Asian Journal of Social Psychology

Asian Journal of Social Psychology (2011), 14, 165–175 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-839X.2010.01340.x

Savouring and perceived job performance in positive psychology:

Moderating role of positive affectivity ajsp_ 165..175

Chia-Wu Lin, Shu-Ling Chen and Ruei-Yang Wang

National Dong Hwa University, Shoufeng, Hualien, Taiwan

Building on the research in positive psychology, the current study examines the impact of employee savouring
on building perceived job performance and tested the extent to which an individual positive affectivity moderated
the relationship of savouring and job performance. Using survey responses from 357 salespeople in six Taiwan-
ese insurance companies, the results of hierarchical regression analyses show that savouring is positively related
to perceived job performance. In addition, the relationship between savouring and perceived job performance
was moderated by employees’ positive affectivity. The implications of these results and the limitations of the
research are discussed.

Key words: perceived job performance, positive affectivity, positive psychology, savouring.

Introduction psychological capacity and explores the impact of

employee savouring on positive perceived job performance.
Employee job performance is an important issue in today’s Moreover, in the present study, we proposed an interaction
competitive environment, and the biggest human resource between positive affectivity and savouring in predicting
management challenge is how to improve the employee job perceived job performance (task performance and contex-
performance and retain good performers. Amabile and tual performance). Although there has been significant pre-
Kramer (2007) argued that a person’s inner work life has a liminary empirical evidence indicating the relationship
crucial impact on good job performance. One recently between disposition affect and various performance-
developed positive psychology concept is ‘savouring,’ relevant outcomes (House, Shane, & Herold, 1996; Kaplan,
which is the ability to attend to, appreciate, and enhance Bradley, Luchman, & Haynes, 2009; Shaw, Duffy, Abdulla,
positive experiences (Bryant & Veroff, 2007, 2006). Previ- & Singh, 2000), a recent stream of dispositional research
ous work on savouring focused on its relationships to physi- has diverted the focus away from the relationship between
cal health (Dua, 1994; Middleton & Byrd, 1996), mental dispositional affect and job outcomes and toward how dis-
health (Wood, Heimpel, & Michela, 2003), and happiness positions interact with situation factors (Cropanzano,
(Zika & Chamberlain, 1992). However, little research has James, & Konovsky, 1993; Shaw et al.). In the current
explored the link between savouring and positive perceived study, we address this issue by examining the moderating
job performance. role of positive affectively in the relationship between
Although the value of positivity has long been assumed, savouring and perceived job performance in the context of
only recently has it become a theme of theory building and theoretical and practical interest.
research or applied in psychology and organizational Contrary to past studies, this research focused mainly on
behaviour (Luthans & Youssef, 2007). The field of positive employee perceived job performance instead of job satis-
organizational behaviour (Luthans, 2002; Nelson & faction; the principle reason behind this focus is that orga-
Cooper, 2007; Wright, 2003) has emerged from the new nizations are most concerned with employee job
positive psychology approach. Positive organizational performance. Although industrial/organizational psychol-
behaviour is intended to identify a newly emerging focus on ogy often regards job satisfaction as a reflection of
a positive approach to developing and managing human employee job performance (job satisfaction with an index
resources in today’s workplace (Luthans & Youssef; of their performance), some scholars are modest in their
Luthans, Youssef, & Avolio, 2007). view on the job satisfaction/job performance relationship
Building on positive psychology research, this study and claim that the establishment of this relationship varies
examines employee savouring as an important positive considerably across contexts (Connolly & Viswesvaran,
2000; Judge, Thoresen, Bono, & Patton, 2001; Kaplan
et al., 2009).
Correspondence: Shu-Ling Chen, Department of Business A primary contribution of this research is the revelation
Administration, National Dong Hwa University No. 1, Sec. 2, Da of how savouring influences perceived job performance. We
Hsueh Rd., Shoufeng, Hualien 97401, Taiwan R.O.C. Email: believe an employee with high positive affectivity (PA) can
[email protected] positively influence the relationships between savouring
Received 1 September 2009; accepted 6 July 2010. and employee perceived job performance.

© 2010 The Authors

Asian Journal of Social Psychology © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd with the Asian Association of Social Psychology and
the Japanese Group Dynamics Association
 1467839x, 2011, 3, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-839X.2010.01340.x by National Tsinghua University, Wiley Online Library on [12/10/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
166 Chia-Wu Lin et al.

