How Job Autonomy Promotes Employee’s Sustainable Development? A Moderated Mediation Model

In the rapidly changing business world, improving employee’s self-development level is of great importance for organizations to pursue sustainable development. The purpose of this study is to examine how and when job autonomy promotes employee’s self-development. Drawing from self-determination theory, we examined the effect of job autonomy on employee’s self-development, and the mediation role of intrinsic motivation in this relationship. Moreover, we argued that team connectivity strengthened the relationship between job autonomy and intrinsic motivation, and further moderated the indirect effect of job autonomy and self-employment via intrinsic motivation. Using a two-wave panel design, we collected data from a sample of 473 employees in China. The results indicated that job autonomy predicted employee’s self-development, and employee’s intrinsic motivation fully mediated this relationship. Team connectivity positively moderated the relationship between job autonomy and intrinsic motivation, and further moderated the mediation effect of intrinsic motivation. The theoretical and practical implications of this research are discussed along with the limitations and further research directions.