Intrapersonal and interpersonal need fulfillment at work: Differential antecedents and incremental validity in explaining job satisfaction and citizenship behavior

Previous work on need fulfillment focused on the evaluation and consequences of the psychological benefits that employees derive from work, but has not fully considered the socioemotional benefits that employees acquire from working relationships. In this study, we introduce interpersonal need fulfillment as a distinct potential benefit that employees can derive from work that captures their appreciation for opportunities to connect and relate to others at work. We establish the distinctiveness of intrapersonal and interpersonal need fulfillment by identifying unique antecedents as well as show their independent contributions in predicting job attitudes and behaviors. We argue that consideration of perceptions of both intrapersonal and interpersonal need fulfillment allows for a more holistic assessment of the benefits that employees derive from work and for a better understanding of how employees' perceptions regarding the inducements that they receive at work affect their job attitudes and behavior. We conclude by discussing theoretical and practical implications and by outlining a number of venues for future research. •The construct and measure of interpersonal need fulfillment are introduced.•We show that intrapersonal and interpersonal need fulfillment are distinct.•The study also demonstrates that these two constructs have unique antecedents.•The two need fulfillment constructs independently contribute to job satisfaction.•These need fulfillment perceptions also have indirect effects on OCBs.