Journal of Organizational Behavior J. Organiz. Behav. 26, 755775 (2005) Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/job.

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Flow experiences at work: for high need achievers alone?

ROBERT EISENBERGER1*, JASON R. JONES1, FLORENCE STINGLHAMBER2, LINDA SHANOCK3 AND AMANDA T. RANDALL4
1 2 3

University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, U.S.A. Hautes Etudes CommercialesLiege, Belgium University at Albany, State University of New York, U.S.A. 4 Towers Perrin, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.

Summary

Applying Csikszentmihalyis (1990) ow theory of optimal experience to the workplace, two studies examined the relationships of employees perceived skill and challenge at work and need for achievement with their positive mood, intrinsic task interest, and extra-role performance. Among achievement-oriented employees only, high skill and challenge was associated with greater positive mood, task interest, and performance than other skill/challenge combinations. Additionally, positive mood mediated the interactive relationship of skill/challenge and need for achievement with performance. Copyright # 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Introduction
Human potential approaches to work emphasize the contributions of self-actualization, challenge, and growth opportunities to job satisfaction and motivation (Alderfer, 1969; Herzberg, 1966; Maslow, 1965). Elaborating these accounts, Hackman and Oldham (1976) specied task characteristics of jobs that might enhance motivation, including the opportunities to use a variety of skills and produce a complete piece of work, knowledge that ones activities have an impact on the lives of others, choice in determining how to carry out ones work, and performance feedback. Numerous studies have found positive relationships of task characteristics with benecial outcomes such as job satisfaction, good health, and performance (e.g., Campion & McClelland, 1991; Fried & Ferris, 1987; Gerhart, 1987; Loher, Noe, Moeller, & Fitzgerald, 1985; Schaubroeck, Jones, & Xie, 2001; Steel & Rentsch, 1997; Tiegs, Tetrick, & Fried, 1992). For example, using a longitudinal design, Grifn (1991) found signicant increases in bank tellers performance 24 and 48 months following a job redesign intervention aimed at improving employees perceptions of Hackman and Oldhams (1976) task characteristics.

* Correspondence to: Robert Eisenberger, Psychology Department, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, U.S.A. E-mail: eisenber@udel.edu

Copyright # 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Received 11 May 2004 Revised 19 November 2004 Accepted 28 April 2005

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Skill utilization, involving equivalence between the challenge of ones work and the ability to meet that challenge, has been suggested as an additional task characteristic that might contribute to job satisfaction and motivation (Gavin & Axlerod, 1977; OBrien & Dowling, 1980; OBrien, 1983). Accordingly, OBrien (1983) found that skill utilization accounted for a signicant portion of the variance in job satisfaction beyond the job characteristics enumerated by Hackman and Oldham (1976). Csikszentmihalyis ow theory of optimal experience similarly holds that an individuals satisfaction and motivation depend on the match between his or her skill and the challenge inherent in the task (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975, 1990; Csikszentmihalyi & Rathunde, 1993). However, Csikszentmihalyi emphasizes the intrinsically rewarding and satisfying subjective state, termed ow, which results from the combination of high perceived skill and high perceived challenge. According to Csikszentmihalyi (1990, p. 4), the ow experience is a condition in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter at the time; the experience is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it. Flow experiences are suggested to be intrinsically rewarding because they allow one to become fully involved in a task and stretch his or her skills and abilities to the limit (Csikszentmihalyi & Rathunde, 1993). Csikszentmihalyi (1999) assumed that in addition to increasing intrinsic task interest, the repeated experience of ow in a given context would have a pervasive incremental effect on positive mood. Consequently, a job, hobby, or sports activity that repeatedly provided high but manageable challenges would come to have a major inuence on positive mood. In contrast to the benecial outcomes of the combination of high skill and challenge, other combinations of skill and challenge are suggested by Csikszentmihalyi to produce less favorable experiences. Activities in which the individuals skill is perceived to be high relative to the challenge provided by the task would lead to boredom. Low-perceived skill and high-perceived challenge would produce anxiety, while low-perceived skill and low-perceived challenge would result in apathy. Typical studies based on the ow experience assess the prediction that perceived high skill and high challenge produces a more favorable subjective experience than other combinations of skill and challenge. Among key ndings is that high skill and challenge was associated with greater positive mood (e.g., Csikszentmihalyi & LeFevre, 1989; Csikszentmihalyi, Rathunde, & Whalen, 1993) and task interest (e.g., Catley & Duda, 1997; Csikszentmihalyi & Larson, 1986) than other skill-challenge combinations. Csikszentmihalyis theory provides one of the most widely cited explanations for pleasurable absorption in leisure and sports activities. The association between enjoyable subjective experience and high skill and challenge has been found in a variety of non-employment settings, such as schooling (Carli, Delle Fave, Massimini, & Carli, 1988; Clarke & Haworth, 1994; Moneta & Csikszentmihalyi, 1996), computing (Chen, Wigand, & Nilan, 1999; Trevino & Webster, 1992; Webster, Trevino, & Ryan, 1993), family interaction (Rathunde, 1988), leisure (Csikszentmihalyi & LeFevre, 1989; Graef, Csikszentmihalyi, & McManama Gianinno, 1983; Mannell, Zuzanek, & Larson, 1988), occupational therapy (Emerson, 1998; Jacobs, 1994), and competitive and recreational sports (Catley & Duda, 1997; Jackson, 1992; Jackson & Roberts, 1992; Kowal & Fortier, 1999; Stein, Kimiecik, Daniels, & Jackson, 1995). However, ow in work settings has received little attention. The opportunity to perform challenging tasks skillfully might have benets for employees and their organizations. Csikszentmihalyi and Rathunde (1993, p. 73) suggested that intrinsic task interest follows from the realization that one is growing in complexity as a result of matching ones skills to difcult challenges. In other words, engagement in high skill and challenge promotes task interest because it allows one to hone ones skills. Employees should take an increased interest in challenging, yet manageable activities because they provide: a sense of achievement, the opportunity to sharpen ones skills, and a favorable subjective experience (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). In addition to increasing task interest, the combination of high skill and challenge at work might promote positive mood. George and Brief (1992, p. 320) suggested that the successful completion of work activities
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demonstrating competence, worth, or achievement, would enhance positive mood. Similarly, Isen, Daubman, and Nowicki (1987) maintained that perceptions of competence and self-worth would increase positive mood. In one of the few studies involving ow at work, Csikszentmihalyi and LeFevre (1989) reported that the combination of high skill and challenge occurred three times more often during work than leisure (see also Haworth & Hill, 1992), and was associated with greater positive mood than other combinations of skill and challenge. Csikszentmihalyi and LeFevres (1989) initial ndings highlight jobs as a major source of ow for adults and raise basic issues, examined in the present studies, concerning the affective and motivational consequences of different combinations of skill and challenge at work.

