-leadership, self-control motivation, task segmentation, integrative self- control theory