PERSONALITY AS A PREDICTOR OF SELFDETERMINATION AND MINDFULNESS

Abstract

Self-determination in the context of basic psychological need satisfaction (BPNS) at work is an enigmatic topic in work and organizational science (Kanfer, Chen, & Pritchard, 2008). Understanding a person’s motivation as a dominant construct for behaviour has been explained in terms of external rewards, reinforcement, and consequences, but the studies do not specify the factors that make individuals work even without any tangible external rewards and work only for the pleasure of performing the task itself. Self-determination theory (SDT) shows how motivation changes from external to internal motivation and how that change affects behaviour. Deci and Ryan (1985) established that people are not motivated by stimuli but a stimulus provides the opportunity for people to satisfy the basic psychological needs. Self-determination theory suggested that a work environment that enables satisfaction of basic psychological needs will enhance self-determination in employees (Gange and Deci, 2005). Further, the study employed the construct of personality to examine its effects on the self-determination of employees in the form of basic psychological needs satisfaction. It is important to realize that the psychological growth described by self-determination theory does not simply happen automatically. Employee’s characteristics could be essential in the manifestation of self-determination behaviour at the workplace and it may act as a buffer against negative working environments. Personality experts opine that individuals indeed have steady and long-standing traits that affect behaviours at work (Denissen et al., 2011; Gerber et al., 2011). Additionally, the study uses the concept of mindfulness for the assessment of the level of self-determination of employees. Improving self-awareness, decision-making skill, and self-regulation can encourage the growth of stronger selfdetermination (Reeve, Ryan and Deci, 2008). Mindfulness is a practice that enhances awareness through self-regulation of thought and emotion (Langer, 2000). Mindfulness significantly helps in disengaging individuals from automatic thought production, habit and unhealthy behaviour pattern. Thus, mindfulness could play a key role in encouraging wellversed and endorsed behaviour regulation (Djikic and Langer, 2008) which has been associated with self-determination. Ryan et al (2008) opined that encouraging mindfulness could satisfy basic psychological need satisfaction (BPNS). The research was carried out with the view of serving two purposes. Firstly, the aim was to explore personality factors as a predictor of basic psychological needs satisfaction in the employees working in Indian IT sector. Secondly, the intention was to probe the role of mindfulness in the relationship between personality factors and basic psychological needs

satisfaction. It was hypothesized that people high on individual personality factors will experience higher levels of need satisfaction because they also tend to experience a higher level of mindfulness than those who are low on mindfulness. Statistically, mindfulness significantly moderates the relationship between personality and basic psychological needs satisfaction. A quantitative survey-based research design employing data from 452 employees in the National Capital Region (NCR) was used in the present research. To test the same, the respondent filled International Personality Item Pool (IPIP)-Five Factors Model, questionnaire, Langer Mindfulness Scale (LMS) and measure of Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction (BPN-W). The analyses were performed with the help of SPSS©20, AMOS©20, and PROCESS. Firstly, the data was checked for: missing values, normality through skewness and kurtosis scores, non-multicollinearity through Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) and common method bias with the help of Common Latent Factor (CLF) analysis. Secondly, reliability of the scales using internal consistency coefficient, convergent and discriminant validity using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was calculated. Thereafter, a descriptive analysis was undertaken. Lastly, testing of the hypotheses was performed using correlational analysis, hierarchical regression and conditional process analysis. The result demonstrated that personality factors acted as a predictor of BPNS. It was discovered that openness to experience, extraversion, conscientiousness and emotional stability directly predicted BPNS. In other words, individuals that prominently exhibited the aforementioned factors were more satisfied in terms of Basic Psychological Needs. Agreeableness showed no direct effect on BPNS. This study examines how the presence of Mindfulness (moderator) affects the link between Personality and Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction. Moderation analysis stated that the relationship between Personality Factor and BPNS is enhanced in the presence of Mindfulness. Hence, Mindfulness acted as a moderator except in the case of Agreeableness. No moderation effect has been found on the relationship between the Agreeableness and Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction (BPNS). Indeed, understanding the associations between Personality, Mindfulness and BPNS in the context of the workplace could be very useful in identifying several problem areas in the organization, including employee dissatisfaction, turnover, and performance. Both practitioners and academicians must deeply understand the relationships between personality, mindfulness and BPNS. This would include an understanding of unique Personality Types and Psychological Needs associated with each and the importance of Mindfulness in professional and personal life. Individuals could with the help of this study, try to develop

positive personality traits and practice mindfulness to attain greater degrees of BPNS and experience tangible and intangible benefits. There are several other practical and theoretical implications that this study carries. As no other study has examined the model proposed in this thesis, its original value is very high and contribution to the existing body of knowledge assumes all the more importance. Keywords: Personality factors, Mindfulness, Self-determination, Basic psychological need satisfaction, Autonomous motivation, IT sector, Moderation, PROCESS analysis.