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VIKALPA VOLUME 39 NO 2 APRIL - JUNE 2014 57
R E S E A R C H
includes research articles thatfocus on the analysis and
resolution of managerial andacademic issues based on
analytical and empirical or caseresearch
ExecutiveSummary
Three-Factor Model of Employee Passion:An Empirical Study in the Indian Context
Niharika Gaan and Kalyani Mohanty
KEY WORDS
Work Passion
Work Cognition
Work Affect
Work Rumination
Job Well-being
Although the passion that people demonstrate at work would appear to be a topic of
considerable interest and importance to organizational scholars and practitioners,
the extant literature scarcely discusses the construct of it without further investiga-
tion. The study of Vallerand et al. (2003) pertaining to the area of passion has made
profound theoretical contribution confirming the precepts of positive psychology
(Seligman, 2002). However, the behavioural outcomes such as working on holidays,
or out-of-work outcomes such as constantly thinking about work when not at work
(work rumination) sharing a nomological network with the construct, has not been
examined by them, as argued by Perrew et al., (2014). Further, the comprehensive
work shown by Zigarmi et al. (2011) in defining the Work Passion (WP) construct
suffers from methodological lacunae. Given that the extant literature on work passion
calls for further examination, the pertinent study aims to investigate the validity and
reliability of Passion scales based on the model proposed by Zigarmi et al. (2011).
Four dimensions of a process model constituting work cognition, work affect, job well-
being, and work intention along with work rumination as an integral part of work
passion were examined. Questionnaires were administered to a sample of corporate
professionals heralding spectrum of industries to validate the passion scale. The prin-
cipal component analysis was performed which extracted four factors (work cogni-
tion, work affect, job well-being & work rumination) out of five factors to validate the
construct. However, in order to confirm the validity of the scale, the structural equa-
tion modeling analysis was adopted which further indicated that the three-factor
structure of work passion (work cognition, work affect, and work rumination) was the
best fit model in comparison to the four-factor models.
Incidentally, the emergence of work rumination as an important dimension of WP
construct has confirmed the dualistic nature of the passion construct as stated by
Vallerand et al. (2003) through its dualistic status as positive and negative work rumi-
nation. The triadic nature of WP can be prospective as well as retrospective in nature;
where people tend to think about issues that have occurred in the past or anticipatively
ruminate about issues and demands that may arise at work (Cropley & Zijlstra, 2011).
The intriguing nature of the present study suggesting cognitions (work cognition),
affects (work affects), and behaviours (work rumination) to be preceding the formation
of dualistic status of passion (harmonious and obsessive passion) provides a good
basis for future investigation.
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58
Though passion seems to have 2000 years of intel-
lectual history, the field of psychology has not
captured its emotional aspect involving intense
personal interests, commitment, and over-commitment
until recently (Krapp, 2002). Literature reports its cover-
age in the context of numerous non-work activities like
sports, gambling, romance, and internet use (Amiot et al.,
2006; Mageau et al., 2005; Rousseau et al., 2002; Seguin-
Levesque et al., 2003). Most creative work is an outcome
of passion, influenced both by a persons basic interest in
a particular kind of work and by the work environment
surrounding the person (Amabile, 2001; Fisher & Smith,
2006), and is stated to result in cognitive, affective, and
instrumental outcomes (Vallerand & Houlfort, 2003). It is
even put forward as being an active ingredient for ven-
ture growth (Baum, Locke, & Smith, 2001), well-being
(Burke & Fiskenbaum, 2009), and entrepreneurial suc-
cess (Cardon, Zietsma, Saparito, Matherne, & Davis, 2005).
Further, passion seems to be an essential driver for em-
ployee engagement (Pati, 2012; Ho et al., 2009), thereby
indicating precedence over work attitude. Despite its prac-
tical significance, the organizational sciences have yet to
develop an informed understanding of the content do-
main, predictive efficacy, and influence of passion on rel-
evant outcomes, including job stress and performance.
Thus, the authors here regard work passion (WP) as a
construct in its nascent stage of development.