Need for Achievement and Flow

Csikszentmihalyi and LeFevre (1989) found marked individual differences among employees in the extent to which high skill and challenge was preferred to other combinations of skill and challenge at work. Approximately half of the employees in the sample expressed greater motivation for work in which they had high skill and faced high challenge rather than low skill and low challenge. The other half of the sample, in contrast, reported greater motivation under conditions of low skill and low challenge. Perhaps dispositional differences among employees account for these ndings. Csikszentmihalyi (Csikszentmihalyi & Csikszentmihalyi, 1988; Csikszentmihalyi & Rathunde, 1993) and Adlai-Gail (1994) suggested that some individuals might have an autotelic personality, which would lead them to be especially active in seeking out challenging tasks for which they perceive themselves highly skillful. In addition, such individuals would work hard to create their own challenges in mundane tasks. However, theory and research have yet to clearly identify the characteristics of the autotelic personality or its relationship with high skill and challenge. In one such attempt, Csikszentmihalyi et al. (1993) found that talented teenage students who scored high on a constellation of personality characteristics involving achievement, endurance, inquisitiveness, and aestheticism (Jackson, 1984) reported experiencing high skill and challenge a greater proportion of the time over the course of a week than their low scoring counterparts. However, Csikszentmihalyi et al. (1993) did not isolate the relative contributions of these personality characteristics. Nor did they consider how personality might inuence the degree to which high skill and challenge is associated with an elevated subjective experience relative to other skill-challenge combinations. Need for achievement might explain some of the individual differences in motivation for high skill and challenge versus other skill-challenge combinations, as found by Csikszentmihalyi and LeFevre (1989). According to Atkinson (1964) and McClelland (1961, 1987), persons with a high need for achievement base their self-regard on the successful development and utilization of talents and skills. Fineman (1977, p. 2) described achievement-oriented individuals as striving to do well, desiring to fully utilize ones capacities to succeed and to be judged by oneself and others on this success. McClelland, Atkinson, Clark, and Lowell (1953) associated the achievement need with a desire to surpass personal standards of excellence. The combination of high perceived skill and challenge at work may often meet the achievementoriented employees desires to surpass personal standards of excellence. Moreover, as suggested by Csikszentmihalyi (1990), high skill and challenge allows one to perform at the limits of ones capacities and hone ones skills, conditions that achievement-oriented individuals desire (Csikszentmihalyi & Rathunde, 1993; Fineman, 1977). Thus, achievement-oriented individuals should experience enhanced interest and elevated positive mood in work activities that provide high skill and challenge.
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Achievement-oriented employees should nd other skill-challenge combinations less inviting: low-skill/high-challenge should produce a low probability of success (deCharms & Carpenter, 1968; Hamilton, 1974; Karabenick & Youssef, 1968; Raynor & Entin, 1982; Trope, 1975; Trope & Brickman, 1975), and low challenge paired with low or high skill should fail to provide exacting standards of excellence. In contrast to achievement-oriented employees, employees having a low need for achievement should be less interested in activities that provide high skill and challenge at work. Individuals low in need for achievement experience greater anxiety in achievement settings and try to avoid competence assessment (Atkinson, 1974; Trope, 1975). Employees with a low achievement need may thus nd the combination of high skill and challenge less satisfying than would achievement-oriented employees, resulting in lesser degrees of positive mood and task interest. Hypothesis 1: High perceived task skill and challenge will be more strongly associated with positive mood and task interest among employees having a high need for achievement than among employees having a low need for achievement.

Need for Achievement, Mood, and Organizational Spontaneity

Over the last decade, organizational researchers have become increasingly interested in the inuence of employees positive mood on organizational outcomes. Positive mood has been found to be associated with employees increased extra-role performance (Eisenberger, Armeli, Rexwinkel, Lynch, & Rhoades, 2001; George & Brief, 1992). George and Brief suggest that positive mood primes employees to think about favorable characteristics of co-workers, leading to helping behavior. They also argue that positive mood should promote creative thinking, leading to creative suggestions. Consistent with these views, Eisenberger et al. (2001) found that positive mood enhanced a variety of extra-role activities, including helping co-workers and making creative suggestions. Extra-role behaviors that are performed voluntarily and aid the organization, termed organizational spontaneity (George & Brief, 1992), include making constructive suggestions, enhancing ones own knowledge and skills in ways that will help the organization, protecting the organization from potential problems, and helping co-workers. Employees who experience the combination of high skill and challenge at work might go beyond specied job responsibilities to contribute to organizational success as a result of the enhanced positive mood produced by high skill and challenge on the job. As previously noted, the relationship of high skill and challenge with positive mood should be especially strong for employees high in need for achievement because the skillful performance of difcult tasks allows those employees to meet and surpass personal standards of excellence. Consequently, positive mood might mediate the interactive inuence of skill/challenge and achievement orientation on organizational spontaneity. Hypothesis 2: High perceived skill and challenge will be most strongly associated with organizational spontaneity among achievement-oriented employees, as mediated by positive mood. The hypothesized relationships between all variables are summarized in Figure 1. Csikszentmihalyi has suggested several methods for assessing skill and challenge. To increase the generality of our ndings, we used different methods in our two studies. In the rst study, we compared each employees perceived skill and challenge in his or her major work activities with the median levels of skill and challenge experienced by co-workers (cf. Csikszentmihalyi & Rathunde, 1993).
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Need For Achievement

Positive Mood

Org Spontaneity

Skill/ Challenge

Need For Achievement

Task Interest

Figure 1. Model of hypothesized relationships in Studies 1 and 2 Note: The proposed relationship of skill/challenge with positive mood and organizational spontaneity, as moderated by need for achievement was assessed in Study 1. The moderating inuence of need for achievement in the relationship between skill/challenge and intrinsic interest was examined in Study 2.