Positive psychology: Savouring whether employee savouring has an effect on building per-
ceived job performance and, through it, a moderator on
Positive psychology research has emerged in the Western employees’ positive affectivity.
world, which focuses on people’s strengths and how they
can grow and thrive (Luthans, Norman, Avolio, & Avey,
2008). Organizational behaviourists have adopted positive Savouring and perceived
psychology and incorporated it into the field of organiza- job performance
tional behaviour theory (Luthans, 2002; Luthans &
Youssef, 2007; Nelson & Cooper, 2007). According to Job performance is a multidimensional construct (Borman
Luthans, positive organizational behaviour (POB) refers to & Motowidlo, 1993; Campbell, Gasser, & Oswald, 1996).
‘the study and application of positively oriented human Because our research focused on insurance salespeople
resource strengths and psychological capacities that can be working in teams, we focused on two types of performance
measured, developed, and effectively managed for perfor- critical to working in groups (Coleman & Borman, 2000):
mance improvement in today’s workplace’ (p. 59). Thus, task performance and contextual performance (Motowidlo
POB not only emphasizes the importance of positivity, but & Van Scotter, 1994). In general, contextual performance is
also the need for effective application of positive traits, conceptually similar to what is known as organizational
states, and behaviours of employees in the workplace citizenship behaviour (OCB). Indeed, this is the construct
(Luthans & Youssef). of interest in the vast majority of sales performance studies
The concept of savouring developed from positive psy- (Mackenzie, Podsakoff, & Rich, 2001). In general, sales
chology. The word ‘savouring’ emphasizes the appreciation performance is defined narrowly and associated with the
of enjoyable life experiences. Bryant and Veroff (2006) salesperson’s sales productivity or sales volume (Brown &
defined savouring as: (i) the positive proportion of ‘coping’ Peterson, 1993), but it overlooks the fact that task perfor-
or the ability to handle a negative experience; (ii) the mance and contextual performance are essential factors in
process of enjoying, which possesses the characteristics of an organization’s success. Task performance is an organi-
positive affectivity included in dynamics, interactions, and zation’s expectation of a salesperson to meet the prescribed
transformations; and (iii) the appreciation of enjoyment. requirements and implement relevant activities when
However, some researchers stated that coping is not suffi- executing a task. Moreover, given the social nature of the
cient; the word ‘coping’ views people as ‘passive respond- insurance sales job (Tsai, Chen, & Liu, 2007), team perfor-
ers’ to problems or emotions instead of ‘assertive mance is the result of teamwork. Therefore, if a salesperson
attackers’. The capability to resolve adversity and pressure possesses contextual behaviour, it can encourage team
does not mean it will increase happiness; ‘savouring’ and members to help each other more, which can enhance indi-
‘coping’ are thus imperative for those who seek true vidual and overall performance.
happiness. We propose that savouring directly influences perceived
In addition, Bryant and Veroff (2006) applied three con- job performance. According to Hill (2001), positive-
cepts related to interaction, which refined the definition of thinking people possess certain qualities, such as hope,
‘savouring’: savouring experiences, savouring processes, optimism, and passion. The concept of savouring empha-
and savouring responses or strategies. Savouring experi- sizes the immersion of positive experience through paying
ences exist at the broadest macro-level to represent a per- attention to or recalling certain memories. Therefore,
son’s perceived ability. They are behaviours and emotional savouring and positive psychology have similarities. To
responses produced through paying attention to, caring date, no study has examined the relationship between
about, and enjoying positive stimuli. Savouring processes savouring and the variables related to work outcomes.
continue through time and are transferred into a positive However, according to positive psychology theory, hope
affectivity. Savouring responses or strategies are micro- has an important role in employee job performance
level concepts that occur when people are affected by posi- (Luthans & Youssef, 2004; Lyubomirsky, King, & Diener,
tive events that make them have special and specific 2005). Luthans and Youssef (2007) believe that hope is
thinking or behaviours. about making a continuous effort towards self-goals, and,
Positive psychological research (Bryant, 2003) revealed if necessary, changing direction to achieve the goal. In
that a majority of people are capable of ‘coping’ but not of developing hope theory, Peterson and Byron (2008)
‘savouring’. The capability to handle adversity and pressure articulate that because hopeful people will underlie hope
does not enhance happiness; the present study focused on in their cognitive processes – hence, creating pathways
the relationship between savouring and perceived job per- and agency thinking – they will attain higher employee
formance and the influence of savouring on perceived job job performance. Similarly, employees who embrace
performance. Applying the positive psychological view to savouring will feel good about their future and have posi-
positive organizational behaviour, we proposed to discover tive expectations toward life and reaching their goals. To

