According to the self‐determination theory (SDT), individuals flourish when they satisfy their psychological needs. We expand this proposition by testing whether employees satisfy their own needs and improve their own work engagement by providing support to their co‐workers. Moreover, we argue that it matters when and to whom the support is provided. We contend that the indirect effect of autonomously motivated support provision on the provider’s work engagement through the provider’s need satisfaction is stronger (1) during episodes that the receiver’s emotional demands are high (vs. low), (2) when the receiver’s learning goal orientation is high (vs. low), or (3) when the receiver’s prove performance goal orientation is low (vs. high). We collected data among 97 dyads of police officers (N = 194 participants) during two time blocks on one working day (N = 227–491 episodes). Multi‐level analyses confirmed that support provision related positively to the provider’s episodic work engagement through episodic need satisfaction. As hypothesized, this indirect relationship was stronger during emotionally demanding episodes, or when the receiver was characterized by a low prove performance goal orientation. Learning goal orientation did not moderate the support provision–work engagement relationship. These findings expand SDT by indicating that individuals satisfy their own daily needs by providing support, and by showing that it matters when and to whom support is provided.

中文翻译：

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二元支持交换和工作投入：自我检验理论的情景检验和扩展

根据自决理论（SDT），个体在满足心理需求时会蓬勃发展。我们通过测试员工是否满足自己的需求来扩展这一主张，并通过向同事提供支持来改善他们的工作投入。此外，我们认为提供支持的时间和对象很重要。我们认为，通过提供者的需求满足感，自动提供主动支持对提供者的工作参与的间接影响更强（1）在接收者的情感需求高（相对于低）的情况下，（2）当接收者的学习目标取向时为高（相对于低），或（3）当接收方的证明性能目标方向为低（相对于高）。我们收集了97个警官（N = 194名参与者）在一个工作日内的两个时段（N  = 227–491集）。多层次分析证实，支持的提供与提供者的临时工作参与度（通过临时性需求满意度）正相关。如假设的那样，在情感要求很高的情节中，或者当接收者的目标表现力目标低时，这种间接关系会更强。以学习目标为导向并没有缓和支持提供与工作参与的关系。这些发现通过表明个人通过提供支持来满足自己的日常需求，并表明提供支持的时间和对象至关重要，从而扩展了SDT。