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Smartphone use and work–home interference: The moderating role of social norms and employee work engagement
Abstract
Work in our modern society that is facilitated by communication technology involves connectivity, immediacy, and a blurring of boundaries between work and non-work domains. This 4-day quantitative diary study (N = 100 employees, N = 367–400 data points) aims to shed light on the relationship between daily smartphone use and daily work–home interference (WHI). Two potential moderators of this relationship are examined: (1) (strong) social norms represented by the influence of colleagues and supervisors regarding availability after work hours and (2) work engagement. Overall, the results of multilevel analyses were in line with the hypotheses. The findings suggest that supervisors should be clear about their expectations regarding smartphone use in private hours in that they should not expect employees to be always available. In addition we conclude that engaged workers can prevent work from interfering too much with their private lives, even when they use their smartphones during evening hours.Practitioner pointsEmployees working in an ‘always-on’ culture experience more WHI.Important role models, such as supervisors, should be aware that the emails they send during evening hours and weekends also have recipients.Supervisors should be careful in creating expectations regarding availability when they decide to provide smartphones to their employees.
... Thus, the present work contributes to the literature in three important ways. First, we augment research on availability expectations by focusing specifically on supervisors and how they shape the availability expectations of their subordinates (Day et al., 2012;Derks et al., 2015;Koch and Binnewies, 2015;. Focusing on supervisors as a core source of availability expectations directly helps to gain insights into how perceived norms and expectations can be fairly easily changed when supervisors make them explicit in their team. ...
... Supervisors may also transmit high availability expectations when they reward such behavior, for example, when they thank a colleague for getting back to them outside of normal work hours at a team meeting. Such examples illustrate that supervisors often do not explicitly say that they expect their subordinates to stay connected to work, but that this is portrayed as the norm and rewarded, creating an expectation to conform (cf., Derks et al., 2015). Subordinates derive their belief about availability expectations from these observations (Barber and Santuzzi, 2015;Derks et al., 2015) and show higher ICT use as a direct result, which has been linked to workhome interference and lack of detachment (Barber and Santuzzi, 2015). ...
... Such examples illustrate that supervisors often do not explicitly say that they expect their subordinates to stay connected to work, but that this is portrayed as the norm and rewarded, creating an expectation to conform (cf., Derks et al., 2015). Subordinates derive their belief about availability expectations from these observations (Barber and Santuzzi, 2015;Derks et al., 2015) and show higher ICT use as a direct result, which has been linked to workhome interference and lack of detachment (Barber and Santuzzi, 2015). ...
In the present study, we introduce the concept of availability ambiguity and propose that it extends our understanding of the consequences of availability expectations after hours beyond the absolute level perceived by employees. Thus, we investigated how the level and ambiguity of supervisors’ availability expectations contribute to ICT communication satisfaction, detachment, work-home interference, and exhaustion. Furthermore, we test the effectiveness of a training for supervisors aimed at encouraging them to be transparent about their availability expectations by making explicit agreements with their team. In cross-sectional Study 1, data from 235 individuals showed that availability ambiguity predicted detachment and work-home interference beyond the effect of availability expectations. This finding underscores the need for clear agreements, which was addressed in an intervention tested in the two-wave Study 2. Results from 62 subordinates at T1 and 33 at T2 belonging to 17 different supervisors who participated in the training indicated an increase in explicit agreements and a decrease in availability ambiguity, but no decrease in levels of availability expectations or emotional exhaustion and no increase in ICT communication satisfaction, detachment, or work-life balance. Taken together, our studies show that the ambiguity of availability expectations is a unique stressor that needs to be and can be targeted.
... Liknande resultat har emellertid visat sig i en annan studie i en västerländsk kontext, som indikerar att anställda som känner stort engagemang för sitt arbete kan dra nytta av fördelarna med att vara uppkopplad till arbetet (Gerdenitsch et al., 2015). Andra studier har också pekat på att uppkopplingen kan ge en känsla av kontroll (Derks, van Duin, Tims & Bakker, 2015) och ökad produktivitet till fördel för arbetet (Duxbury, Higgins, Smart & Stevenson, 2014). ...
... Enkäten innehåller 15 frågor om organisatoriska bestämningsfaktorer för flexibelt arbete. De här frågorna handlar om vilken formell arbetstid respondenterna har (se fråga 6-7 egenformulerade, fråga 8, från Hanson, 2004), arbetsställe (fråga 9, från Hanson, 2004), arbetsbelastning (fråga 10, egenformulerad), rollförväntningar (fråga 11, egenformulerad), normer och regler (se fråga 12-17 modifierade från Kecklund et al., 2002;Derks et al., 2015;Allvin et al., 2013, Kreiner, 2006Mellner, In Press), samt frågor om ledarskap riktade enbart till chefer (fråga 18-29). ...