© 2010 The Authors

Asian Journal of Social Psychology © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd with the Asian Association of Social Psychology and
the Japanese Group Dynamics Association
 1467839x, 2011, 3, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-839X.2010.01340.x by National Tsinghua University, Wiley Online Library on [12/10/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
Savouring and job performance 167

reach a certain target or goal, pathways thinking will Moderating role of positive affectivity
cause employees to believe that they have the ability to between savouring and perceived
find pathways toward achieving their goal. Research job performance
reveals that hopeful people will have positive self-
statements such as ‘I can do this’, ‘Nothing can stop me In addition to shaping employees’ perceived job perfor-
from doing it’ (Snyder, Lapointe, Crowson, & Early, mances, we propose that positive affectivity may act as
1998). a situational enhancer and further strengthen the influences
Furthermore, according to the broaden-and-build theory, of savouring on task performance and contextual
positive emotions often expand people’s thoughts and performance.
behaviours, establishing a perpetual personal resource (Fre- Positive affectivity is one of the characteristics of posi-
drickson, 2002). The focus is on eliciting a strong feeling tive psychology. Within the affect domain, researchers
and its consequences. Positive emotions encompass a wide include moods and emotions and trait affect, and they have
scope, which includes the savouring process. In other distinguished transient from state affect; the major differ-
words, the savouring process can enhance positive emo- ences are the short-term, volatile, and stable characteristics
tions. Bringing forth and experiencing positive emotions (Barsade & Gibson, 2007). Affect exists in two dimensions
may help a person become more creative, connected, resil- with dispositional characteristics: positive affectivity (PA)
ient, and adaptive, which will result in a healthier life. The and negative affectivity (NA).
concept of broad-minded coping to handle pressure is only Individuals with high positive affectivity relative to those
a part of savouring, although it is the most effective way to with low positive affectivity tend to experience a ‘pleasur-
break through an impasse. Applying this theory to savour- able engagement with the environment’ (Watson, 1988, p.
ing, we argue that one’s positive appraisal of circumstances 128) and tend to derive ‘joy and feel more confident, and
and the probability for success is based on motivated effort even attract social contact’ (Lucas & Diener, 2003, p. 48).
and achieving job targets. We propose the following In general, compared to low-PA individuals, high-PA indi-
hypothesis. viduals have an overarching sense of well-being and
Hypothesis 1a: savouring is positively related to task engagement with life, and they tend to experience higher
performance. states of positive emotions and mood.
In addition to an impact on task performance, savouring Several independent empirical studies and meta-
may influence employee contextual performance. Macleod analytical studies (Kaplan et al., 2009) have examined the
and Conway (2005) find that people who expect to have a relationship between positive affectivity and task perfor-
positive experience usually have a larger social network, mance (Elliot, Harkins, Sherwin, & Marmarosh, 1995;
which makes it easier for them to achieve their goals step by George & Brief, 1996; Judge, Thoresen, Pucik, & Wel-
step. bourne, 1999) and organizational citizen behaviour (Crede,
In an uncertain environment, optimism can result in an Chernyshenko, Stark, Dalal, & Bashshur, 2007; Ilies, Scott,
underestimation of possible negative outcomes, because & Judge, 2006). A series of meta-analysis studies indicated
optimists often expect positive outcomes (Luthans et al., that PA will positively predict task performance and orga-
2007). Barrick and Stewart (1998) believe that optimists nizational citizenship behaviours.
are more social and more likely to interact with other To date, no study has examined the interaction between
people; they are more cohesive, lively, enthusiastic, positive affectivity and savouring. However, one study is
gentle, friendly and more involved with social activities. relevant in supporting our proposition. Shaw et al. (2000)
Many renowned scholars (Peterson, 2000; Shalley, Zhou, examined positive affectivity as a moderator for the rela-
& Oldham, 2004) reveal in their research that there is a tionship between job satisfaction and frustration and inten-
positive relationship between employee optimism level tion to quit. They found that job satisfaction was strongly
and job performance. Bar-on’s (2000) study indicates that and negatively related to frustration and intention to quit
optimistic people have better stress management, interper- among high-PA, but not low-PA, individuals. Shaw et al.
sonal relationships, and empathy, and show better adapt- indicated that high-PA individuals suggested they would
ability. Similar to this concept, we believe that employees react as strongly as low-PA individuals to either job satis-
who embrace savouring will have better interpersonal faction or job dissatisfaction.
relationships and, thereby, more passion for work and a Bryant and Veroff (2006) indicated that differences in
willingness to put in additional time to become more personality also exert an influence on how people savour
involved with helping and supporting co-workers. There- positive experiences. Their studies have examined the rela-
fore, savouring ability will have a positive effect on con- tionship between positive affectivity and the Ways of
textual performance. Thus: Savoring Checklist (WOSC). The results strongly support
Hypothesis 1b: Savouring is positively related to the claim that positive affectivity is positively correlated
contextual performance. with scores on every WOSC subscale (sharing with others,