The second study took into account the possibility raised by Csikszentmihalyi (1990) that the experience of ow in a given activity may be inuenced by the levels of skill and challenge experienced in their other activities. This view supposes that people may compare their skill and challenge in a given domain, such as work, to their overall experience of skill and challenge in daily life (Csikszentmihalyi & LeFevre, 1989; Massimini & Carli, 1988). Consequently, if an employee rated his skill and challenge on the job as higher than the average skill and challenge experienced in all their daily activities (e.g., socializing with friends and family, cooking, reading), he would be predicted to experience ow at work. Therefore, the second study compared each employees skill and challenge at work with his or her overall skill and challenge.

Study 1
The rst study examined the relationship of employees experience of skill/challenge with positive mood and organizational spontaneity, as moderated by need for achievement. Additionally, the study investigated whether positive mood would mediate the interactive relationship of skill/challenge and need for achievement with organizational spontaneity.

Organizational Context

The participating organization was a large discount electronics and appliance retailer located in the northeastern United States. Prices on most items were set to promote sales volume over prot per item sold. The data from Study 1 came from an employee questionnaire administered in 1996, while the data for Study 2 came from a questionnaire given to a different set of employees within the same organization in 1999. The organizations emphasis on growth in number of outlets suffered a
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setback during this interval when business declined, expansion plans were put on hold, and the number of employees was substantially reduced. However, in the year before the second survey, business had begun to increase again. We sampled sales employees as well as sales support employees. Sales employees were paid on the basis of a combination of salary and commission, whereas support employees were paid entirely on the basis of salary. Within these two types of jobs, employees differed substantially in the tasks they were required to carry out. Some salespeople were assigned to more challenging areas of the stores containing electronics products for which technological advances were introduced frequently (e.g., computers and televisions). In this environment, salespeople needed to continually upgrade their knowledge and skills in order to effectively operate and present the favorable features to customers. Other salespeople were assigned to less challenging store areas containing products in which the required technological understanding was more easily mastered, and changes in required knowledge occurred slowly (e.g., refrigerators and stoves). Similarly, challenge levels differed considerably among sales support staff. Book keepers, for instance, found themselves in a challenging environment as they were required to keep track of a large, rapidly changing inventory, and high cash ow. As another example, in order to answer queries by customers, cashiers were expected to keep current with the latest layout of merchandise. Other sales support employees were in charge of making deliveries from the central warehouse to the stores along well-established routes, a less challenging endeavor. The company was often understaffed, resulting in wide variation in skill levels for the jobs to which employees were assigned. Thus, the four possible combinations of low- or high-employee skill with low- or high-task challenge, needed to assess ow theory, were well represented in the organization.

Method
Sample and procedure
The sample consisted of 392 employees working at eight sites. Three hundred and sixty-ve employees (93%) returned completed questionnaires. The employees voluntarily completed the survey during their regularly scheduled working hours in conference rooms at each site. To encourage candidness, we gave employees verbal and written assurances that their individual responses would not be revealed. Surveys were distributed and collected by the researchers in sealed envelopes. Supervisors completed performance evaluations for each employee and were given similar assurances of condentiality. Evaluations were available for 335 of the 365 respondents (92%).

Measures
Tenure We controlled for employee tenure, obtained from company records, which might be associated both with greater perceived skills and familiarity with supervisors, leading to higher performance ratings. Skill and challenge Employees were asked to list the ve work activities on which they spend the most time during their average day at work. Employees then rated the degrees of skill they had in each activity and the challenge posed by the activity on nine-point Likert-type scales (1 low, 9 high). The specic items
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used to assess skill and challenge were What is your skill in the activity? and How challenging is the activity? respectively. The ve ratings of skill and challenge were averaged for each employee in order to create an overall job skill and challenge level for the employee. Following the betweenpersons approach described in the Introduction, each employees overall job skill and overall job challenge at work was compared to the median levels of skill and challenge for all employees (Csikszentmihalyi & Rathunde, 1993). Then, the employee was placed in one of the following contexts on the basis of Csikszentmihalyis (1990) theory: 1. Flow context: Employees skill and challenge were both above the group median skill and challenge levels. 2. Anxiety context: Employees skill was below the median group skill level; employees challenge was above the median group challenge level. 3. Boredom context: Employees skill was above the median group skill level; employees challenge was below the median group challenge level. 4. Apathy context: Employees skill and challenge were both below the group median skill and challenge levels.

Need for achievement Need for achievement was assessed by four of the ve items from the need for achievement subscale of Steers and Braunsteins (1976) Manifest Needs Questionnaire, plus ve items constructed by the research team (see Table 1). We developed these items based upon the characteristics of individuals high in achievement orientation as outlined by McClelland (1961, 1987), such as working to improve ones skills and desiring frequent feedback. We added items because although the need for achievement sub-scale has shown acceptable internal reliabilities in some studies (Mannheim, Baruch, & Tal, 1997; Orpen, 1985), it has fallen slightly below the 0.70 criteria suggested by Nunnally (1967) in other studies (e.g., Schaubroeck, Ganster, & Jones, 1998; Slade & Rush, 1991; Turban & Keon, 1993). We omitted the Steers and Braunstein (1976) item I try to perform better than my co-workers from the measure because it appeared to apply more to a tendency to be competitive than to the core attributes of the need for achievement. Respondents rated their agreement with each statement using a seven-point Likert-type scale (1 strongly disagree, 7 strongly agree).

Table 1. Study 1: Factor loadings for need for achievement items Statement 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. I am pleased when I can take on added job responsibilities.a I am always looking for opportunities to improve my skills on the job. I like to set challenging goals for myself on the job. I enjoy situations at work where I am personally responsible for nding solutions to problems. I try very hard to improve on my past performance at work.a I get the most satisfaction when completing job assignments that are fairly difcult. I want frequent feedback on how I am doing on the job. I do my best work when my job assignments are fairly difcult.a I believe in taking moderate risks to get ahead at work.a Factor loading 0.78 0.77 0.63 0.62 0.61 0.42 0.40 0.39 0.34

Note: n 365. a Item adapted from Steers and Braunsteins Manifest Needs Questionnaire (1976).