... En fråga handlade om tillräcklig tid för fritid (fråga 58, modifierad från Kecklund et al., 2002). Vidare inkluderades frågor om attityd till flexibelt arbete (fråga 59-61, modifierade från Derks et al., 2015). Fråga 62-63 handlade om preferenser för balans mellan arbete-och privatliv (modifierade från Matthews, Barnes-Farrell & Bulger, 2010;Kreiner, 2006;Kossek et al., 2012, översatta av C Mellner). ...
The aim of the present study was to develop and validate a Swedish questionnaire assessing conditions of actual work flexibility and its determinants. Data was collected by qualitative Think aloud- interviews with three persons, and through discussions with a reference group. The results from the interviews and discussions showed that corrections were needed for some of the concepts, questions, design and number of items. Next, a cross-sectional study was performed by sending the adjusted questionnaire to three companies in Sweden (N = 266), which was answered by 92 employees. The results supported the adjustments and the questionnaires’ content validity and face validity (> 95 % of the employees agreed). Three Principal component analyses showed comprehensible factors for the three main areas of questions: determinants of actual flexibility, technology use, and work-non-work balance, indicating structural validity of the questionnaire. Furthermore, hypothesis testing showed as expected that the most index variables of actual work flexibility could significantly separate the groups with varying extents of regulated work, indicating construct validity. To conclude, this Master thesis has revealed several question domains valid for inclusion in future surveys regarding actual work flexibility and associations with health and wellbeing at work.
... at Time 1 and α = .92 at Time 2; Derks et al., 2015). Items were rated on a five-point scale (Strongly disagree to Strongly agree). ...
... In relation to supervisor expectations regarding work-related messages, our results showed that these expectations seemed to play the dual role of decreasing HP and increasing OP, being associated with lower likelihood of membership into the HP Dominant profile and with a higher likelihood of membership into the OP Dominant profile. These results are consistent with previous evidence showcasing the detrimental role of such expectations (Barber et al., 2019;Derks et al., 2015). Because they feel pressured to quickly respond to work-related demands and to be constantly available for their work, employees exposed to such expectations are more likely to succumb to work pressures during their off-job time, thus making it harder for them to withdraw from their work when they should rather be recovering from it (Barber & Santuzzi, 2015;Braukmann et al., 2018). ...
... They could also be decreased at the individual level through coaching or counseling (Van Gordon et al., 2017). Furthermore, possible interventions include changes designed to reduce workload sustainably, which might help decrease these expectations in the long run (Derks et al., 2015). More generally, it might be useful to encourage more efficient work recovery processes to protect employees' professional well-being and to facilitate positive spillover between their work and personal roles (Huyghebaert-Zouaghi et al., 2022). ...
... Whereas telepressure reflects employees' preoccupation with the need to respond quickly to work-related messages and the corresponding urge to do so, work-related characteristics may also contribute to nurture and maintain this urge. More precisely, this tendency may be connected with specific interpersonal norms (from supervisors and/or colleagues) regarding the need to respond quickly to work-related messages, even when they occur during off-job time (Derks et al., 2015). In fact, employees' perceptions of interpersonal norms regarding the need to quickly follow up on work-related messages has been found to be detrimental to their psychological detachment and need satisfaction, and may lead to higher levels of workaholism (Mazzetti et al., 2014;2016). ...
... We thus expect higher levels of interpersonal norms regarding work-related messages to be associated with a higher likelihood of membership into profiles characterized by higher global levels of workaholism (e.g., Plugged In). Moreover, interpersonal norms regarding work-related messages tend to be associated with increases in workload because employees exposed to such norms feel a constant sense of pressure to be responsive, to work in a hurry, and to do more (Derks et al., 2015). As a result, employees who feel being exposed to such norms should be more likely to display a profile characterized by higher specific levels of behavioral workaholism (Clark et al., 2020). ...
... at T1 and α = .94 at T2) developed by Derks et al. (2015). ...
