Distributed leadership and a climate for informal learning as social conditions for facilitating autonomy and competence satisfaction

In the current economy work depends on the creativity, commitment, perseverance, and ability to learn of knowledge workers. Intrinsic motivation is a key concept to ensure the productivity of knowledge workers. The main purpose of this study is to investigate how the intrinsic motivation of knowledge workers within a team can be supported. The Self-determination theory describes the importance of a supportive social context in facilitating intrinsic motivation through the satisfaction of the basic psychological need for autonomy and competence. We theoretically argue that the theory of distributed leadership and a climate for informal learning are social conditions that can facilitate satisfaction of the need for autonomy (in terms of self-direction, self-initiation and self-determination) and competence (in terms of learning, development and knowledge productivity). To empirically study these theoretical relationships a survey has been conducted in 21 teams of knowledge workers in an organization for child and youth support in the Netherlands. The results show that only a climate for informal learning has a positive relationship with autonomy satisfaction. This indicates that the quality of social interaction is more important than the mere presence of it. For competence satisfaction, a positive and significant relationship with a knowledge worker’s personal influence within a team was found. This indicates that the granting of influence can be perceived as positive feedback, which satisfies the need for competence. Due to a low between-group variance the team level effects on competence could neither be confirmed nor rejected. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.