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Positive mood The employees rated their mood at work using four items from Brief, Burke, George, Robinson, and Websters (1988) Job Affect Scale (JAS). A series of conrmatory factor analyses on the Job Affect Scale (Burke, Brief, George, Roberson, & Webster, 1989) revealed that the positive mood items formed a unitary factor. In the present study, employees used ve-point Likert-type scales (1 little, 5 very much) to rate the extent to which they felt happy, active, enthusiastic, and energetic on an average day at work. We replaced the JAS items elated and peppy with the synonyms happy and energetic to reect the contemporary American vernacular. Organizational spontaneity We used the ve items reported by Lynch, Eisenberger, and Armeli (1999) to load highest on an organizational spontaneity factor in two separate studies of supervisors evaluations of employees (Cronbachs  0.91 and 0.90, respectively). These items were as follows: makes constructive suggestions to improve the overall functioning of his/her workgroup; encourages others to try new and more effective ways of doing their job; keeps well informed where his/her opinion might benet the organization; continues to look for new ways to improve the effectiveness of his/her work; and takes action to protect the organization from potential problems. Supervisors evaluated the employees on ve-point Likert-type scales (1 agree slightly or not at all, 5 very strongly agree).

Results and Discussion

A principal components analysis and scree plot on the need for achievement items indicated that the items formed a single factor, having an eigenvalue of 3.6 that accounted for 49% of the total variance (see Table 1). Eight of the nine items loaded acceptably on the factor and were included in the nal scale. Means, standard deviations, internal reliabilities, and intercorrelations among the variables are reported in Table 2. All measures showed acceptable internal reliabilities above the 0.70 threshold suggested by Nunnally (1967). To determine if differences existed among the companys stores on our key
Table 2. Study 1 and Study 2: Means, standard deviations, alpha reliabilities, and intercorrelations among variables
Variable 1. Tenure 2. Need for Ach 3. Positive Mood 4. Org Spontc 5. Interest 6. Skill 7. Challenge Ma 42.37 5.00 2.53 3.16 7.53 4.43 SDa 34.73 0.89 0.88 1.04 1.58 2.05 Mb 45.29 4.58 5.58 7.26 5.34 SDb 46.60 0.86 1.99 1.51 2.04 1 () 0.04 0.00 0.22*** 0.09 0.22*** 2 0.11 (0.79/0.88) 0.30*** 0.12* 0.17** 0.13* 3 (0.84/) 0.17** 0.10 0.20*** 4 5 6 0.07 0.18** 0.41*** (/)d 0.14** 7 0.17** 0.21*** 0.52*** 0.28*** (/)e

0.05 0.40*** (0.91/) (/0.89) 0.09 0.14**

Note: For Study 1, n 365; for Study 2, n 260. Correlations for Study 1 appear below the diagonal; correlations for Study 2 appear above the diagonal. Cronbachs alphas appear on the diagonal (Study 1/Study2). Tenure is measured in months. a Study 1. b Study 2. c n 335. d Cronbachs alpha could not be calculated for the skill measure, because employees differed in the work tasks on which they rated skill. e Cronbachs alpha could not be calculated for the challenge measure, because employees differed in the work tasks on which they rated challenge. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001.

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measures (skill, challenge, and need for achievement), we performed one-way ANOVAs. Store location was found to be unrelated to skill, challenge, and need for achievement (F(7, 357) 1.10, n.s.; F(7, 357) 1.62, n.s.; F(7, 357) 0.96, n.s., respectively). Positive mood was regressed on the skill/challenge combinations and need for achievement. We used orthogonal helmert contrasts (see Judd & McClelland, 1989) to assess variation of positive mood across the four combinations of skill and challenge.1 The rst contrast tested the hypothesis that the ow context (high skill and high challenge) would produce a more positive mood than would the other three combinations of skill and challenge. For this contrast, employees in the ow context were coded as 1, while those in the apathy, boredom, and anxiety contexts were each coded 0.333. In order to determine whether differences in positive mood experience existed among the three non-ow contexts, two additional orthogonal helmert contrasts were created. The second contrast compared employees in the anxiety context to those in the boredom and apathy contexts. Employees in the anxiety context were assigned 1, while those in the boredom and apathy contexts were each assigned 0.5. Employees in the ow context were excluded from this contrast. The third contrast compared employees in the boredom and apathy contexts by coding those in the boredom context as 1 and employees in the apathy context as 1. Those in the ow and anxiety contexts were excluded from this contrast. A similar analysis was carried out for organizational spontaneity. Employee tenure within the organization was entered in the rst step of the regression analyses as a covariate. To reduce potential multicollinearity between the interaction terms and their component variables, the need for achievement measure was centered (Aiken & West, 1991). Considering positive mood rst (see Table 3), employees in the ow context (high skill and high challenge) experienced greater positive mood than those in other combinations of skill and challenge. Differences in positive mood among the other combinations of skill and challenge were not statistically signicant. Additionally, need for achievement was directly related to positive mood. These ndings were qualied by the predicted interaction between the need for achievement and ow versus other contexts. Simple effects tests (Aiken & West, 1991) were used to break down the interaction. As shown in Figure 2, among employees with the highest need for achievement, high skill and challenge produced greater positive mood than did other combinations of skill and challenge (t(353) 3.47, p < 0.01). Among employees with the lowest need for achievement, high skill and challenge failed to produce greater positive mood than did the other combinations of skill and challenge (t(353) 1.20). Additionally, simple slopes tests found that among employees who experienced high skill and challenge, need for achievement was incrementally related to positive mood (t(353) 3.24, p < 0.01). In contrast, among employees who experienced the other skill-challenge combinations, need for achievement was not reliably related to positive mood (t(353) 1.19). In sum, high skill and challenge was positively associated with positive mood only among employees having a high need for achievement.