WHY PASSION MATTERS
Lately work passion (WP) has become a catchphrase for
researchers and practitioners because of certain inherent
weaknesses attached to the concept of employee engage-
ment (EE). A clear understanding of the difference be-
tween the two concepts can help the practitioner to choose
the specific indicator which positively influences the per-
formance of the organization, without leaving room for
any anomaly. Firstly, the key indicators that differentiate
employee engagement from passion include factors be-
sides organizational and job-related factors (Zigarmi et
al., 2009), which together have generally been used to
explain the WP construct. The WP construct has an added
element as it not only takes into account both organiza-
tional and job factors but is also considered to be a self-
defining activity which strengthens one's identity
(Zigarmi et al., 2011; Vallerand et al., 2003). Academi-
cians perceive engagement construct as being connected
solely to job-related factors, whereas the practitioners re-
late it solely to organizational factors, creating a wide
gulf in their interpretation. From the social cognitive
theory perspective (Zigarmi et al., 2011), WP is thought to
emphasize the appraisal process of an individuals per-
ception on the events and experiences impacting his well-
being, whereas from the role theory perspective, EE is
described as a kind of stable psychological presence
whereby the individuals in organizations express them-
selves physically, cognitively, and emotionally with re-
spect to their discretionary work roles (Kahn, 1990).
Secondly, emotional and intellectual involvement are
considered as emotional and intellectual commitment to
the organization (Baumruk, 2004; Richman, 2006; Shaw,
2005) or the amount of discretionary effort exhibited by
employees in their jobs (Frank et al., 2004) and this sub-
stantially explains variance in employee engagement.
However, it has also been observed that organizational
commitment and job involvement are interchangeably
used. It therefore draws the criticism that employee en-
gagement overlaps and bleeds into already existing con-
struct of organizational commitment or job involvement,
thereby having little merit in its identity (Harrison,
Newman, & Roth, 2006; Saks, 2008). Work engagement is
neither strong enough nor descriptive enough to be asso-
ciated with affective, cognitive, and/or behavioural com-
ponents found in social cognitive theory and appraisal
literature (Zigarmi et al., 2009), whereas WP presupposes
the key underlying drivers of intense desire and inten-
tionality that are not part of engagement but are extensive
enough to provide incentive for work behaviours (Zigarmi
et al., 2009). More importantly, engagement is not a term
which is sufficiently encompassing to fully capture the
magnitude of work passion and its impact on individu-
als (Perrew et al., 2014). Moreover, the distinction be-
tween both the constructs is reinforced with the evidence
that employee engagement is a part of intensive work sys-
tem rather than being a component of sustainable work
system (Docherty, Kira, & Shani, 2009).Given the criti-
cisms attached to the term employee engagement, WP has
been gaining ground as human resource professionals
are more precise about the concepts, antecedents, and
modifiers that affect employee motivation and work pas-
sion (Zigarmi et al., 2009).
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Passion makes employees excited about their work
and gives a sense of personal accomplishment. It is an
intrinsic motivation in its highest form, which makes
work interesting, engaging, and positively challenging;
THREE-FACTOR MODEL OF EMPLOYEE PASSION: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY IN THE INDIAN CONTEXT
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VIKALPA VOLUME 39 NO 2 APRIL - JUNE 2014 59
and can lead to complete absorption in the work
(Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). If an employee is passionate
about his job, it is implicitly connected to his concept of
self. Passion for work is the outward manifestation of
individual purpose and connection with organizational
purpose (Love, 2005); however, there is no one-size-fits-
all solution for bringing passion to ones life (Boyatzis,
McKee, & Goleman, 2002).
In a similar vein, Vallerand et al. (2003) have stated that
passion can be understood as a strong inclination toward
a self-defining activity that people love, feel a devotion
towards, and in which they invest significant time and
energy. With these criteria, the internalization of activity
with ones identity gives the underlying meaning to the
WP construct. The proposition of Vallerand et al. (2003)
is based on a self-determination theory that believes that
internalization of activity is influenced by the interaction
of innate, psychological needs of autonomy, competence,
and relatedness (Williams & Deci, 1996) which are not
self-generated and are rather dependent on external en-
vironment. However, what is posited by them is strongly
contradicted due to its inherent tendency of being exhorted
and influenced by the environmental factors (Zigarmi et
al., 2009). Furthermore, they postulated dualistic exist-
ence of passion consisting of harmonious and obsessive
passion unlike the other studies. The former is consid-
ered to emanate when a person freely accepts an activity
as important for him and as representative of his identity
(Ryan & Desi, 2000). This component of passion is sup-
posed to yield a positive outcome. The latter emanates
from an uncontrollable urge to partake in an activity where
one can experience contingencies attached to it, which
may lead to negative psychological adjustment (Mageau,
Carpentier, & Vallerand, 2012) as the activity controls
individual interests.