© 2010 The Authors

Asian Journal of Social Psychology © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd with the Asian Association of Social Psychology and
the Japanese Group Dynamics Association
 1467839x, 2011, 3, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-839X.2010.01340.x by National Tsinghua University, Wiley Online Library on [12/10/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
168 Chia-Wu Lin et al.

memory building, self-congratulation, comparing, sensory- To lessen concern about possible non-response bias, the
perceptual sharpening, and absorption). Therefore, high-PA current study adopted the procedures recommended by
individuals characteristically react to positive events with Armstrong and Overton (1977) and Lambert and Har-
stronger positive affect and tend to savour positive experi- rington (1990). A comparison of early (those responding to
ences differently, as compared to people who characteris- the first mailing) and late (those responding to the second
tically react to positive events with low positive affect. The mailing) respondents was carried out to test for non-
interaction between the two creates a synergy and more response bias (Armstrong & Overton, 1977). The result of
effectively directs employee perceived job performance. the t-test showed no significant differences between the two
Therefore, we propose the following. groups’ perceptions of the variables. Therefore, we con-
Hypothesis 2a: Positive affectivity will moderate the cluded that non-response bias was not a problem.
relationship between savouring and task
performance, such that the positive
Measures
effect of savouring on task performance
is stronger among individuals high The measures of the study were originally in English; all
rather than low in positive affectivity. survey measures would process the back translation proce-
Hypothesis 2b: Positive affectivity will moderate the dure recommended by Brislin (1980); thus, two-way trans-
relationship between savouring and lations were carried out by two people who were bilingual
contextual performance, such that the in English and Chinese to ensure equivalence.
positive effect of savouring on contex-
tual performance is stronger among Savouring. The 12-item Savoring Belief Inventory (SBI)
individuals high rather than low in posi- scale (Bryant, 2003) was used to assess the salespeople’s
tive affectivity. beliefs about their capacity to savour positive experiences.
The SBI consists of three subscales: savouring through
anticipation (four items: e.g. ‘I feel the joy of anticipation
when I think about upcoming good events’); savouring the
Method
moment (four items: e.g. ‘I know how to make the most of
a good time’); savouring through reminiscence (four items:
Participants and procedures
e.g. ‘I enjoy looking back on happy times from my past’).
The participants were insurance salespeople from six large The scale anchors a range from 1, ‘strongly disagree’ to 7,
Taiwanese insurance companies. According to Risk Man- ‘strongly agree’.
agement, Insurance & Management magazine in Taiwan Although this measure of SBI has been given previous
(2007), high-performing salespeople often possess asser- research attention, as it is still relatively new, we conducted
tive personalities and are good at handling pressure. This confirmatory factor analyses to examine the construct
has a positive effect on perceived job performance when validity. For further confirmation of the rationality of the
insurance salespeople held a savouring ability on pressure. dimensions of this study, the present study used a three-
Moreover, this sample provides a unique opportunity to factor CFA model to determine whether each item
study the relationship of savouring, positive affectivity and adequately represented its respective factor. This CFA had a
perceived job performance. model (c2 = 204.47, d.f. = 51, p < 0.05; GFI = 0.91,
We sent survey packages to six insurance companies. NNFI = 0.91, CFI = 0.93, RMSEA = 0.092). The correla-
Each package contained copies of an employee tion coefficients among the three subscales were above 0.9,
questionnaire (each insurance company averaged 200 which might cause a problem with collinearity. Further-
copies of a salesperson’s questionnaire and return enve- more, we estimated second-order factor models of
lopes). A total of 512 full-time insurance salespeople savouring analysis. The model of savouring includes three
agreed to participate in the survey. Thirty-seven employ- first-order factors: savouring through anticipation, savour-
ees whose tenure was less than 1 year were eliminated ing through moment and savouring through reminiscence.
from the analyses owing to the lack of experience and The posited model fit the data well (c2 = 43.05, d.f. = 17,
performance. p < 0.05; GFI = 0.97, NNFI = 0.97, CFI = 0.98, RMSEA =
The final sample consisted of 357 cases after deleting 0.066). Finally, regarding the fit of the internal structure
cases with missing values or unusual response patterns. model, all factor loadings of this study were at a significant
This number represented approximate response rates of level, whereas Cronbach’s a was 0.81.
29.75%. Fifty-three per cent of the employees in the final
sample were female and 47% were college graduates; the Positive affectivity. Positive affectivity was measured using
average age was 35 years, and the average tenure was the positive and negative affect schedule (PANAS) devel-
7.2 years. oped by Watson, Clark, and Tellegen (1988). The PANAS

