This research argues that employees’ line of sight (i.e., an understanding of organizational strategic objectives and how their specific job tasks contribute to these objectives) is fundamental for increasing their intrinsic job satisfaction and, subsequently, job performance. Using a large dataset from a multi-national company (13,763 employees in 2,226 work groups) in Study 1 and 145 full-time employees in the US in Study 2, we tested the moderated mediated effect of employees’ line of sight (LOS) on employee outcomes. We illustrated how employees’ line of sight plays a pivotal role in fostering ‘mutual gains’ for both employees and organizations by increasing employee intrinsic job satisfaction and subsequently job performance. Based on self-determination theory and interpersonal sensemaking theory, we further showed that both team average line of sight and supervisor feedback availability amplified the positive relationship between employees’ line of sight and their intrinsic job satisfaction as well as the indirect effect of employees’ line of sight on job performance via intrinsic job satisfaction. Theoretical and practical implications of the study findings are discussed.
