The bare necessities: a necessary condition analysis of the dual role of basic psychological need satisfaction and frustration on wellbeing at work

The purpose of the current study was to test the necessity of basic psychological needs within self-determination theory (SDT) for employee wellbeing. Utilizing necessary condition analysis across three samples (two cross-sectional and one longitudinal), we evaluate whether need satisfaction and need frustration of the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness are essential for various indicators of well-being and ill-being among employees. The results, although varied across samples and outcomes, generally indicated that autonomy and competence constitute necessities for employee wellbeing. Specifically, both satisfaction and low frustration of autonomy were necessary for promoting well-being and avoiding ill-being, while low frustration of competence emerged as a consistent necessity across a broad spectrum of well-being indicators. In contrast, the need for relatedness did not consistently emerge as necessary across the studied outcomes but was identified as necessary for certain ones. Together these findings validate the necessity assumption of the basic psychological needs posited by SDT and illuminates the dual role of satisfaction and frustration for employee wellbeing.