© 2010 The Authors

Asian Journal of Social Psychology © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd with the Asian Association of Social Psychology and
the Japanese Group Dynamics Association
 1467839x, 2011, 3, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-839X.2010.01340.x by National Tsinghua University, Wiley Online Library on [12/10/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
Savouring and job performance 169

includes a list of 20 emotional states, of which 10 are positive 7 (extremely). The coefficient alpha of this scale was 0.91.
(e.g. alert, active, enthusiastic) and 10 are negative (e.g. Finally, we controlled for employee gender, marital status,
angry, afraid, ashamed) mood states. This study applied the tenure (in years) in our analyses, because these variables
average (in general) to measure positive affectivity. Respon- were found to be related to perceived job performance.
dents were instructed to ‘indicate to what extent you gener-
ally feel this way; that is, how you feel on average’ using a
7-point Likert scale (1 = very slightly or not at all; Results
7 = extremely). The coefficient alpha for this scale was 0.85.
The descriptive statistics, internal consistency reliabilities,
Job performance. We used the four-item task performance and inter-correlations of all study variables are presented in
measure by Borman and Motowidlo (1993). The salespeople Table 1.
were asked to describe their own work efficiency (e.g. ‘I Hierarchical ordinary least squares (OLS) regression
often reach the company’s goal and objectives’) and effec- analyses were used to test Hypotheses 1 and 2. The signifi-
tiveness (e.g. ‘I demand the highest quality in my work’) cance of interaction effects was assessed after controlling all
using the 5-point scale (1 = completely disagree, 5 = com- main effects. In all of the models, control variables were
pletely agree). The coefficient alpha for this scale was 0.91. entered in step 1; savouring predictor variables were entered
Contextual performance was measured using 8 items in step 2; and moderator variables were entered in step 3.
(1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree) and was based Table 2 presents these results. Consistent with expectations,
on the Borman and Motowidlo (1993) and Motowidlo and all of the hypotheses were supported by our research results.
Van Scotter (1994) scale. Sample items include the follow- Hypothesis 1a predicts that savouring is positively
ing: ‘Tackle difficult work assignments enthusiastically’ related to task performance. Model 1, which included the
and ‘Put in extra hours to get the work done on time’ (for control variables, explained nearly 19 per cent of the vari-
job dedication); ‘Help others without being asked’ and ance in task performance. In Model 2, we introduced the
‘Support and encourage others with personal problems’ (for savouring measure. The results reveal that independent
interpersonal facilitation). The coefficient alpha was 0.89 main effects significantly predicted task performance
for the scales. (b = 0.35, p < 0.000). The introduction of the savouring
variable explained an additional 10 per cent of the variance
in task performance.
Control variables
Hypothesis 1b predicts that savouring is positively
In view of prior research, we included several control vari- related to contextual performance. Model 4, which
ables to avoid potential confounds and to reduce the possi- included the control variables, explained nearly 26 per cent
bility that unmeasured variables could account for the of the variance in contextual performance. In Model 5, we
results. Job satisfaction was included as a control because introduced the savouring measure. The results reveal that
past research studies have shown it to be related to per- independent main effects significantly predicted contextual
ceived job performance (Bowling, Hendricks, & Wagner, performance (b = 0.36, p < 0.000). The introduction of the
2008). Job satisfaction was measured using four items (sat- savouring variable explained an additional 10 per cent of
isfaction with manager, satisfaction with work in general, the variance in contextual performance.
satisfaction with promotional opportunities, and satisfac- Hypotheses 2a and 2b propose a positive interaction
tion with pay) from a reduced scale developed by Comer, between savouring and positive affectivity in predicting
Machleit, and Lagace (1989). Respondents indicated the employee perceived job performance (task performance
level of agreement for each statement, using a scale and contextual performance). We used moderated regres-
anchored from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). sion analysis to test them. In order to avoid multicollinear-
The reliability coefficient was 0.90. ity problems, we centred the predictor and moderator
All variables in this research were self-reported by variables by subtracting the mean of each variable from
employees, which is likely to cause common method vari- observed values in the regression analyses (Aiken & West,
ance. To reduce common method variance, we followed the 1991). However, as expected and as reported in Table 2, the
‘third variable’ model suggested by Podsakoff, MacKenzie, positive affectivity by savouring interaction (Model 3)
Lee and Podsakoff (2003) and included negative affectivity exhibited a significant positive relationship with task per-
as a control variable in addition to the existing control formance (b = 0.36, p < 0.000), suggesting that positive
variables. Negative affectivity was measured by the 10-item affectivity moderated the relationship between savouring
scale (e.g. scared, upset, distressed etc.) and developed by and task performance. Following the procedures outlined
Watson et al. (1988). Participants were provided with a by Aiken and West), we plotted the interaction effects.
series of positive or negative adjectives using a 7-point Figure 1 shows a plot of the interaction effect. The slope of
Likert scale anchored from 1 (very slightly or not at all) to the regression line indicates that the relationship between

