Perceived Competence Development in Daily Work Tasks: Associations with Emotional Valence, Emotional Arousal, and Electrodermal Activity

Abstract Although competence development has received considerable attention in workplace learning research, little is known about how perceived competence development is associated with emotional and physiological experiences during authentic work situations. Addressing this research gap, the current study used longitudinal interval-contingent design to examine how task-related emotional valence, emotional arousal, and physiological arousal (electrodermal activity, EDA) were associated with perceived competence development in daily work. Data comprised 543 work session observations from 56 white-collar employees in two international engineering companies. Results of Bayesian mixed-effects regression analysis showed that employees’ task-related perceived competence development was linked to their immediate, in-the-moment experiences. Specifically, during work tasks where employees felt more positive emotional valence and activating emotional arousal, they were more likely to report higher perceived competence development. EDA also showed a multifaceted relationship with this development. First, the results showed that in moments when an employee was more physiologically aroused than was typical for them, they were more likely to report higher perceived competence development. Second, when comparing participants, individuals who generally maintained higher EDA right up to the end of a work task tended to report more perceived competence development overall. In contrast, individuals who tended to stay highly aroused after the task was completed, reported less perceived competence development, a pattern consistent with lower post-task physiological arousal or recovery. Overall, the results provide novel multimodal information about how emotions and EDA are associated with perceived competence development during work, with implications for theory and practice.