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Simplicity and predictability: a phenomenological study of psychological flow in transactional workers

Psychological flow is a positive experience achieved through a near-balance of task challenge and skill capability, creating a merging of awareness and action and leading to an intrinsically rewarding feeling. Flow has typically been documented in persons who participate in work and leisure activiti...

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Autores principales: Clapp, Steven R., Karwowski, Waldemar, Hancock, P. A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10272819/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37333580
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1137930
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author Clapp, Steven R.
Karwowski, Waldemar
Hancock, P. A.
author_facet Clapp, Steven R.
Karwowski, Waldemar
Hancock, P. A.
author_sort Clapp, Steven R.
collection PubMed
description Psychological flow is a positive experience achieved through a near-balance of task challenge and skill capability, creating a merging of awareness and action and leading to an intrinsically rewarding feeling. Flow has typically been documented in persons who participate in work and leisure activities where they can exercise a large degree of creativity and agency over their actions in pursuit of their goals. The objective of the present study is to explore the lived experiences of flow in workers in roles where creativity and agency are typically not expected. An interpretative phenomenological analysis approach was employed to attain this objective. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 adults whose role is to perform transactional work, which by its nature affords less opportunity for creative execution. Common themes about participants’ flow experiences are documented. Two broad types of flow are described and a connection is made that the present study’s participants achieve one of those flow types while working. Participants’ feelings, preferences, and actions are mapped to the nine conventional dimensions of flow. Specific non-task work system factors are discussed relative to their influence on participants’ attainment of flow. Limitations of the present study and recommended future research are discussed.
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spelling pubmed-102728192023-06-17 Simplicity and predictability: a phenomenological study of psychological flow in transactional workers Clapp, Steven R. Karwowski, Waldemar Hancock, P. A. Front Psychol Psychology Psychological flow is a positive experience achieved through a near-balance of task challenge and skill capability, creating a merging of awareness and action and leading to an intrinsically rewarding feeling. Flow has typically been documented in persons who participate in work and leisure activities where they can exercise a large degree of creativity and agency over their actions in pursuit of their goals. The objective of the present study is to explore the lived experiences of flow in workers in roles where creativity and agency are typically not expected. An interpretative phenomenological analysis approach was employed to attain this objective. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 adults whose role is to perform transactional work, which by its nature affords less opportunity for creative execution. Common themes about participants’ flow experiences are documented. Two broad types of flow are described and a connection is made that the present study’s participants achieve one of those flow types while working. Participants’ feelings, preferences, and actions are mapped to the nine conventional dimensions of flow. Specific non-task work system factors are discussed relative to their influence on participants’ attainment of flow. Limitations of the present study and recommended future research are discussed. Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-06-02 /pmc/articles/PMC10272819/ /pubmed/37333580 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1137930 Text en Copyright © 2023 Clapp, Karwowski and Hancock. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Clapp, Steven R.
Karwowski, Waldemar
Hancock, P. A.
Simplicity and predictability: a phenomenological study of psychological flow in transactional workers
title Simplicity and predictability: a phenomenological study of psychological flow in transactional workers
title_full Simplicity and predictability: a phenomenological study of psychological flow in transactional workers
title_fullStr Simplicity and predictability: a phenomenological study of psychological flow in transactional workers
title_full_unstemmed Simplicity and predictability: a phenomenological study of psychological flow in transactional workers
title_short Simplicity and predictability: a phenomenological study of psychological flow in transactional workers
title_sort simplicity and predictability: a phenomenological study of psychological flow in transactional workers
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10272819/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37333580
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1137930
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