Six psychological needs ‒ detachment from work-related thoughts, relaxation, autonomy, mastery, meaning, and affiliation, abbreviated as “DRAMMA” ‒ were examined in this dissertation. These experiences may explain why off-the-job life is often beneficial for employees’ well-being.
The dissertation consists of four scientific publications. In the first publication, DRAMMA experiences, and especially detachment and relaxation, were found to be important for supporting well-being in leisure and work. Importantly, employees can also proactively increase their own DRAMMA experiences, which is a process called off-the-job crafting.
The second publication presents a novel theoretical model on crafting the processes at play within and across different life domains. Off-the-job crafting was then empirically examined in the third and fourth publications using longitudinal datasets that included European and Japanese employees. Off-the-job crafting was found to be positively related to well-being, self-rated work ability and performance in family roles. Moreover, cultural contexts can influence what kind of opportunities employees perceive they have for engaging in off-the-job crafting.
These findings have important implications for practice, highlighting that DRAMMA experiences play a key role in supporting employees’ well-being and that employees can and do engage in efforts to bring about DRAMMA experiences and satisfy psychological needs.
Master of Arts Miika Kujanpää’s doctoral dissertation In Need of Leisure: Investigating the Relationship Between Off-job Crafting, Psychological Needs Satisfaction and Optimal Functioning will be publicly examined at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, on Thursday 3 March 2022 at 16.15 CET (Academy Building, Broerstraat 5, Groningen, the Netherlands).
Master of Arts in Psychology Miika Kujanpää is completing a double doctoral degree at Tampere University and the University of Groningen. In the dissertation defence, his opponents are professors Ute Bültmann, Atte Oksanen, Susanne Scheibe, Maarten Vansteenkiste and Onne Janssen. The custos is Academy of Finland Research Fellow and Rosalind Franklin Fellow Jessica de Bloom who supervised the dissertation with professor emerita Ulla Kinnunen.
The dissertation defence can be watched remotely.
(You transfer to University of Groningen's website)
Please note that the event begins at 16.15 CET that is at 17.15 Finnish time.
The full text of the dissertation is available on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202202101898
Photograph: Jonne Renvall