Despite being a pioneer in the field of WP, Vallerand et al.
(2003) had not studied the behavioural outcomes such as
working on holidays, or out-of-work outcomes such as
constantly thinking about work when not at work (work
rumination), as a part of the WP construct (Forest et al.,
2010) or as sharing a nomological network with it
(Perrew et al., 2014). The author argues here that con-
trolled rumination can also be a part of passion which
results in problem solving and creativity. However, it is
shown as a moderating variable between WP and emo-
tional exhaustion (Donahue, Forest, & Bergeron , 2012).
Additionally, a high level of passion (Obsessive) has a
predilection to be associated with uncontrolled rumina-
tion (Ratelle, et al. 2004) and inflexibility (Vallerand et al.,
2003).
As per the extensive study by Zigarmi et al. (2011), WP is
an individuals persistent, emotionally positive, mean-
ing-based, state of well-being, stemming from recurring
cognitive and affective appraisal of various job and or-
ganizational situations which results in consistent and
constructive work intentions and behaviours (Zirgami et
al., 2009). It measures affective and cognitive intention,
and provides a clearer sense of how the individual in-
tends to behave on behalf of the organization. The cogni-
tive aspect of the formation of WP involves the growth of
mental schema or thought patterns that contain the fea-
tures, images, feelings, and ideas associated with the work
experience being appraised (Lord & Kernan, 1987;
Wofford, Goodwin, & Whittington, 1990). Emotions are
generated in the process of appraisal through the cogni-
tive aspect of passion which is termed as work affect and
helps the appraiser to perceive the work experience to be
either threatening or enhancing (Gotlieb et al., 1994;
Jaussi, 2007). As defined by Schaufeli, Bakker, and
Salanova (2006), job well-being is a positive, fulfilling,
state of mind characterized by vigour, dedication, and
absorption which is nomologically networked with em-
ployee engagement. During the second phase of the ap-
praisal process, intentions are generated as ones
inclination to act in a given way toward a particular com-
mitment target (Brown, 1996). Although the study of
Zigarmi et al. (2011) tried operationalizing the construct
in a manner which apparently seems to be comprehen-
sive, it suffers from methodological lacunae. The sample
drawn in the study solely represented one division of an
electronics company based in the western US and the
coverage was narrow, excluding the middle level and
senior managers in the hierarchy.
This may pose the greatest limitation to the generaliza-
tion of the study. Research on the role of passion in work
organizations is comparatively scarce, with the excep-
tion of one study (Vallerand & Houlfort, 2003) that has
proposed obsessive passion as one of its aspects, which
does not appear to be part of the study conducted by
Zigarmi et al. (2011). Consequently, it leads to the debate
on the dualistic state of the employee passion construct
comprising obsessive passion and harmonious passion.
Owing much to this foundational work, studies have rec-
ognized passion as a complex construct capable of elicit-
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60
ing employee reactions ranging from exceedingly posi-
tive to highly destructive (Marsh et al., 2013). Accord-
ingly, the expansiveness of the construct and its associated
impact on important organizational outcomes encourage
further investigation in studies with the potential to move
the research base forward by revisiting the construct and
defining it in a meaningful way.
METHOD
Samples and Procedure
The database consisted of 256 working professionals
ranging from lower level executives to general managers.
