Autonomy satisfaction and perceived competence development during daily work: the mediating role of emotional valence and arousal

Purpose This paper aims to examine how autonomy satisfaction influences employees’ perceived task-related competence development during daily work and whether emotional valence and arousal mediate this relationship. Design/methodology/approach The authors collected intensive longitudinal data on the perceived autonomy satisfaction, emotions and competence development of white-collar technology sector employees (n = 56) during daily work using ecological momentary assessment with an interval-contingent design. Findings Analysis of three-level data from 813 ecological momentary assessments conducted over 281 participant-days using within-person Bayesian multilevel mediation modelling revealed that higher autonomy satisfaction predicted higher perceived competence development during daily work. Furthermore, positive emotional valence and positive (but not negative) emotional arousal were found to substantially mediate this relationship. Research limitations/implications While this study provided several implications for theory, such as the relevance of perceived task-related competence in the white-collar technology sector and the applicability of control-value theory in the study of emotions at work, certain theoretical and methodological implications are warranted. The interval-contingent design was used instead of the event-contingent design, the intensity of emotions was not assessed and competence development was assessed only through self-reports. Practical implications Organisations should provide autonomy-supportive work environments to enhance autonomy satisfaction and foster positive, activating emotions to support employees’ competence development. Originality/value This study addresses the lack of research on competence development during authentic work tasks and, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first to use 1–1–1 mediation modelling to examine the influence of autonomy satisfaction and emotions on perceived competence development in daily work.