Facilitating flow at work : analysis of the Dispositional Flow Scale-2 in the workplace

Abstract

The current research investigated the relationship of eight Canadian Forces Occupational Stress Questionnaire (CFOSQ) job characteristics, and transformational leadership as measured by the Global Transformational Leadership (GTL) with flow and its nine dimensions as defined by Csikszentmihalyi (1990), measured by the Dispositional Flow Scale-2 (DFS-2). The sample was comprised of SMU students and non-SMU participants, who were working at the time of the study. The results showed that none of the job characteristics or transformational leadership had a significant relationship with flow and all nine dimensions. One important outcome of the present research is that a nine dimension flow model may be overly complex in a work context. Contrary to expectations transformational leadership did not have a significant relationship with flow or any of the nine dimensions. Routinization and skill use had the highest number of significant relationships with flow and the nine dimensions.