The data was collected during January 2012-February
2013 from public as well as private sector undertakings
located in the northern region of India and had a return
rate of 65 percent with a usable rate of 51 percent. The
different modes of survey administration, chosen on the
basis of convenience and feasibility, were e-mails, online
survey, and field survey. It involved snowball sampling
to get the leads from the higher authorities like the gen-
eral managers from banks and manufacturing industry,
and project leaders of the information technology (IT) sec-
tor. Twenty-one percent of the sample was generated from
manufacturing, 19 percent from IT, and 40 percent from
sectors like power, logistics, service, and education. The
employees age averaged 33.7 years (SD=1.48); 12 per-
cent had Masters degrees and the rest were graduates.
The demographic characteristics of the respondents are
provided in Table 1.
Measures
Based on the studies by Zigarmi et al. (2011) and
Vallerand (2003), a list of 70 items was prepared for meas-
uring constructs which needed to be scored on a five-
point Likert continuum (1-Least important, 5-Most
important). Scale indicators for face validity provided
measures which were checked by the panel consisting of
four faculty members. Faculty members conversant with
the content area of employee passion were requested to
review each item in terms of its relevance to the domain
passion. Initial screening resulted in the addition of the
dimension called work rumination consisting of 10 items
and the reduction of other items from 82 to 60, which
were taken forward for evaluation. Thus the final version
of the employee passion questionnaire used for the study
consisted of self-report items to be scored on a five-point
Likert continuum (1-Strongly disagree, 5-Strongly agree).
In addition to their evaluation regarding the relevance of
the topic, other factors which were considered by the fac-
ulty members were conceptual clarity, sentence clarity,
and conciseness.
Table 1: Demographic Statistics
N Percentage N Percentage
Age Experience at Current Employment
40 40 16 6-10 38 15
11 onward 36 14
Gender Total Work Experience
Male 130 51 1-5 78 30
Female 126 49 6-10 120 47
11-15 22 9
Industry 16-20 28 11
FMCG 10 4 21 onward 18 7
Manufacturing 52 21 Hierarchy
Automobile 6 2 Non Management Nil
Consulting 10 5 Lower Management
Telecommunications Nil Middle Management
Banking 28 11 Senior Management
IT 48 19 Marital Status
Others (Power, logistics and service sectors) 102 40 Married 154 60
Unmarried 102 40
THREE-FACTOR MODEL OF EMPLOYEE PASSION: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY IN THE INDIAN CONTEXT
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VIKALPA VOLUME 39 NO 2 APRIL - JUNE 2014 61
To test the theoretical model of employee work passion,
five facets work cognition, work affect, job well-being,
work intention, and work rumination were incorpo-
rated. The first phase was conducted as a pilot test with a
sample size of 140, with a view to assess and refine the
measures.
ANALYSES
Principal Component Analysis
A principal component analysis was performed on 70
items employing varimax rotation as a means of examin-
ing the factor structure of the employee passion scale on
the sample size of 140. It extracted four factors which
accounted for 53 percent of the variance keeping restric-
tions on fifty factors while performing exploratory factor
analysis.
A total of 20 items were generated out of 70 items corre-
sponding to factors like work cognition, work affect, job
well-being, and work rumination having eigen value of
more than 1 ranging between1.56-5.28. The addition of
work rumination has profound influence here with 7 per-
cent explanatory power towards WP and has supported
the expert opinion. The value of KMO obtained from the
analysis was 0.704, which reveals that the sample size
was adequate for this test (Hutecheson & Sofroniou, 1999).
Similarly, the value of Bartletts test of sphericity was
878.04, p
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62
of 20 items.
Convergent and Discriminant Validity
Table 3 corresponds to the inter-correlation among the
dimensions. As per Nunnally and Bernstein (1994), it is
necessary to demonstrate correlation with scales which
measure the same construct or with scales that would be
associated with it. They have even posited that discrimi-
nant validity is established by the presence of non-sig-
nificant correlations with scales.
