How Workplace Fun Promotes Employees' Innovative Behavior: A Dual Mediation Model

Area of Science:

• Organizational Behavior
• Psychology
• Management

Background:

• Workplace fun is increasingly recognized for its potential impact on employee outcomes.
• Understanding the nuanced relationship between different types of fun and innovation is crucial for organizations.
• Existing research often lacks a differentiated view of how workplace fun influences various innovation behaviors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the distinct effects of sociality-oriented fun and assistant-oriented fun on employee innovative behavior.
• To examine the mediating roles of positive affect and job satisfaction in these relationships.
• To apply Affective Events Theory and the motivational dimensional model of affect to workplace fun research.

Main Methods:

• A supervisor-subordinate dyadic survey was conducted with 116 employees and 17 supervisors in a Chinese state-owned electric power company.
• Structural equation modeling using Mplus 8.3 was employed to test the hypothesized relationships.
• Data collection focused on assessing workplace fun, positive affect, job satisfaction, and innovative behaviors.

Main Results:

• Sociality-oriented fun positively influences affect-driven innovative behavior, mediated by high-motivated positive affect.
• Assistant-oriented fun positively influences judgment-driven innovative behavior, mediated by low-motivated positive affect and job satisfaction.
• The study identified distinct pathways through which different types of workplace fun impact employee innovation.

Conclusions:

• Workplace fun is not monolithic; its type significantly determines its effect on innovation.
• Organizations can strategically design fun activities to foster specific types of employee innovation.
• Positive affect and job satisfaction are key mediators linking workplace fun to innovative behaviors.