1 While it is generally preferable to retain variables in their original continuous form when carrying out regression, thereby retaining full quantitative information, the median-splits of skill and challenge provided a more straightforward assessment of the predictions of Csikszentmihalyis ow theory. Our theory-based comparison of the high-skill, high-challenge condition with the average performance of the other three conditions does not assess a pure interactive effect of skill and challenge. Csikszentmihalyis theory assumes that high skill and high challenge (ow) is pleasant and that the other three combinations of skill and challenge are unpleasant. This prediction is best captured by the rst contrast which compares high skill and high challenge with the mean of the other three combinations of skill and challenge. Technically, this contrast involves balancing high skill and high challenge (value 1) against values for the three remaining combinations of skill and challenge (0.333). Our use of additional contrasts provided the supplementary benet of assessing whether the other three combinations of skill and challenge differed with respect to the outcomes. Were we to retain skill and challenge in their continuous form in a regression analysis, none of the outcomes, including the interaction with need for achievement, would directly assess our hypotheses. This may be seen by the fact that the contrast for a pure statistical interaction differs from that needed to assess ow theory. For the pure interaction, the contrasts would be: 1, 1, 1, and 1, respectively, for the following combinations of skill and challenge: high skill-high challenge; high skill-low challenge; low skill-high challenge; and low skill-low challenge.

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Table 3. Study 1: Hierarchical regression analysis for positive mood and organizational spontaneity
Positive mood B Step 1 Tenure 0.00 Step 2 Tenure 0.00 Flow vs. Non ow 0.34 Anxiety vs. Boredom and Apathy 0.13 Boredom vs. Apathy 0.02 Need for achievement 0.30 Step 3 Tenure 0.00 Flow vs. Non ow 0.30 Anxiety vs. Boredom and Apathy 0.14 Boredom vs. Apathy 0.03 Need for achievement 0.31 Flow vs. Non ow Need for achievement 0.23 Anxiety vs. Boredom and Apathy Need for ach. 0.04 Boredom vs. Apathy Need for ach. 0.02 Step 4 Tenure Flow vs. Non ow Anxiety vs. Boredom and Apathy Boredom vs. Apathy Need for achievement Flow vs. Non ow Need for achievement Anxiety vs. Boredom and Apathy Need for ach. Boredom vs. Apathy Need for achievement Positive mood SE 0.00  0.00 0.14*** 0.00 0.26 0.14 0.07 0.12 0.01 0.00 0.22 0.17 0.11 0.11 0.34 0.00 0.16 0.00 0.17 0.15 0.10 0.07 0.31 0.00 0.16 0.15 0.00 0.11 0.09 0.09 0.08 0.14 0.12 0.11 0.00 0.11 0.09 0.09 0.08 0.14 0.12 0.11 0.07 0.18** 0.12* 0.10 0.07 0.08 0.13* 0.00 0.08 0.01* 0.19*** 0.09 0.09 0.06 0.05 0.12* 0.00 0.08 0.12* 0.00 0.10 0.09 0.08 0.08 0.18** 0.14* 0.08 0.05 0.08 0.02 R2 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.23*** 0.04* 0.00 0.06 0.08 0.22*** 0.07 0.09 0.06 0.02 0.06 0.26*** 0.00 0.06 0.08 0.19*** 0.07 0.10 0.07 0.03 0.06 0.26*** 0.11 0.11* 0.10 0.02 0.09 0.01 B Organizational spontaneity SE  R2 0.05***

Note: For positive mood, nal model: F(8, 356) 7.66, p < 0.001; total R2 0.15, adj. R2 0.13. For organizational spontaneity, nal model: F(9, 320) 4.88, p < 0.001; total R2 0.20, adj. R2 0.18. B indicates unstandardized regression coefcient.  indicates standardized regression coefcient. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001.

A regression analysis was also performed on organizational spontaneity (see Table 3). The results were comparable to the ndings for positive mood. Employees in the ow context (high skill and high challenge) showed greater organizational spontaneity than those in other combinations of skill and challenge. As with positive mood, the predicted interaction between need for achievement and the ow versus other-contexts interaction was statistically signicant. As shown in Figure 3, simple effects analyses revealed that among employees with the highest need for achievement, the combination of high skill and challenge produced greater organizational spontaneity than did other combinations of skill and challenge (t(323) 2.41, p < 0.05). Among employees with the lowest need for achievement, high skill and challenge produced no greater organizational spontaneity than other skill-challenge combinations (t(323) 1.38). Further, simple slopes tests revealed that among employees who experienced high skill and challenge, need for achievement was incrementally related to organizational spontaneity (t(323) 2.12, p < 0.05), while no reliable relationship between need for achievement and organizational spontaneity was found for employees experiencing the other combinations of skill and challenge (t(323) 0.34). Thus, as with positive mood, high skill and challenge were associated with organizational spontaneity only among employees with a high need for achievement. We also predicted that positive mood would mediate the interactive relationship of skill/challenge and need for achievement with organizational spontaneity. Such an association has been termed
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Positive Mood

High skill - High challenge Other skillchallenge combinations

1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Need for Achievement

Figure 2. Interaction of need for achievement and ow versus other contexts on positive affect in Study 1

Organizational Spontaneity

High skill - High challenge 2 Other skillchallenge combinations 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Need for Achievement

Figure 3. Interaction of need for achievement and ow versus other contexts on organizational spontaneity in Study 1