Confirmatory Factor Analysis
After the factor analysis, 14 indicators constituting em-
ployee passion were subjected to confirmatory factor
analysis with the aid of IBM SPSS AMOS 20.0 version
and a sample size of 250. As depicted in Table 4, an ad-
equate fit of the measurement model was shown to the
three-factor model (2 [75] =214.95, CFI=0.913,RMSEA=0.061). The results of the three-factor model when
contrasted with the four-factor model (with all 14 items
loading on the four factors) as well as the absolute null
model (with no relationships among 14 items), supported
the three-factor conceptualization of employee passion
over the four factor as well as the null model. The model
having job well-being as an endogenous variable along
with three exogenous variables (work affect, work cogni-
tion, and obsessive passion), when compared with the
three-factor model, proved to have poor fit indices (2[76] =294.5, CFI= 0.81, RMSEA= 0.092). This analysis
Table 3: Means, Standard Deviations, & Inter-Correlations (N=256)
No. Variables Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
1. COG1 3.83 1.12 1.00
2. COG2 3.72 1.20 .42** 1.00
3. COG3 3.81 .99 .59** .32* 1.00
4. COG4 3.85 1.02 .43** .40** .44** 1.00
5. AFF1 4.41 1.15 .24** .20* .33** .26** 1.00
6. AFF2 4.01 1.02 .25* .25** .32** .48** .24* 1.00
7. AFF3 4.11 .86 .34** .21* .49** .33** .31* .35** 1.00
8. AFF4 4.21 1.03 .34* .27** .21* .31* .28** .27** .40** 1.00
9. JOBW1 3.69 1.03 .20** 30* .31* .38* .25* .39* .21* .25* 1.00
10. JOBW2 3.95 1.09 .26** .37* .21** .21* .37* .27* .26** .22* .27** 1.00
11. JOBW3 3.86 1.11 .27** .31* .21** .31** .29* .20** .40** .23* .28** .37** 1.00
12. RUMIN1 3.67 1.01 .21** .26* .29* .22* .23** .23* .29* .23* .28** .26** .20** 1.00
13. RUMIN2 3.71 .96 .33* .26* .23** .23* .23** .28* .20* .29** -.21** -.26* -.23* .25** 1.00
14. RUMIN3 4.17 1.03 .20** .33** .25** .39* .27* .25* .21* .38* -.20** -.21* -.26* .31* .51** 1.00
Total Employee passion
Note: *p
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VIKALPA VOLUME 39 NO 2 APRIL - JUNE 2014 63
vouches for the researches posited by authors like Hoe
(2008) for examining the best fit model.
DISCUSSION
This study has made an attempt to revisit the WP con-
struct that can possibly be operationalized in the Indian
context. It is fundamentally based on the intensive study
made by Zigarmi et al. (2011). The noticeable results de-
picted by confirmatory factor analysis have four-pronged
precedents. Firstly, it confirms the dualistic model of ob-
sessive passion (Vallerand et al., 2003), which is appar-
ently seen to exist in the present finding and which has
not appeared to be an integral part of the social cognitive
approach, strongly endorsed by Zigarmi et al. (2009). This
confirmation is manifested in work rumination that has
emerged as a subscale to WP. Rumination is defined as a
class of conscious thoughts that revolve around a com-
mon instrumental theme that is repetitive in nature (Mar-
tin & Tesser, 1996). Additionally, it has been classified as
depressive rumination (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1993), post-
event rumination (Kashdan & Roberts, 2006; Rapee &
Heimberg, 1997), and positive rumination (Johnson,
McKenzie, & McMurrich, 2008). Due to the presence of
perseverative thinking (depressive rumination), uncon-
structive consequences like anxiety, bad mood, and de-
pression can possibly occur (Berger & Motl, 2000), thereby
showing a sign of obsessive passion. This preseverative
thinking can be attributed to intra and/or interpersonal
contingencies associated with the activity, such as con-
tingent self-esteem, social acceptance or high perform-
ance leading to the development of an obsessive passion
for that activity (e.g. Mageau et al., 2009).The rumination
about work issues can also have beneficial effects and be
associated with positive connotations (Cropley & Zijlstra,
2011). For this reason, Cropley and Purvis (2003) pro-
posed two other concepts problem-solving pondering
and detachment to have a better understanding of how
thinking about ones job after working hours did not nec-
essarily have to be detrimental. In a similar vein, Vallerand
et al. (2010) found that people with harmonious passion
might willingly engage in an activity without any contin-
gencies attached to it and might stop being passionate if
they experienced a negative factor like physical pain or
suffering. Therefore, it can be argued that such problem-
solving pondering and detachment may lead to harmo-
nious passion (Vallerand et al., 2010).
