1. Method Affective commitment and positive affect foster innovative behavior. Evidence from longitudinal study on employees The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Institute of Psychology I Ogólnopolska Konferencja Innowacyjnych Projektów Badawczych 29 czerwca, Wrocław The study was funded from the grant received from The National Science Centre no. DEC-2013/10/M/HS6/00475 Emilia Mielniczuk (mielniczuk.e@gmail.com) Innovativeness is one of crucial factors allowing companies to growth and to survive on the market. However striving for persistent improvement of products, services or procedures requires constant effort of the whole company. The study aims at reviling the relationships between affective commitment, positive affect and innovative behavior in employees. We tested the mediating role of work-related positive affect (enthusiasm and comfort) in the relationship between affective commitment and innovative behavior. According to Broaden and Build theory, positive emotions predict positive outcomes by broadening the way individuals process information and they help to build more durable personal resources (Fredrickson,2001). Previous research showed, that affective commitment relates positively to being creative at work (Szabowska-Walaszczyk, 2010), it strengthens feelings of positive affect (Gillet et al., 2015), and positive affect, in turn, favors creativity at work (Ambalie, Barsade, Muller, Staw, 2005). Introduction Study design: A longitudinal study with two measurement points (after two weeks) was used to test postulated mediation model. Participants: 254 Polish employees (63% woman; aged 18-64, M = 33,05; SD = 9,66). Measures: Affective Commitment Scale from Organisational Commitment Scale (Meyer i Allen, 1997); Warr’s Job-Related Affect Scale (Warr, 1990); Innovative Behaviour Questionnaire (Scott & Bruce, 1994). Data analysis: Mediation analysis with bias-corrected bootstrapping method (with 5000 repetitions) using Hayes’ PROCESS macro (Hayes, 2013). Time 2 Comfort Time 1 Affective commitment Time 2 Innovative behavior Results Results of mediation analyses confirmed hypothesized mediation effects. Indirect effect =.51; Bootstrapped standard error SEB =.17, 95% confidence interval CI [0.190, 0. 866] (does not include zero what confirms the mediation effect) Time 2 Enthusiasm Time 1 Affective commitment Time 2 Innovative behavior Indirect effect =.78; Bootstrapped standard error SEB =.19, 95% confidence interval CI: [0. 441, 1,212] (does not include zero what confirms the mediation effect) This results of this study confirm that the relation between affective commitment and innovative behaviour of employees is mediated by work-related positive affect: comfort and enthusiasm along time. The results can be useful for all practitioners who works with employees. Strengthening workers’ affective commitment fosters their experience of positive affect at work, which in turn, makes company more innovative, and hence more successful. ConclusionsReferences Amabile, T. M., Barsade, S. G., Mueller, J. S., Staw, B. M. (2005). Affect and creativity at work. Administrative Science Quarterly, 50, 367-403. Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56(3), 218–226. Gillet, N., Forest, J., Benabou, C., & Bentein, K. (2015). The effects of organizational factors, psychological need satisfaction and thwarting, and affective commitment on workers’ well-being and turnover intentions. Le Travail Humain: A Bilingual and Multi-Disciplinary Journal in Human Factors, 78(2) Hayes, A. F. (2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis. NY: The Guilford Press.. Meyer, J.P., Allen, N. J. (1997). Commitment in the workplace. Theory, research, and application. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Scott, S. G., Bruce, R. A. (1994). Determinants of innovative behavior: A path model of individual innovation in the workplace. Academy of Management Journal, 37, 580-607. Szabowska-Walaszczyk, A. (2010). Zaangażowanie w pracy i organizacji – przegląd problematyki i narzędzi pomiaru. In: A. M. Zawadzka (eds.), Psychologia zarządzania w organizacji. (pp. 143 – 169). Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN. Warr, P. (1990). The measurement of well-and other aspects of mental health. Journal Occupational Psychology, 68, 193-210.