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Studies have reported negative effects of self-control demands on the service-oriented physical and mental well-being of employees. Based on the stressor-detachment model and conservation of resources theory, the present study examined how and when the interplay between leisure crafting and perceived supervisor recreational sports support can lead self-control demands employees to exhibit proactive vitality management. A total of 212 employees completed surveys at three time points over six months. The results indicated that leisure crafting mediated the relationship between employees’ self-control demands and proactive vitality management. Perceived supervisor recreational sports support was shown to strengthen the relationship between leisure crafting and proactive vitality management. Furthermore, we demonstrated a moderated mediation model in which self-control demands, under employees’ perceived supervisor recreational sports support, did not motivate employees to engage in additional leisure crafting; rather, these demands enhanced employees’ leisure resources, which in turn promoted their proactive vitality management.

To understand how individuals’ senses of competence are cultivated, scholars have primarily focused on situational factors such as job autonomy and supervisor support. Against this backdrop, we propose that individuals can work as active agents and enhance their sense of competence by initiating actions that aim to master the environment. We adopt the behavioral concordance model and propose that people higher in proactive personality are more likely to engage in proactive behavior that elevates their senses of competence over time. We further propose that such behavioral concordance contributes to boosting a sense of competence is more prominent among those with higher proactive personality. Our predictions are supported by data from 172 employees and their direct supervisors in China, after controlling for the effect of job autonomy and supervisor support for autonomy. Specifically, only those higher in proactive personality engaged in more proactive behavior and increased their sense of competence over time. This study highlights both a self-initiated and a behavioral perspective on understanding the development of a sense of competence.

This study examined the psychometric properties of the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) in terms of internal consistency reliability, factorial validity, and measurement invariance across gender, age, residential region (metropolitan area/county town/rural area), educational level, and household income with a nationally representative sample of 4,795 participants in China. The percentages of male (47.0%) and female (53.0%) participants were about equal, and the mean age was 38.56 years (SD = 11.87). The results show that the SWLS has a high internal consistency reliability, a one-factor structure (with a wording effect on Items 4 and 5), strict invariance across gender, partial strict invariance across education (Items 1, 2 and 3), and partial strong invariance across age, income (Items 1, 2 and 3) and residential region (Items 1 and 2). The non-invariance of some items across age and region is discussed in terms of the rapid economic and social transitions of China in the past three decades.

The purpose of this study was to (1) construct an index to indicate the strength of a tendency to upgrade importance of life domains with lower have–want discrepancy and downgrade importance of life domains with larger have–want discrepancy for an individual (termed shifting tendency) and (2) use this index to test if shifting tendency has a positive correlation with global life satisfaction. The dataset was gain from Wu and Yao, 2006, Social Indicators Research, 79, 485–502), in which 332 undergraduate students at National Taiwan University participated in the survey. The mean age was 19.80 years (SD = 1.98). They completed a quality of life questionnaire, which contains 12 life domains. Satisfaction, importance and perceived have–want discrepancy were measured for 12 different life domains. Global life satisfaction was measured as well. Results showed that shifting tendency had a positive and significant correlation with average domain satisfaction and global life satisfaction. In addition, shifting tendency and have–want discrepancy had unique effects in predicting average domain satisfaction and global life satisfaction, suggesting that shifting tendency itself can contribute to a better QOL. The role of shifting tendency on QOL was discussed.