The four-factor model having inferior fit index as com-
pared to the three-factor model shows the path between
work rumination and job well-being (-0.17) which sup-
ports previous research by reaffirming that it is difficult
to unwind from work if perseverative thinking continues
beyond working hours and controls the state of ones mind
(Steptoe, Cropley, & Jokes, 1999; Sonnentag, 2001), even-
tually leading to obsessive passion (Vallerand & Houlfort,
2003). Moreover, work rumination has reported to have
both negative and positive trade-offs depending on the
basis of constructive and unconstructive outcomes
(Watkins, 2008) and its classification (Johnson, McKenzie,
Figure 1: Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Three-factor Model of Employee Passion
Note: *p
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64
& McMurrich, 2008). For instance, Treynor, Gonzalez, and
Nolen-Hoeksema (2003) found that certain ruminations
called reflective ruminations promoted positive introspec-
tion that could foster successful problem solving
ponderings leading to constructive outcomes.
Secondly, though the four-factor model of WP shows job
well-being as a subscale according to confirmatory analy-
sis finding, it does not play a mediating role in the present
finding as indicated through the poor fit indices shown
in the results, and the tenability of such relations are re-
jected. Moreover, the four-factor model of WP is also not
superior to its three-factor model since it shows lower fit
indices compared to the latter. Therefore, job well-being
cannot be a component of the WP construct. However, job
well-being is considered to be interchangeably used with
engagement as it apparently seems to share a nomologi-
cal network with the latter (Balducci, Scheufeli, &
Fraccaroli, 2011). At the same time it is even argued that
employee engagement can be a key indicator of employee
well-being (Albrecht, 2012). Besides that, job well-being
supposedly has incremental value over job attitudes in
predicting work performance. Subsequently, it can be
deduced that job well-being which is considered to be an
integral part of the nomological network to construct
employee engagement remains debatable (Robertson,
Birch, & Cooper, 2012). Hence, it can be argued here that
job well-being cannot be a part of the WP construct as
professed by Zigarmi et al. (2011) as its inclusion does
not support a strikingly distinct identity of WP from EE.
Thirdly, as per the present finding, the WP construct does
not include work intention as its sub-scale. The appraisal
process as a part of WP helps the employee to determine
how to cope with the events and experiences (Lazaurus,
1991) by examining the different aspects of the job
(Folkman, Lazarus, Dunkel-Schetter, DeLongis, & Gruen,
1986). This may consequently lead to positive or negative
work intention (Zigarmi et al., 2011) whereas WP, as pro-
fessed by Vallerand (2003), involves psychological proce-
sses constituting valuation of activity, internalization, and
representation of the activity in the core aspect of ones
self. The latter statement has been supported in the present
finding by proving work rumination to be ubiquitous in
explaining the WP construct. Moreover, the subscale
shows repetitive and persistent thinking due to strong
and intense feeling about the activity. Therefore, it is un-
justified to consider work intention as a part of the con-
struct if it is shown as a criterion variable in the
meta-analysis of past research (Hom & Griffeth, 1991).
Additionally, it is customary to treat both behavioural
intentions as criterion variables in tests of concurrent or
predictive validity. Even if it is shown as part of any con-
struct in past research, the studies have acutely suffered
from very weak evidence for nomological validity to sup-
port the strong conclusions reached by the authors to-
wards the construct (Cohen, 1979).
Fourthly, WP is evolving through synthesis of work cog-
nition, work affects, and work rumination as per the
present finding showing the path between work cogni-
tion and work affect (0.46), work affect and work rumina-
tion (0.41), as well as between work cognition and work
rumination (0.57) to be significant. On the contrary,
Donuhue et al. (2012) posit that rumination is supposed
to be playing a mediating role between the dualistic model
of employee passion and emotional exhaustion. Thus,
the present findings contradict the past research by stat-
ing that the interaction of work cognition, work affects,
and work rumination precedes passion, the reason being
the recurring cognitive and affective appraisal that inevi-
tably orients towards rumination, leading to higher level
of passionate commitment and increase in motivation as
reflected in the study of Fritz and Sonnentag (2006). While
the inferences in their study seemed to be quite murky,
they are significantly supported in the present study. If
the work experience enhances emotional reactions of the
appraiser like pleasure and happiness, it may result in
lasting affective inferences leading to perseverative
thoughts (Siemer & Reisenzein, 2007). This in turn may
yield constructive results like innovation and creativity
(Cropley & Purvis, 2003). Thus Zigarmi et al.s (2009) study
which proposed that employees work passion is an in-
dividuals persistent, emotionally positive, meaning-
based, state of well-being, stemming from recurring
cognitive and affective appraisals of various job and or-
ganizational situations, has been partially proved here.
