Bret Simmons, Janaki Gooty, D. Nelson
Feb 1, 2009
Citations
13
Influential Citations
185
Citations
Quality indicators
Journal
Journal of Organizational Behavior
Abstract
Secure attachment is a healthy attachment style that enables individuals to work autonomously as well as with others when appropriate. Secure attachments are characterized by internal regulatory mechanisms that allow individuals to be flexible and constructive in their interpersonal relationships Our model incorporates hope, trust in one's supervisor, and burnout as explanatory variables that translate the benefits of secure attachment into better supervisor-rated task performance. Among 161 employees of an assisted living center and their supervisors, secure attachment had a significant, positive relationship with hope, trust, and burnout, but only trust had a significant, positive relationship with supervisor-rated performance. These results indicate that secure attachment should be considered a positive psychological strength that has important implications for working adults. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.