This research relies on a combination of variable-and person-centered approaches to help improve our understanding of the dimensionality of the workaholism construct. Our results showed that employees' worka-holism ratings simultaneously reflected a global overarching construct co-existing with four specific dimensions (behavioral, motivational, emotional, and cognitive workaholism) among a sample of 432 workers who completed a questionnaire twice over a three-month period. We also examined the profiles taken by workaholism dimensions, and documented their stability over time as well as the associations between these profiles and theoretically-relevant predictors and outcomes. Furthermore, we examined whether these associations differ as a function of working remotely or onsite. Four profiles were identified and found to be highly stable over time: Unplugged, Plugged In, Moderately Unplugged with Externalized Workaholism, and Moderately Unplugged
with Cognitive Workaholism. Personal life orientation, telepressure, and interpersonal norms regarding work-related messages were related to the likelihood of profile membership. Remote working also reinforced the positive effects of personal life orientation and the negative effects of interpersonal norms regarding work-related messages. Finally, employees’ work-to-family guilt, job satisfaction, family satisfaction, and life satisfaction also differed as a function of their profile.
... These adults engage in systematic and specific use and non-use behaviours as a strategy to compensate for these feelings. Derks et al. [14] observe that adults feel that they are always expected to reply to work-related messages or emails; thus, boundaries of work-life and family-life intertwine. Similarly, Aranda and Baig [1] studied the dynamics of excessive smartphone use and feeling disconnected, finding that embedded in the design of mobile technologies lies an expectation that reinforces a social obligation to always be digitally present. ...
... Smardio was deployed with family Two, Three and Four, and Tempus with family Five, Six and Seven. We invited families with children still living at home (Elias from family five visited the parents' home 2-3 times a week), between the ages [14,60]. Additionally, prior research indicates that such families represent situations: 1) where strategies and rules for restricting smartphone use are commonplace [6,18]; and 2) where family members tend to implicitly agree that using the phone during a collocated social exchange is problematic [1,9]. ...
... The few participants who used their smartphones in moments mentioned that it was because of work or similar 'important' matters. This echoes findings of others [1,9,14]. ...
... Regarding the few negative leadership studies (n = 3) following the strengthening mechanism, research suggests that negative leadership as a demand strengthens stressor/strain relationships via relationship-related negative leadership (Cangiano et al., 2019) and via negative role modelling leadership behavior (Derks et al., 2015;Syrek & Antoni, 2014). ...
... For example, Cangiano et al. (2019) found that high levels of punitive supervision accentuated the psychological risks of daily proactive behavior on negative EWB (i.e., anxiety), which was associated with less daily detachment after work the same day. As for negative role modelling behaviors, e.g., Derks et al. (2015) showed that negative leadership may increase stable contextual demands by focusing on the increased blurred boundaries intensified using internet and communication technologies. Hypothesizing that daily smartphone use in the evening hours is more strongly related to negative daily spillover for employees who are expected (vs. ...
... That is, many studies centered their sampling around specific organizations (e.g., Danish elderly care organization; Munir et al., 2012) and sectors (e.g., IT sector; Fan et al., 2019), whereas other studies used a largely selective sample (e.g., only working parents in Japan with children under the age of six; Demerouti et al., 2013). Only a few studies applied heterogeneous samples which might be more representative (Cangiano et al., 2019;Derks et al., 2015;Stocker et al., 2014). Although sample specification can produce more robust evidence within the population under study (Barnes et al., 2020), it limits the generalizability of these studies to the wider population (Demerouti et al., 2013). ...
Many current working conditions are characterized by increasing blurred boundaries between work and nonwork with
spillover that impact employees’ and recovery processes and wellbeing. Research, although emerging, considers these
processes in the leadership-wellbeing relationship insufficiently. The main aim of this study, therefore, was to enhance our
understanding of the role of leadership on employee’s work-nonwork interface and wellbeing. To address these processes
adequately, longitudinal research is most appropriate. To our best knowledge, no review exists that could inform longitudinal
studies on the leadership-employee wellbeing relationship with a focus on spillover and recovery processes. Following the
PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews, we apply a narrative synthesis of 21 identified studies to organize the research
landscape. We make three main contributions: First, we adopt an integrated resource-demands based process perspective
and expand the leadership-employee wellbeing relationship by including spillover and recovery. Second, we map the used
theoretical approaches and analyzed research gaps. Third, we offer a list of the issues and potential remedies of applied
methodologies to orient further research. Results show, that while work-nonwork research is predominantly approached
from a negative conflict-based view, research focused more on positive than on negative leadership. We identify two broad
categories of investigated mechanisms, namely bolstering/hampering mechanisms, and buffering/strengthening mechanisms.