© 2010 The Authors

Asian Journal of Social Psychology © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd with the Asian Association of Social Psychology and
the Japanese Group Dynamics Association
 1467839x, 2011, 3, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-839X.2010.01340.x by National Tsinghua University, Wiley Online Library on [12/10/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
170 Chia-Wu Lin et al.

savouring and task performance strengthens as positive

(0.89)
9
affectivity becomes higher, supporting Hypothesis 2a.
Similarly, the interaction term comprising savouring and
positive affectivity (Model 6) was significant in the regres-

0.676**
sion model (b = 0.21, p < 0.000), suggesting that the rela-

(0.91)
8

tionship between savouring and contextual performance

was also moderated by positive affectivity. Again, a plot of
the interaction effects (Fig. 2) shows that the relationship

0.472**
0.550**
between savouring and contextual performance is relatively

(0.85)
stronger among people with high positive affectivity.
7

Some scholars believe that using third-variable negative

affectivity can eliminate the impact of common method
variance. Although this method can reduce the bias caused
0.394**
0.436**
0.482**
by common method variance, it can also alter the relation-
(0.81)
6

ship between independent variables and dependent vari-

ables, as well as pose the problem of underestimating the
real variance (Spector, Zapf, Chen, & Frese, 2000). There-
-0.142**

-0.200**
-0.188**

fore, the researcher retained the basic control variable infor-

-0.096
(0.91)
5

mation and re-analyzed the data from Model 1 to Model 6

without making the third factor, negative affectivity, a
control variable. The results appeared to be the same as
those of the analysis in which negative affectivity served as
0.402**
0.427**
0.404**
0.498**
-320**

a control variable. This proves that making negative affec-

(0.90)
4

tivity a control variable does not affect results pertaining to

*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01. Cronbach’s alpha for each of the measures is shown on the main diagonal.

direct and moderating effects. Therefore, despite concerns

surrounding the underestimation of variance, the researcher
Table 1 Descriptive statistics, correlations, and internal consistency reliability

-0.148**

still implemented a stricter method to deal with the issue of

-0.113*
-0.071
0.032
0.093
-0.013
3

common method variance by regarding the third variable,

negative affectivity, as a control variable.
-0.565**

-0.168**

0.146**
0.096**
0.109*

Discussion
-0.084
0.000
2

The purpose of the present paper is to examine the way in

which positive psychology has been applied to theoretical
0.259**
-0.247**

-0.142**

and empirical research studies of positive organizational

0.087
-0.072
0.000

0.018
0.030

behaviour and to bring together the fields of savouring and

1

perceived job performance. Support for our hypothesized

model has revealed the importance of savouring to per-
ceived job performance. The major contribution of the
0.49
5.73
0.50
0.98
1.19
0.79
0.90
0.74
0.91
SD

current study was to apply positive psychology theory to

the theory of positive organizational behaviours. Prior
research has focused more on the effect of savouring on
3.24
0.62
6.07
0.55
5.81

5.34
4.95
5.16
5.62
M

mental health and less on organizational behaviours. There-

fore, this study has narrowed the gap in the field and is the
first study to examine the relationship between savouring
Contextual performance

and perceived job performance.

Positivity affectivity
Negative affectivity

In addition, our goals were to examine whether positive

Task performance
Job satisfaction

affectivity moderates savouring and perceived job perfor-

Marital status

mance. Our study demonstrates that an integration of the

Savouring
Seniority

management and psychology literature may enhance our

knowledge of employee savouring, employee performance,
Variable

Sex

and the psychological processes within the organization.

