Employees’ Peak Experience At Work:Understanding The Triggers And Impacts

We often hear the slogan “Customer is God” in the business environment.However,good customer experience is provided by employees,and employees are the most valuable asset of the organization.With the concept of “Employee is also God”gains acceptance,an increasing number of managers have joined in the wave of improving employee experience.Although numerous studies have demonstrated that positive employee experience can bring many benefits to organizations,little is known about how peak experience influences employees’ behavior.Research on consumers has proved that the moments of peak experience can determine a customer’s decision.In addition,peak tourist experience have also been explored in many ways.Thus,the prominence of PE remains largely unquestioned.However,the exploration of employees’ peak experience in the field of human resource management is still at the initial stage compared with many studies in the fields of marketing and tourism.We have little know about how this experience be triggered and what impacts will be brought by it.Therefore,this research will further explore employees’ peak experience based on the affective events theory,the two factor theory,and the social exchange theory.In Study 1,based on the analysis of previous literature and semi-structured interview data,a grounded theory method was adopted to propose a theoretical model that focused on employees’ peak experience.The model shows the triggers and subsequent impacts of employees’ peak experience in real work situations.Specifically,the factors that enable employees to have a peak experience include four types of work events: elevation,insight,pride,and connection.As a highly positive emotional experience,peak experience can drive employees to generate proactive behaviors and word-of-mouth referrals.In Study 2,a scale that can effectively measure the triggers of employees’ peak experience is developed and verified with standardized procedures.The scale is composed of four subscales measuring elevation,insight,pride,and connection,with a total of 16 items.By testing the reliability and validity of the scale,it is proved that it can be used to quantitatively measure the triggers of employees’ peak experience and test relationships between variables.In Study 3,empirical research was carried out to test the theoretical model.We use a structural equation model and 424 valid questionnaires to examine the direct relationship between employees’ peak experience and its triggers and its impact based on AMOS 26.0.In addition,we also used SPSS 26.0 to examine the mediating effect of employees’ peak experience and the moderating effect of job relevance.The results show that when employees perceive work events from elevation,insight,pride,and connection,they can be triggered to have a peak experience.The employees’ peak experience has a significant positive effect on the positive behavior of employees.When employees have a peak experience,they are more likely to produce proactive behaviors and word-of-mouth referrals.In addition,the job relevance of triggers of employees’ peak experience can moderate the relationship between employees’ peak experience and employees’ behavior.Specifically,the association between employees’ peak experience and proactive behaviors is stronger when the triggers are more job-relevant;conversely,the association between employees’ peak experience and word-of-mouth recommendations is stronger when the triggers are less job-relevant.In terms of theoretical contributions,this research points out the triggers of employees’ peak experience,resolves the problem of how to measure these triggers,and develops a scale that can be used to measure employees’ peak experience in empirical studies while also examining the behavioral effects of this positive experience.In terms of managerial implications,this research provides feasible measures for organizations to create a peak experience for their employees,helps organizations identify gaps in their existing employee experience management,and emphasizes the importance of this experience for organizations.