IMPLICATIONS
The most important contribution of the Passion scale de-
veloped here is the strong theoretical underpinnings pro-
vided by the dualistic model of passion with its roots in
Aancient Greek philosophy as well as modern psychol-
ogy (particularly positive psychology). Though Zigarmi
et al.s (2009) work was the fulcrum of this study, it evolved
more along the dualistic model of Vallerand (2003). Fol-
lowing are some of the implications of the present study.
THREE-FACTOR MODEL OF EMPLOYEE PASSION: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY IN THE INDIAN CONTEXT
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VIKALPA VOLUME 39 NO 2 APRIL - JUNE 2014 65
The earlier studies had suggested that passionate work-
ers invested long hours in their work (Baum et al., 2001).
Later studies have shown that workers have an intense
love for that activity in which they invest significant
amounts of time and energy, and which gets internalized
and defines their self-identity (Vallerand et al., 2003). This
may lead to behavioural consequences which may require
thinking beyond working hours leading to work rumina-
tion. Thus the flavour of work rumination as a part of the
WP construct has thrown a new light on an emerging
field where the dualistic nature of the passion construct
is confirmed through its dualistic status of positive and
negative work rumination (Cropley & Purvis, 2003).
WP is explained by the cognitive element capturing the
perceived importance for the job; affective element com-
prising intense liking and enjoyment (Ho, Wong, & Lee,
2009); and the inability to unwind from work, contribut-
ing to work related rumination. This can be prospective
as well as retrospective in nature; where people tend to
think about issues that have occurred in the past or
anticipatively ruminate about issues and demands that
may arise at work (Cropley & Zijlstra 2011). Thus a new
three-dimensional model of WP has evolved unlike the
past research, deciphering the nuances associated with
the dualistic status of WP.
Thirdly, the triadic nature of WP may arouse high physi-
ological and psychological problem solving pondering
(Cropley & Zijlstra, 2011). The consequent cognitive
processing and problem solving (Watkins, 2008) may lead
to harmonious passion associated with positive emotions,
concentration, and flow. Yet, at another time it may arouse
anxiety and depression resulting in obsessive passion
which is usually associated with experiencing negative
emotions (Vallerand et al., 2003). This is in line with the
underlying philosophy of positive psychology (Seligman
& Csikszentmihalyi, 2000) as well as positive organiza-
tional scholarship (Cameron, Dutton, & Quinn, 2003) that
embraces both the positive and negative aspects of life.
Further, the practitioner can always predict why some
but not all engaged workers suffer from maladjustment
and low psychological well-being. One practical impli-
cation of using this thinking is that human resource man-
agers, while designing HR practices, can concentrate more
on facilitating factors rather than inhibiting them which
may lead to debilitating effects like obsessive passion.
Prior research has demonstrated the validity and impor-
tance of disparity between harmonious and obsessive
passion in order to predict peoples cognitions, affects,
behaviours, performances, and quality of their interper-
sonal relationships (Vallerand, 2008; Vallerand, et al.,
2010). The present study suggests that the cognitions
(work cognition), affects (work affects), and behaviours
(work rumination) precede the formation of dualistic sta-
tus of passion (harmonious and obsessive passion) which
leads to the need for further investigation. It not only de-
fines the construct but also provides an in-depth under-
standing.
