It Pays to Play: Playful Work Design

This chapter reviews the emerging literature on playful work design—the proactive cognitive-behavioral orientation aimed at fostering fun and challenge during work activities. The review shows that individuals with playful personality characteristics—such as trait curiosity, humor, and competitiveness—are more likely to proactively design their work to be more playful. When employees use playful work design, they enjoy various benefits, including increased levels of work engagement, creativity, and task performance. Playful work design behaviors are more effective when they align with employees’ personalities and fit the situational context. In addition, employees are most engaged in their tasks on the days they combine the strategy of designing fun with the strategy of designing competition. The chapter identifies several avenues for future research, including playful work design training interventions, leadership behaviors that may encourage playfulness, and the possible dark side of playful work design.