Work Disengagement: Motivational Regulation Shaped by Psychological Need Frustration and Perceived Injustice

<p>Employee disengagement represents a persistent global challenge, yet remains theoretically underdeveloped and is frequently conflated with burnout, behavioral withdrawal, or deviance. Building on Kahn’s (1990) original conceptualization, this dissertation reconceptualizes disengagement as a distinct motivational state characterized by the withdrawal of cognitive, emotional, and physical energies from role performance. Drawing on Self Determination Theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000), Conservation of Resources theory (Hobfoll, 1989), and the Job Demands–Resources model (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007), I test a model where disengagement emerges as a motivational response to psychological need frustration, where organizational justice functions as an upstream contextual antecedent. Two complementary studies tested this process model using longitudinal and experimental methods. Study 1 employed a four wave longitudinal survey of U.S. working adults (N = 599) and used a multi model analytic strategy to examine temporal ordering, indirect effects, and dimensional specificity. Random intercept cross lagged panel modeling (Model 1) was first used to test within person dynamics across time. Results indicated that increases in psychological need frustration predicted subsequent increases in disengagement, supporting temporal precedence and demonstrating that disengagement functions as a dynamic motivational response. Structural equation modeling (Model 2) tested the full process model linking organizational justice, psychological need frustration, disengagement, and downstream outcomes. Results indicated that organizational justice was negatively associated with psychological need frustration, which in turn predicted disengagement, explaining a substantial proportion of variance (R² = .61). Psychological need frustration and disengagement together fully accounted for the effects of organizational justice on burnout and behavioral withdrawal. In contrast, disengagement did not predict deviance; instead, deviance was directly associated with psychological need frustration, indicating a distinct pathway. Job demands were positively associated with psychological need frustration but negatively associated with disengagement when modeled simultaneously, suggesting that their effects operate primarily through need frustrating processes. Disengagement also demonstrated reciprocal relationships with burnout and behavioral withdrawal over time. A path model (Model 3) further examined dimension level specificity among the four justice dimensions and the three psychological needs. Autonomy frustration emerged as the strongest and most consistent predictor of disengagement. At the justice dimension level, procedural justice and informational justice were most strongly associated with autonomy frustration, distributive justice predicted competence frustration, and interpersonal justice predicted relatedness frustration. Study 2 employed an experimental vignette design (N = 181) to test the causal effects of justice violations. Results indicated that justice violations increased psychological need frustration, which in turn predicted higher disengagement. Interpersonal justice violations predicted relatedness frustration, and both autonomy and relatedness frustration predicted disengagement. Distributive justice violations also showed a direct effect on disengagement and exhibited the strongest overall effect, predicting both autonomy and relatedness frustration. Collectively, these findings clarify disengagement as a distinct motivational regulation process linking workplace conditions to downstream strain and behavioral outcomes. The multi-method approach provides convergent evidence that psychological need frustration, particularly autonomy frustration, functions as the proximal motivational mechanism through which organizational justice violations produce disengagement. By identifying psychological need frustration, particularly autonomy frustration, as a key explanatory mechanism, this research clarifies how organizational conditions produce disengagement and extends the Job Demands–Resources model by specifying a self-determination-based mechanism underlying the health impairment process. Practically, the findings suggest that organizations should intervene upstream by strengthening fairness practices and reducing psychological need frustration, particularly autonomy frustration, rather than focusing solely on downstream symptoms. Interventions that enhance procedural fairness, provide meaningful voice and choice, communicate decisions transparently, and treat employees with dignity may prevent disengagement by protecting psychological needs.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Psychology, PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

School of Social Science, Politics, and Evaluation

Year dc:date.available

2026

Author dc:creator

• Dailey, Stephanie R.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Jessica Brull Barrett Diaz
• Rebecca J. Reichard,
• Jacques Forest

• burnout
• disengagement
• organizational justice
• psychological need frustration
• Self-Determination Theory
• Organizational Behavior and Theory
• Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/1093

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarship.claremont.edu:cgu_etd-2115