LIMITATIONS
Though validation of the construct has been established
through structural equation modeling based on cross-sec-
tional design, it can take into account the longitudinal
study by varying the control variables like organizational
climate of trust, transparency, and empowerment at one
time period and climate of distrust, concealment, and
dependency at another period. The sample size of the
research is the greatest constraint in order to arrive at any
generalization of dimensionality of the scale and the ge-
neric ability of the construct. This weakness can be elimi-
nated in future research by increasing the size of the
sample or by changing the nature of the population on a
cross-cultural basis. A comparative study can be carried
out based on gender, educational level, and specific oc-
cupation in order to find the degree of variation in pas-
sion. Additionally, future research can divide generic
components of employee passion into occupation-spe-
cific components and can extend the study by showing
the variation between both the constructs (generic vs. spe-
cific) which has remained one of the limitations of this
study.
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Niharika Gaan is an Assistant Professor and Chairperson ofStudent Welfare at Management Development Institute,Murshidabad (MDI-M). She teaches courses in organizationalbehaviour and human resource management to post-gradu-ate students. Her main research interests pertain to employeeengagement, transformational leadership, sustainable lead-ership, work passion, emotional labour, job attitude, virtualteam effectiveness, and mentoring. She has publication inpeer reviewed journals like Indian Journal of Industrial Rela-tions, New Zealand Journal of Human Resource Management, De-cision, and Vision-The Journal of Business Perspectives and hasauthored a book too. Currently, has undertaken a researchproject funded by ICSSR (Ministry of HRD).
e-mail: niharika@mdim.ac.in
Kalyani Mohanty is the reader and head of the Personnel andIndustrial Relations Department at Utkal University. She haspublished around 25 research articles in peer reviewed jour-nals and has authored a text book as well as a reference book.Currently, she is serving as an editorial board member ofSrushty Review. Her areas of research interest include HRD,job attitude, and trade unions. Till date, 15 M.Phil. and 7 Ph.Dstudents have completed their research work under her su-pervision.
e-mail: mkalyani58@yahoo.co.in
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R E S E A R C H
includes research articles thatfocus on the analysis and
resolution of managerial andacademic issues based on
analytical and empirical or caseresearch
ExecutiveSummary
Exploring Victims Experiences ofWorkplace Bullying: A GroundedTheory Approach
Mariam Ciby and R P Raya
KEY WORDS
Workplace Bullying
IT Organizations
Victims Experiences
Grounded Theory Approach
Conceptual Model
Perceived OrganizationalSupport (POS)
Exit Behaviour
Despite considerable research on workplace bullying, trying to identify causal rela-
tionships and measurements of specific constructs, there is a need to draw from the
experiences and feelings of the targets of workplace bullying. The current study ex-
plores the victims experiences from an interpretive perspective in the context of Infor-
mation Technology organizations in India. The qualitative data were collected through
in-depth interviews with the victims of workplace bullying. The analysis using
grounded theory approach resulted in a conceptual model, which explains the ante-
cedents, bullying behaviours, consequences, and self-coping methods of the victims.
Job demands, leadership and management styles of the supervisor, and interpersonal
conflict emerged as the major antecedents of workplace bullying. The victims inabil-
ity to adapt to changes was found as a personality factor that stimulated workplace
bullying in the presence of other antecedents. The study reveals that although the
victims experienced negative bullying behaviours in their daily life, most of them were
unaware of the phenomenon. Some of the new bullying behaviours identified from the
current study are taking ownership of otherswork without giving due credit, grab-
bing others challenging assignments, and repeated borrowing of money without re-
turning.
The victims experienced various negative emotions as the initial reaction to bullying
behaviours. As the bullying behaviours prolonged, the participants experienced vari-
ous personal and work-related consequences. The self-coping mechanisms identified
in the study were sharing emotional experiences with friends and family, having an
easy-going attitude, voicing the issues, and perceived organizational support (POS).
POS was considered to be important for having an influence on employee turnover
intention and organizational commitment. Based on the POS, three categories of vic-
tims were identified Leavers, Survivors, and Loyals.
The paper contributes to the body of knowledge as it brings out the experiences and
feelings of the targets of workplace bullying. The detailed knowledge of the phenom-
enon helps the organization to either intervene or prevent the relevant processes. The
study suggests that the victims need to be empowered with awareness programmes
and organizational support to reduce the effects of workplace bullying.
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