Appreciation and depressive symptoms: The moderating role of need satisfaction

Research has shown that managers who recognize and acknowledge positive employee behaviors and achievements at work foster their health and well-being. In the present 3-wave study, we investigated appreciation from managers in the context of the progression of employees' depressive symptoms across 1 year. Building on self-determination theory, we examined employees' need satisfaction for autonomy, competence, and relatedness as moderating factors, and the mediating role of maladaptive coping (i.e., ruminative thoughts) in this relationship. Findings from 194 employees working in the energy branch of an international company revealed that high appreciation from one's manager was related to less depressive symptoms only for those individuals whose basic need for relatedness was more satisfied at work. We did not find moderator effects with respect to satisfaction of need for autonomy and competence. Further, moderated mediation analyses revealed significant indirect effects for depressive symptoms for lower levels of need satisfaction of relatedness: Appreciation in the context of unsatisfying relationships at work made employees more likely to ruminate about negative events, which was related to more depressive symptoms in the long run. However, ruminative thoughts did not mediate the significant negative relationship between appreciation and depressive symptoms when needs for relatedness were satisfied. The study adds to the discussion that the potential positive impact of appreciation depends on how satisfying social relationships at work are experienced. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).