Micro job design: Affective reactions to real-time task characteristics

Most job design research assesses the effects of typical job characteristics on long term person level outcomes. We suggest that it is also worth studying short term affective reactions to momentary variations in task characteristics over the working day; what we will call “micro job design.” While there may be across-the board positive (or negative) reactions to some momentary task characteristics, we also hypothesise that there will be individual differences in reactions to task characteristics. In two experience sampling studies we demonstrate that, 1. High but not low growth need strength employees respond to increases in task demand with increasing positive emotions, and 2. High learning or low avoid goal orientation employees react to increasing task autonomy with larger increases in the experience of flow compared to low learning or high avoid goal orientation employees.