Satisfied employees, stronger teams: linking need satisfaction to team-boosting behaviours via work engagement
Abstract
Purpose Modern work teams are increasingly diverse, dynamic, and dispersed. For organisations to thrive in this context, they must prioritise team functioning. Individual team members play a central role in shaping team climate, dynamics, and performance. This study investigates relationships between basic psychological need satisfaction (BPNS), work engagement, and team-boosting behaviours (TBB). Drawing on self-determination theory, it examines whether employees’ need satisfaction relates to discretionary behaviours that enhance team climate through work engagement, linking individual motivation to team-strengthening outcomes. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional survey design was employed with employees (n = 332). Participants completed validated self-report measures of BPNS, work engagement, and TBB. Structural equation modelling using a bifactor exploratory structural equation modelling framework tested relationships, isolating global and specific need satisfaction factors. Findings Global BPNS positively predicted work engagement and all team-boosting behaviours (mood-enhancing, energising, unifying). Work engagement mediated between global need satisfaction and each team-boosting dimension. Specific competence satisfaction predicted all TBB, while relatedness satisfaction predicted only mood-enhancing behaviours. Effects were primarily driven by global BPNS. Practical implications Organisations should prioritise need-supportive environments that foster overall psychological need satisfaction, which may in turn relate to greater engagement and more frequent team-directed discretionary behaviours. Interventions should focus on autonomy-supportive leadership, competence development through feedback and mastery experiences, and relatedness support through psychological safety and connection-building practices. Originality/value This study uniquely integrates BPNS, work engagement, and team-boosting behaviours within a single model and suggests how individual motivational experiences may relate to team-directed behaviours, consistent with a bottom-up pathway to team climate enhancement.