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Empowered, accountable, and committed? Applying self-determination theory to examine work-place procrastination
Fazia Kausar1,2, Muhammad Umer Ijaz3,4, Maria Rasheed5
1Lahore Business School, The University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan.
BMC Psychology
|June 6, 2025
Summary
This study reveals that psychological empowerment and ownership reduce workplace procrastination by increasing organizational commitment. Organizational commitment acts as a key mediator in this process.
Area of Science:
- Organizational Psychology
- Workplace Behavior
- Human Resource Management
Background:
- Workplace procrastination is a significant issue impacting productivity.
- Existing research has explored various factors contributing to procrastination.
- The role of psychological characteristics and organizational commitment requires further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of psychological empowerment and psychological ownership on reducing employee workplace procrastination.
- To examine the mediating role of organizational commitment in the relationship between psychological characteristics and workplace procrastination, grounded in organizational commitment theory.
Main Methods:
- Two studies were conducted with a time-lagged data collection approach to mitigate common-method bias.
- Study 1 involved 146 participants recruited via the Prolific crowdsourcing platform.
- Study 2 surveyed 384 employees in Pakistan's banking sector using paper-and-pencil questionnaires.
Main Results:
- Findings confirmed that organizational commitment mediates the relationship between psychological characteristics (empowerment and ownership) and workplace procrastination.
- Psychological empowerment and ownership were found to be negatively related to workplace procrastination through organizational commitment.
Conclusions:
- This research identifies key psychological antecedents of workplace procrastination.
- It elucidates the mediating mechanism of organizational commitment, offering novel insights into reducing procrastination.
- The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of employee motivation and behavior in the workplace.
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