Reactualized in Times of Crisis: The Role of Relatedness at Work

• Main Author: Beate Jelstad Løvaas
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Verlage 2020-12-01
• Series: Diaconia
• Subjects: relatedness; interpersonal relationships; intrinsic motivation; meaningful work; diaconal organizations; commercial organizations
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.13109/diac.2020.11.2.141

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a switch to remote work and has given a boost to new digital technologies. These changes are altering the relational aspects of work and have had fundamental implications for workplace relationships, reactualizing the role of interpersonal relationships in organizations. This study investigates the significance of relatedness as a source facilitating work motivation and other work outcomes. Drawing on the self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan:1985; Ryan & Deci: 2017), the paper proposes and empirically tests a model for investigating the role of relatedness at work. Based on a sample consisting of 261 respondents from a diaconal and a commercial healthcare institution in Norway, the findings indicate that relatedness independently contributes to intrinsic work motivation. Further, no differences in path coefficients between the diaconal and the commercial organization were found. The article discusses how these findings from the current study, which was conducted before the Covid-19 outbreak, can give insights into the worklife during and after the pandemic.