The study results supported the theoretical predictions; in
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

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Savouring and job performance 171

Table 2 Hierarchical regression analyses

Task performance Contextual performance

Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4 Model 5 Model 6

Step 1
Control variables
Sex -0.06 -0.06 -0.03 -0.04 -0.04 0.00
Seniority 0.05 0.08 0.08 -0.00 0.03 0.03
Marital status -0.11 -0.13* -0.12* -0.09 -0.11* -0.10*
Job satisfaction 0.37*** 0.23*** 0.18** 0.49*** 0.34*** 0.27***
Negative affectivity -0.07 -0.06 -0.07 -0.03 -0.02 -0.03
Step 2
Savouring 0.35*** 0.32*** 0.36*** 0.30***
Step 3
Interaction
Savouring ¥ PA 0.14** 0.21***
R2 0.19 0.29 0.30 0.26 0.36 0.39
DR2 0.19 0.10 0.01 0.26 0.10 0.03
F 16.15*** 23.77*** 21.77*** 24.24*** 32.82*** 32.04***
F change 16.15*** 50.52*** 7.20** 24.24*** 56.56*** 17.85***

*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001.

PA, positive affectivity.

5.80 6.20

5.60 6.00
Contextual performance

5.40 5.80
Task performance

5.20
5.60
5.00
5.40
4.80
5.20
4.60
5.00
4.40
4.80
4.20 Low High
Low High Savouring
Savouring
Figure 2 Moderating influence of positive affectivity
Figure 1 Moderating influence of positive affectivity (PA) on the relationship between savouring and contex-
(PA) on the relationship between savouring and task tual performance. ___, low PA; ----, high PA.
performance. ___, low PA; ----, high PA.

particular, the findings contribute to positive psychology research regarding affection in relation to job outcomes
theory and to the body of positive organizational behaviour (Barsky & Kaplan, 2007; Thoresen, Kaplan, Barsky,
literature in the following ways. Warren, & De Chermont, 2003). Notably, this finding
First, we extended and tested savouring theory in busi- echoed, but differed from, the meta-analytical results of
ness organizations. Earlier, savouring research was con- Kaplan et al. (2009), who found that positive affectivity,
ducted predominantly with students and older adults task performance, and organizational citizenship behav-
(Bryant, 2003). Adding to this literature, the current study iours were positively related.
shows that savouring is positively related to employee per- Second, integrating saving with positive affectivity
ceived job performance. As predicted, savouring is posi- research, we propose that positive affectivity moderated the
tively related to task performance and contextual relationship between savouring and employee perceived
performance. This conclusion is consistent with other job performance. Proposing and detecting this interaction

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172 Chia-Wu Lin et al.