mediated moderation (Baron & Kenny, 1986). Technically, mediated moderation differs from traditional mediation only in that the predictor variable is an interaction. In our analysis, the predictor variable is the interaction of the conditions of skill/challenge with need for achievement. The mediated moderation hypothesis was tested using the z-prime method, as recommended by MacKinnon, Lockwood, Hoffman, West, and Sheets (2002). MacKinnon et al. (2002) demonstrated that the classic
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mediational method suggested by Baron and Kenny (1986) has low statistical power, and that the zprime method provides more power and a lesser Type 1 error rate than the Baron and Kenny approach. The z-prime method and Baron and Kennys (1986) procedure are similar, in that both calculate an indirect (mediated) effect of the independent variable on the outcome variable through the mediator using an identical formula. They differ in the statistical distribution used to determine whether the indirect effect is signicant. Because the estimate of the indirect effect is not normally distributed, MacKinnon et al.s (2002) z-prime method uses the modied critical value of 0.97 for the test of signicance, as opposed to 1.96 for the Z distribution. Using the z-prime method to determine the indirect effect of the skill/challenge by need for achievement interaction on organizational spontaneity through positive mood, it is necessary to calculate (a) the effect of the exogenous variable (the skill/challenge by need for achievement interaction) on the mediator (positive mood) and (b) the effect of the mediator (positive mood) on the outcome variable (organizational spontaneity) controlling for the exogenous variable (the skill/challenge by need for achievement interaction). The effect of the skill/challenge by need for achievement interaction on positive mood was signicant (B 0.23, SE 0.11, p < 0.05; see Table 3). Moreover, positive mood signicantly predicted organizational spontaneity when controlling for the skill/challenge by need for achievement interaction (B 0.15, SE 0.07, p < 0.05; see Table 3). Finally, the overall test of mediation was statistically signicant (z0 1.51, p < 0.05), thereby demonstrating that positive mood partially mediated the interaction of skill/challenge with need for achievement on organizational spontaneity. In summary, need for achievement moderated the relationship between the experience of skill and challenge at work and employees positive mood and organizational spontaneity. Achievementoriented employees experiencing high skill and challenge showed greater positive mood and organizational spontaneity than achievement-oriented employees experiencing other combinations of skill and challenge. Employees with a low need for achievement experiencing high skill and challenge showed neither more positive mood nor more organizational spontaneity than did low achievement-oriented employees experiencing other skill-challenge combinations. Moreover, positive mood partially mediated the stronger relationship between high skill and challenge and organizational spontaneity among achievement-oriented employees. These ndings support Csikszentmihalyi and LeFevres (1989) suggestions that high skill and challenge creates an optimal subjective experience relative to other combinations of skill and challenge and that dispositional differences inuence the degree to which high skill and challenge produces an elevated subjective experience. Specically, need for achievement appears to have an important inuence on whether high skill and challenge inuences positive mood and organizational spontaneity at work. Positive mood appears to contribute to the association between high skill and challenge, and organizational spontaneity for employees high in need for achievement.

Study 2
In Study 1, we found that the positive relationship of high skill and challenge with positive mood and organizational spontaneity depended on need for achievement. We assessed dispositional differences in need for achievement through questionnaire items concerning employees desire to develop and utilize talents and skills (Atkinson, 1964) and surpass personal standards of excellence (McClelland, 1987; McClelland et al., 1953) in the context of work. As a general dispositional
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orientation, need for achievement applies to non-work as well as work situations. Our conclusion that need for achievement strongly inuences employees positive reactions to the experience of high skill and challenge at work would be strengthened by a more general measure of need for achievement that included items assessing need for achievement in non-work situations. Therefore, we broadened the questionnaire measure of need for achievement to include both work and non-work situations. Study 2 also extended the ndings of the rst study to a second important outcome of high perceived task skill and challenge: task interest (Catley & Duda, 1997; Csikszentmihalyi & LeFevre, 1989; Haworth & Hill, 1992). Based on the rationale that high perceived skill and challenge at work would often meet the achievement-oriented employees desire to surpass personal standards of excellence, we predicted that the relationship of high skill and challenge with task interest would be greatest among employees with a high need for achievement. In Study 1, each employees skill and challenge was judged to be high or low based on the betweenparticipants approach which involved comparing each employees skill and challenge at work with the median levels of skill and challenge of a reference group of employees (Csikszentmihalyi & Rathunde, 1993). To increase the generality of our nding that dispositional differences in need for achievement inuence the degree to which high skill and challenge contributes to satisfaction and enjoyment; Study 2 incorporated the within-participants methodology suggested by Csikszentmihalyi (1990; Csikszentmihalyi et al., 1993). Specically, we compared each employees skill and challenge at work with his or her average level of skill and challenge for a variety of daily activities.

Method
Sample and procedure We used an independent sample of 265 employees at eight sites of the same organization examined in Study 1. Administration procedures were the same as in the rst study. Of the 265 employees given the survey, 260 employees (98%) returned completed questionnaires. Twenty-eight percent of the participants were female.

Measures
Tenure Employee tenure in the organization was obtained from company records. Skill and challenge As in Study 1, employees listed the ve-job activities on which they spent the most time during an average workday and rated their skill and challenge involved in each, using a 9-point Likert-type scale. The specic items used to assess skill and challenge were identical to those used in Study 1. Each employee was also administered a list of 21 activities designed by the investigators to represent a full range of typical non-work activities, such as gardening, cooking, playing competitive sports, socializing with friends and family, surng the internet, reading, watching television, shopping, exercising, and playing games. On a nine-point Likert-type scale (1 low, 9 high), employees rated their perceived skill and challenge for each of the non-work activities in which they participated. We averaged each participants skill and challenge levels across all the activities in which he or she participated, including work, to create baseline levels of skill and challenge. Each employees average skill and challenge at work was classied as high or low relative to his/her baseline levels of skill and challenge.
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Table 4. Study 2: Factor loadings for need for achievement items Statement 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. I am pleased when I can take on added job responsibilities. I like to set challenging goals for myself on the job. I do my best work when my job assignments are fairly difcult. I enjoy situations at work where I am personally responsible for nding solutions to problems. I enjoy difcult tasks away from work. I enjoy difcult work. I get the most satisfaction when completing job assignments that are fairly difcult. People should be more involved with their work. I am always looking for opportunities to improve my skills away from work. I am always looking for opportunities to improve my skills on the job. I try very hard to improve on my past performance at work. I try very hard to improve on my past performance away from work. I often set goals away from work that are very difcult to reach. I often set goals at work that are very difcult to reach. I want frequent feedback on how I am doing on the job. Factor loading 0.77 0.73 0.72 0.70 0.66 0.64 0.63 0.61 0.61 0.60 0.56 0.55 0.54 0.54 0.43

Note: n 260.

