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Abstract :
[en] Description of the theoretical framework:
Entering the workforce represents a critical developmental phase in employees’ careers, shaped by both individual and organizational factors (Bauer et al., 2025; Wang & Wanberg, 2017). Early-career employees (ECE), defined here as individuals within the first five years following labour market entry, represent a developmental stage distinct from chronological age or generational categorizations (Wang & Wanberg, 2017; Ravid et al., 2025).
Research on early career transitions has largely relied on organizational socialization perspectives, emphasizing organizational practices and newcomer characteristics (Bauer et al., 2025; Chong et al., 2024). Comparatively less attention has been paid to the specific role of managers and to how concrete managerial practices relate to employees’ psychological need satisfaction, and work-related outcomes, beyond the initial entry phase. Although prior research suggests that ECE place particular importance on feedback, learning opportunities, autonomy, and work-life balance (Aggarwal et al., 2020), longitudinal evidence remains limited regarding whether specific managerial practices are differentially associated with ECEs’ psychological needs and work-related outcomes compared to more experienced employees.
Drawing on Self-Determination Theory (SDT) (Deci et al., 2017; Slemp et al., 2024), this study focuses on five specific managerial practices: autonomy support, feedback, provision of learning opportunities, recognition, and support for work-life balance. SDT posits that satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness fosters more autonomous motivation, enhanced well-being, and improved performance. By examining how these practices relate to psychological need satisfaction and, in turn, to work-related outcomes, this study tests whether psychological need satisfaction mediates the relationships between managerial practices and work-related outcomes in a comparative, longitudinal design across career stages.
Research design and approach to data analysis:
This study relies on a three-wave longitudinal survey design (3-month intervals) including employees across different levels of work experience. Wave 1 has been completed, with data collected from 1,033 employees across career stages. Of the 911 participants providing information on work experience, 325 (35.7%) are early-career employees, while 569 (62.5%) are more experienced workers.
Measures include perceived managerial practices (autonomy support, feedback, learning opportunities, recognition, and support for work-life balance), psychological need satisfaction (autonomy, competence, relatedness), work motivation, well-being, self-reported performance, hybrid work arrangements, and manager-employee relationship quality.
Drawing on SDT, the hypothesized model proposes that the implementation of these managerial practices fosters employees’ psychological need satisfaction, which in turn relates to higher levels of motivation, well-being, and performance. Need satisfaction is therefore expected to mediate the relationships between managerial practices and work-related outcomes. In addition, hybrid work arrangements and manager-employee relationship quality are examined as potential moderators of these associations.
Preliminary analyses based on Wave 1 data are currently ongoing and focus primarily on measurement properties and descriptive patterns across career stages. The full longitudinal multi-group structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses will be completed prior to the conference.
Key findings and theoretical/practical implications:
Preliminary analyses from Wave 1 indicate satisfactory internal consistencies for all key measures. Descriptive correlations show that perceived managerial practices are positively associated with psychological need satisfaction, and that need satisfaction is in turn related to motivation, well-being, and performance in the expected directions.
Hybrid work arrangements are significantly associated with several core study variables, suggesting that work context may be relevant for understanding how managerial practices relate to employee outcomes. These findings remain preliminary, and the forthcoming longitudinal multi-group analyses will allow a more comprehensive examination of mediation and moderation effects across career stages and hybrid work contexts.
If supported by longitudinal analyses, these findings will provide empirical evidence that specific managerial practices play a central role in fulfilling early-career employees’ psychological needs. Theoretically, this would refine Self-Determination Theory by identifying which concrete practices most effectively foster autonomy, competence, and relatedness in the early career phase, and by clarifying how these effects differ across career stages.
Practically, such findings would offer guidance for organizations seeking to strengthen early-career employees’ motivation, well-being, and performance. By pinpointing the practices with the strongest impact, this research would help organizations design targeted managerial training and early-career support systems. These insights would ultimately contribute to more tailored, evidence-based HR strategies, especially relevant in contemporary and increasingly hybrid work contexts.
Clear connection to the conference theme:
Although grounded in work and organizational psychology, this project speaks directly to HRM in times of geo-digital uncertainties by examining how managerial practices —often positioned at the interface between HR policies and daily employee experiences — relate to psychological need satisfaction within hybrid work arrangements. By integrating hybrid work as a contextual moderator and comparing career stages, the study situates managerial practices within digitally mediated and increasingly uncertain work environments, where communication, support, and work dynamics are reshaped by geo‑digital transformations.
