What Value Do You Bring to the Company? Daily Diary Insights on the Relationship between Employees’ Autonomy and Value Creation Beliefs*

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the link between work autonomy and employees’ daily value creation beliefs outside an exclusively economic standpoint. We utilized Lackéus’ (2018) value creation model, which encompasses not only economic but social, influence, enjoyment and harmony-based categories of value creation as well. Data were based on 59 Greek employees who completed a quantitative diary questionnaire for five consecutive workdays. Results from multilevel analyses suggested positive links between daily work autonomy and value creation beliefs and between trait positive affectivity (tPA) and value creation beliefs. A negative contextual effect for work autonomy was found, suggesting that when individuals experience greater control and independence in their job tasks during our study period, it has a detrimental impact on their perception of contributing value to the organization. The research adds to the continuous theoretical expansion of value creation literature in organizational settings by demonstrating that both trait affectivity and work autonomy serve as motivators, propelling employees to explore various avenues for value creation.