Need for achievement The items used are presented in Table 4. We used the 8 need for achievement items used in Study 1, added items that explicitly asked about achievement motivation away from work (Items 5, 9, 12, and 13), and also included three additional work items (Items 6, 8, and 14) so that each item assessing need for achievement away from work would be accompanied by a similarly worded item assessing need for achievement at work. In this way, we could examine whether need for achievement in work settings would form a single factor or distinct factor from need for achievement in non-work settings. Respondents used the same rating scale as in the prior study. Intrinsic task interest Using the terms most commonly used to assess intrinsic task interest (interesting and enjoyable, Cameron & Pierce, 1994) employees were asked to use nine-point Likert-type scales (1 not at all, 9 very) to rate each of the 5 work activities on which they spent the most time during an average workday. Because the two items correlated highly (0.89), we combined them to form an overall measure of intrinsic task interest.

Results and Discussion

A principal components analysis and scree plot on the need for achievement items indicated that the items formed a single factor, with an eigenvalue of 5.8 that accounted for 39% of the total variance. As shown in Table 4, all fteen items had factor loadings above a value of 0.40. Since the achievement items related to work and non-work contributed to a common factor, a single need for achievement score was obtained by averaging each respondents scores on all of the items. The resultant measure of need for achievement showed an acceptable level of internal reliability. Means, standard deviations, and internal reliabilities for all measures are reported in Table 2. As with Study 1, we performed ANOVAs to determine whether differences existed betweenstores on our key measures (skill, challenge, and need for achievement). Store location was found
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769

Task Interest

7 6 5 4 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 High skill - High challenge Other skill-challenge combinations

Need for Achievement

Figure 4. Interaction of need for achievement and ow versus other contexts on task interest in Study 2

to be unrelated to skill, challenge, and need for achievement (F(7, 252) 1.16, n.s.; F(7, 252) 1.89, n.s.; F(7, 252) 0.48, n.s., respectively). Hierarchical linear regression was used to examine the inuences of skill, challenge, and need for achievement on interest at work. The same helmert contrasts used in Study 1 were used in the present analysis. Tenure was entered into the rst step of the regression equation. The combination of high skill and challenge produced greater interest than the other three combinations of skill and challenge ( 0.29, SE 0.17, p < 0.001). As in Study 1, differences among these latter skill/challenge combinations did not reach statistical signicance. Need for achievement was also positively related to interest at work ( 0.29, SE 0.16, p < 0.001). The predicted interaction between the need for achievement and ow versus other contexts was also statistically signicant ( 0.14, SE 0.20, p < 0.05). As shown in Figure 4, simple effects tests indicated that among employees with the highest need for achievement, high skill and challenge produced greater interest than did other combinations of skill and challenge (t(248) 4.43, p < 0.001). Among employees with the lowest need for achievement, high skill and challenge produced no greater interest than did the other combinations of skill and challenge (t(248) 1.32). Also, simple slopes tests revealed that among employees who experienced high skill and challenge, need for achievement was incrementally related to interest (t(248) 6.15, p < 0.001). In contrast, among employees who experienced the other skill-challenge combinations, need for achievement was not reliably related to interest (t(248) 1.37). Study 2 found that among employees with a high need for achievement, the combination of high skill and challenge resulted in a greater task interest than other combinations of skill and challenge. This nding complements the Study 1 nding that high skill and challenge was associated with enhanced positive mood only for employees with high need for achievement. Whether need for achievement was assessed regarding work-related activities (Study 1) or more generally to include non-work activities (Study 2), the combination of high skill and high challenge resulted in an enhanced subjective experience relative to other combinations of skill and challenge only for achievement oriented employees.

