2012/06/07 by Lucia Ceja, Lucía Ceja, Jose Navarro +1 · 85 citations
Engineering · Mathematics · Neuroscience · Psychology · #Catastrophe theory #Classification of discontinuities #Cusp (singularity) #Econometrics #Engineering #Experience sampling method #Flow (mathematics) #Flow Experience in Various Fields #Focus (optics) #Geotechnical engineering #Logistic regression #Mathematical analysis #Mathematics #Mechanics #Mental Health Research Topics #Mind wandering and attention #Nonlinear system #Physics #Psychology #Social psychology #Statistics #Variable (mathematics) #Work (physics)
paper · open access · doi:10.1177/0018726712447116
published in Human Relations 65(9), 1101-1127 (SAGE Publishing)
openalex publication_date 2012/06/07 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Work-related flow is defined as a sudden and enjoyable merging of action and awareness that represents a peak experience in the daily lives of workers. Employees’ perceptions of challenge and skill and their subjective experiences in terms of enjoyment, interest and absorption were measured using the experience sampling method, yielding a total of 6981 observations from a sample of 60 employees. Linear and nonlinear approaches were applied in order to model both continuous and sudden changes. According to the R 2 , AICc and BIC indexes, the nonlinear dynamical systems model (i.e. cusp catastrophe model) fit the data better than the linear and logistic regression models. Likewise, the cusp catastrophe model appears to be especially powerful for modelling those cases of high levels of flow. Overall, flow represents a nonequilibrium condition that combines continuous and abrupt changes across time. Research and intervention efforts concerned with this process should focus on the variable of challenge, which, according to our study, appears to play a key role in the abrupt changes observed in work-related flow.