effect is another important extension of saving and positive experience; and (iii) narrowing employees’ focus (Bryant
affectivity literature, because both areas of research have & Veroff, 2006).
generally focused on their main effects. The current study However, the present study has some limitations. First,
advances our understanding of how savouring and positive the primary dependent variable, employee perceived job
affectivity contribute the most to employee perceived job performance, consisted of two self-report indices. Most
performance. Our results suggest that better employee per- research utilized supervisor ratings to evaluate the
ceived job performance may be achieved when high- employee job performance data. However, supervisor
savouring employees are accompanied by the enforcement ratings may be biased and thus invalid due to the fact that
of high-PA individuals. The interactive results revealed that self-ratings have been found that highly correlated with
high-PA individuals reported much higher perceived job sales supervisory ratings of salesperson performance
performance when they savoured their experiences, were (Churchill, Ford, Hartley, & Walker, 1985).
attuned to pleasure, and appreciated positive feelings. Another criticism of self-reporting is the possibility of
These results also corroborate the findings of King, Hicks, common method bias. Some observed relationships are
Krull, and Del Gaiso (2006) regarding how meaning in life spuriously inflated by single-source response biases. We
can promote positive affect and how positive affect can noted that common method variance is likely to result in
strengthen the expectation that life has meaning. This inter- increased correlations between the independent and depen-
action effect is thus a compelling extension of the previous dent variables and not likely to result in statistical interac-
literature by describing conditions where PA can play a tions, which are the main focus of our research (Aiken &
moderating role and be associated with outcomes in a dif- West, 1991; Epitropaki & Martin, 2005; Harvey, Kelloway,
ferent form than would be expected in a main-effect pre- & Duncan-Leiper, 2003). However, to reduce common
diction. Prior research has focused on the affect-matching method variance, we followed Podsakoff and Organ’s
idea and on the moderating role of NA, with much less (1986) recommendations; we conducted confirmatory
attention paid to PA moderation (Shaw et al., 2000). The factor analyses and found that the one-factor structure fit
current study bridged this gap. the data poorly in all four data sources. Therefore, it seems
Three, in regard to the measurement of savouring, Bryant that common-method effects did not significantly influence
(2003) developed a savouring belief inventory (SBI) scale, the findings. Although the confirmatory factor analysis sup-
which was used in this study to measure beliefs about ports the independence of the constructs, the fact remains
insurance salespeople’s savouring. Bryant developed the that self-reported job performance could have introduced
scale using students as interviewers; he examined ‘savour- bias. Nevertheless, future studies can follow Podsakoff,
ing’ in Western society. Although the three dimensions of MacKenzie, Lee and Podsakoff’s (2003) suggestion of pro-
savouring belief, in terms of past, present, and future, could cedural remedies, through which we could obtain job per-
not be used in the present study, we applied savouring belief formance evaluations on employees, supervisors, and peers
to the insurance industry in Eastern culture and studied the in order to reduce the problem of common method bias.
value of savouring belief. In the future, researchers could Recent literature suggests that common method variance is
modify the measurement to fit the study. very seldom a severe enough problem to invalidate research
The present research not only makes a contribution to the findings (Lindell & Whitney, 2001; Spector, 2006). Spector
theory, but also offers several practical implications. argued that the claim that cross-sectional self-report data
Instead of relying on management control and economi- are inflated is unfounded. Observation of the correlation
cally oriented cost reduction and efficiency mechanisms, as matrix in Table 1 shows some statistically significant cor-
traditional organizations do, the focus in modern organiza- relations among the variables, none of which are consis-
tions should be on the management of human capital tently very high. Thus, common method variance bias does
(Bakker & Schaufeli, 2008). According to positive psychol- not appear to be a serious problem in this study. However,
ogy theory, a happy and engaged employee usually per- future research should involve conducting a longitudinal
forms better at work than one who is not happy and study to provide a more rigorous test of these hypotheses’
engaged. Previous theories often espoused the use of pres- relationships.
sure, whereas savouring theory espouses motivation; this Second, while this research emphasized the importance
has been validated in this research study. Therefore, man- of task performance and contextual performance on insur-
agement must make efforts in areas such as selecting and ance salespeople, the perception of success of an insurance
training employees to have the savouring ability to deliver company is still very much measured by revenues. There-
satisfactory perceived job performance. Moreover, employ- fore, examining job performance without the knowledge of
ees have to engage in constant learning and maintain posi- sales figures can hardly capture the true performance of
tive affectivity and behaviour. Recommended strategies for insurance salespeople. Hence, further examination of the
enhancing savouring include: (i) taking time out from relationship between salespeople’s performance and sales
everyday activities; (ii) becoming more receptive to revenues is suggested for future studies.

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the Japanese Group Dynamics Association
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Savouring and job performance 173

Third, another limitation of this study was that it is the backgrounds can influence evaluations. Future research is
first to adopt the Savoring Belief Inventory (SBI) (Bryant, needed to examine the construct validity of the measures,
2003) in Taiwan. The original text of the questionnaires was especially for the constructs of self-perceived savouring in
in English; therefore, it was necessary to translate them. the Chinese context.
First, two professionals with business degrees translated the Finally, the present study is concerned with the
questionnaires into Chinese. Then, one insurance manager potential generalizability and sustainability of our find-
helped to revise the specific items as technical expressions. ings. The single occupation – insurance salesperson – that
A third professional with a business degree back-translated was used as an example in this study could help to rule
and checked the translation against the original text to out possible superfluous factors. However, the generaliz-
ensure equivalency of meaning (Brislin, 1980). The final ability of our results to other organizations may be
questionnaires were proofread by a scholar in the business limited. Hence, another promising avenue for future
field; subsequently, the questionnaires were handed out. research would be to examine the role of savouring and
Through CFA, we have come to realize that there is a employee job performance in other occupations (e.g.
variance in the Chinese version’s one dimension and the nurses, knowledge workers etc.); in other industries (e.g.
English version’s three dimensions. However, studies hospitals, service settings, manufacturing); or in other
abroad have proven that different groups of people often countries in order to test the invariance of the proposed
produce different outcomes; both age and cultural model.

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