General Discussion
We found that among achievement-oriented employees, the experience of high skill and challenge was related to a greater positive mood, task interest, and organizational spontaneity than other combinations of skill and challenge. In contrast, among employees with a low need
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for achievement, high skill and challenge were not associated with increased positive mood, task interest, or organizational spontaneity. The ndings are generally consistent with Csikszentmihalyis (1990) ow theory, which suggests that the combination of high skill and challenge should increase employees task interest and elevate their mood. Our ndings that these relationships occurred among achievement-oriented employees, but not among those having a low need for achievement, extend ow theory by demonstrating that personality inuences the degree to which high skill and challenge at work is associated with an elevated subjective experience relative to other skill-challenge combinations. Our research is also the rst to show that high skill and challenge is related to employee performance. Specically, high perceived skill and challenge was most strongly associated with organizational spontaneity among achievement-oriented employees. These activities included the extent to which employees looked for ways to improve the effectiveness of their work, made constructive suggestions to improve the overall functioning of their workgroups, and encouraged other employees to try new and more effective ways of carrying out their jobs. Moreover, our ndings suggest that positive mood partially mediates this association. These results are consistent with prior research indicating that positive mood led to increased organizational spontaneity and creativity (Eisenberger et al., 2001; Eisenberger & Rhoades, 2001; George & Brief, 1992). George and Brief suggested that positive mood primes employees to think of positive characteristics of their co-workers and organization, thereby promoting helping behavior (George & Brief, 1992). Positive mood has also been argued to promote creative thinking, leading to creative suggestions that help the organization fulll its objectives (Eisenberger et al., 2001; George & Brief, 1992). Overall, the results suggest that Csikszentmihalyis (1990) ow theory, when supplemented by considerations of personality, provides important insights into employees optimal experience at work. In our studies, low achievement-oriented employees did not show greater positive mood, task interest, or organizational spontaneity when they experienced high skill and challenge than when they experienced other skillchallenge combinations. For these employees, successful accomplishment at work may hold little intrinsic interest. They might be more likely to experience satisfaction from job factors such as autonomy, pay or benets, supportiveness of co-workers and supervisors, or the amount of free time their jobs allow. Our results involving need for achievement provide support for Csikszentmihalyi and LeFevres (1989) suggestion that dispositional differences might affect the likelihood that tasks involving high skill and challenge are experienced more positively than other skill and challenge combinations. In both of our studies, the subjective experience related to high skill and challenge was most favorable for achievement-oriented employees, whereas employees low in need for achievement failed to experience high skill and challenge more favorably than other skill-challenge combinations. Individual differences in need for achievement may have been responsible for Csikszentmihalyi and LeFevres (1989) ndings of large individual differences in employee motivation produced by high skill and challenge at work. The enhanced positive mood and task interest experienced by achievement-oriented individuals under conditions of high skill and challenge are consistent with Atkinsons (1964) and McClellands (1961, 1987) view that individuals high in need for achievement strive to meet standards of excellence and derive satisfaction from doing so. The perception that one is fully exercising ones capacities would be especially motivating and satisfying to achievement-oriented employees. Conversely, other combinations of skill and challenge have features that would be less motivating for achievement-oriented employees. Tasks involving a combination of low skill and challenge have a low probability of success, which achievement-oriented individuals attempt to avoid (deCharms & Carpenter, 1968; Hamilton, 1974; Trope, 1975; Karabenick & Youssef, 1968; Raynor & Entin, 1982; Trope & Brickman, 1975). Tasks characterized by low challenge lack
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opportunities for employees to meet standards of excellence and thus have little value for achievement-oriented individuals. We found in Study 2 that items assessing need for achievement in both work and non-work settings formed a single factor. Evidently, we were assessing employees general need for achievement rather than simply their valuation of achievement solely at work. However, it would be premature to conclude that individuals low in need for achievement would not prefer high skill and challenge to other combinations of skill and challenge away from work. Possibly, low achievement oriented individuals are troubled by the evaluation apprehension in work settings and are able to enjoy less evaluative high skill and challenge activities away from work. For example, individuals low in need for achievement may nd pleasure and enjoyment in high skill and challenge activities such as reading a difcult book, preparing an intricate meal, or engaging in adventurous endeavors such as rock climbing. This suggestion is consistent with Moneta and Csikszentmihalyis (1996) nding that talented high school students differed from one another signicantly at school in the magnitude of their aversive reactions to mismatches in skill and challenge, perhaps reecting disparities in need for achievement. Away from school, in less evaluative settings, the students showed more uniform aversive reactions to imbalances in skill and challenge. Also of interest for future research are the possible generalized effects of favorable experiences of high skill and challenge at work. Csikszentmihalyi (1988, p. 369) maintained that the favorable subjective experience associated with repeated instances of ow in a particular context should inuence general subjective well-being. Thus, employees who respond favorably to high skill and challenge at work might show greater overall happiness. Flow theory assumes that a pleasurable state of task absorption results from individuals comparison of their perceived skill with the difculty or challenge posed by the task; when both are high, the individual should experience considerable task enjoyment (Moneta & Csikszentmihalyi, 1996). The theory would need to be modied if these perceptions were mutually dependent to a strong degree. For example, a person who felt unskilled in a task might inate its perceived challenge leading to a negative correlation between perceived skill and challenge. In our studies the relationship between skill and challenge was modest and in the positive direction (r 0.14 and r 0.28 in Studies 1 and 2, respectively), suggesting that employees had little difculty discriminating between their own skill and task challenge. The reliable positive relationship that we found is nonetheless interesting in its own right and a subject for future research. Perhaps employees who succeed at high challenge tasks attribute their success to skill competence (Taylor, 1981). As an alternative to the present interpretation that the perception of high skill and challenge led to positive mood, task interest, and organizational spontaneity, as moderated by need for achievement, the reverse direction of causality could be argued. For example, engagement in organizational spontaneity may lead employees to feel more efcacious on the job, producing a positive mood, and altering their perceptions of skill and challenge. These effects might be stronger among achievement-oriented individuals than among those with a low need for achievement. While these alternative interpretations are possible, the pattern of ndings, and especially the interaction between need for achievement and high skill and challenge, was well predicted by theory. The present research has practical implications for employee motivation and satisfaction. Providing employees high in need for achievement with opportunities to fully exercise their skills in challenging tasks at work may bring enhanced positive mood, increased task interest, and increased organizational spontaneity. Csikszentmihalyis (1990) approach suggests that in order to maintain the interest of achievement-oriented employees, it is important that tasks be challenging and that employees possess skills appropriate to those tasks. The present ndings suggest that to maintain motivation, care should be taken not to overwhelm achievement-oriented employees with tasks for which their skills are illequipped or to bore them with extremely simple tasks. In contrast, employees with a low need for
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achievement showed low positive mood and task interest, relative to employees high in need for achievement, regardless of the levels of skill and challenge. For these individuals, it is an open question whether other job enrichment techniques would be effective in increasing task interest or whether the extrinsic motivation provided by rewards is necessary to enhance motivation. In summary, the present ndings suggest that employees perceived degrees of skill and challenge are related to their positive mood, task interest, and organizational spontaneity. Among achievement-oriented employees, a balance of high skill and challenge had positive consequences for themselves and the organization. Individuals having a disposition to meet high standards of excellence found high skill and challenge in the workplace to be a satisfying experience. Moreover, among these individuals, high skill and challenge on the job was associated with enhanced organizational spontaneity.

Author biographies
Robert Eisenberger is Professor of Psychology at the University of Delaware. His research interests include employee motivation, intrinsic motivation and creativity, and learned industriousness. He is author of more than sixty publications in such journals as Psychological Review, Psychological Bulletin, American Psychologist, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and Journal of Organizational Behavior. Two special reports of his research have been carried out on National Public Radio, and reports have also appeared in the American Psychological Association Monitor, Encyclopedia Britannica Science and the Future Yearbook, Science News, and Report on Education Research. Dr. Eisenbergers research has been funded by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health. Jason R. Jones is a graduate student at the University of Delaware under the direction of Dr. Robert Eisenberger. His research interests include the attributional processes that contribute to the development of perceived organizational support, the role that explanations and apologies by management play in tempering the negative effects of unfavorable treatment on POS, and factors of the person and the work environment that contribute to the ow experience on the job. Florence Stinglhamber obtained her Ph.D. from the Catholic University of Louvain (Louvain` ge, la-Neuve, Belgium). She is currently a researcher at Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HECLie Belgium). Her research interests include perceived organizational support, perceived supervisor support, employee commitment in the workplace, and social justice. Linda Shanock is an Assistant Professor in the Psychology department at the University at Albany, State University of New York. Her main research areas include work motivation, employee attitudes, and employee-employer relationships. Specically, Dr. Shanock has conducted work on the relationship between rewards and intrinsic motivation, predictors and outcomes of the engrossing and pleasurable subjective state called ow, and the development and renement of organizational support theory. Amanda T. Randall obtained her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Delaware. She is currently employed by Towers Perrin, Chicago where she is a Senior Consultant in the Change Implementation Practice Division.

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