ABSTRACT
Vigor refers to individuals’ feelings that they possess physical strength, emotional energy, and cognitive liveliness, a set of interrelated affective states experienced at work. This chapter focuses on vigor’s antecedents and enabling organizational processes because vigor was found to positively predict employees’ good health and proactive behaviors. Following a description of the conceptual framework of vigor and a review of past studies of vigor, I present a theoretical model, based on the conservation of resources theory, which presents hypothesized work-related potential predictors of vigor. In the discussion section, I describe a dynamic perspective to theorizing on vigor. I conclude by suggesting several open research questions that concern the study of the antecedents of vigor at work
Feeling invigorated connotes the combined feeling of a positive energy balance and pleasantness or contentment. Someone who feels tense,
angry, or anxiously aroused may feel energized but this feeling is coupled with unpleasantness and displeasure, unlike feeling vigorous. The focus on vigor is congruent with recent calls that researchers study human strengths and positive psychological capacities (Peterson & Seligman, 2004; Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson, 2005). This focus is also in tune with the emergence of positive organizational behavior, which emphasizes positive traits, states, and behaviors of employees in organizations (Bakker & Schaufeli, 2008). Vigor has not yet been theoretically modeled in terms of its antecedents and consequences (for an exception, see Shirom, 2004).