Findings also highlight the importance of personal energy resources and therefore call for more attention to affect-driven
theories. The identified predominance of the IT and healthcare sectors and of working parents warrants more representative
research. We offer recommendations to advance future research both theoretically and methodologically.
... This would effectively lead to spending more time replying to e-mails or other work-related messages after regular hours. In this respect, previous research found that these norms increased work-home interference (Derks et al., 2015;Gadeyne et al., 2018), which has been shown to be strongly linked with feeling burned out at work (Derks and Bakker, 2014). Availability norms are thus expected to trigger an enduring stressor, heightening the risk of burnout complaints at work. ...
... The results in this study seem to suggest that the worries of these policymakers are legitimate, because we found that availability norms are indeed related to increased burnout symptoms at work. Previous research already linked availability norms with increased work-home interference (Derks et al., 2015;Gadeyne et al., 2018), which is associated with burnout symptoms (Derks and Bakker, 2014). We take it a step further, highlighting that these norms are associated with important health risks in the form of burnout symptoms. ...
... The results indicated that there is a relationship between availability norms and experiencing telepressure. This was also found in previous studies wherein availability norms appeared an important predictor of the occurrence of telepressure Santuzzi, 2015, 2017;Derks et al., 2015;Grawitch et al., 2018). Telepressure can be seen as a personal demand within the JDR Model, since it is a psychological job-related aspect that requires sustained effort. ...
Introduction:
Digital innovations make it possible to work anywhere and anytime using any kind of device. Given these evolutions, availability norms are emerging at work. These norms specifically refer to the experienced beliefs or expectations from colleagues or superiors to be available for work-related communication after regular work hours. We rely on the Job-Demands Resources Model as we aim to investigate the relationship between these availability norms and burnout symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. We first of all study to what extent availability norms are associated with heightened burnout symptoms. Secondly, we study how both a personal demand, namely telepressure, and a job resource, namely autonomy, could offer distinct and relevant explanations for the role these availability norms play in experiencing burnout symptoms.
Method:
We collected data through a survey study with 229 employees from various organizations in the second half of 2020.
Results:
The findings indicated that indeed availability norms are significantly associated with more burnout symptoms and that both heightened telepressure and reduced autonomy mediated this relationship.
Discussion:
This study contributes to theory and practice as we offer insight into how availability norms at work could be detrimental for the occupational health of employees, which can be taken into account when setting up rules and regulations at work.
... Therefore, supplemental work differs from overtime work; overtime is formally compensated work, and working hours are formally extended by the employer (Fenner & Renn, 2004). In general, past research has demonstrated that work performed through mobile technology interferes with the family domain (Chen & Karahanna, 2014;Derks et al., 2015). For example, Derks and Bakker (2014) found a positive association between daily smartphone use and work-home interference. ...
... According to Kreiner (2006), organizations will vary in their efforts to promote environments characterized by either integration or segmentation, thereby creating different segmentation norms. When working in organizations with high segmentation norms, employees typically perceive other employees' separation between work and their personal lives (Derks et al., 2015;Park et al., 2011). ...
... With low segmentation norms, employees will be more likely to blend work and family, which ultimately may lead to work-to-family and family-to-work conflict (see Derks et al., 2015;Yang et al., 2019). Expectations within a work group to respond to emails or incoming calls and deliver results while at home may interrupt important personal obligations or disturb employees' sense of control over how they spend their personal time (Gadeyne et al., 2018). ...
Psychological job control has typically been negatively related to work‐to‐family and family‐to‐work conflict. Based on the job demand‐resource model and boundary theory, we argue that psychological job control may indirectly be positively related to family‐to‐work conflict by both increasing supplemental work, that is, the rate of engagement in work outside of formal working hours without receiving compensation aided by mobile technology, and work‐to‐family conflict. We hypothesize that this proposed positive indirect relationship will be lower among employees who perceive a high segmentation norm at their workplace. Based on a two‐wave study of 4518 employees, we obtained support for a serial moderated mediation model that suggests a dual effect of psychological job control on family‐to‐work conflict, such that psychological job control was positively associated with family‐to‐work conflict through supplemental work and work‐to‐family conflict at low levels of segmentation norms. By examining the dual effects of psychological job control, this study aims to further understand the mechanisms involved in determining whether and when psychological job control, together with supplemental work, encourages employees to uphold or cross boundaries between work and nonwork domains. Our findings imply that psychological job control can both be a resource and a demand depending on the levels of segmentation norms.
... However, using smartphone for work during off-job time may not always be beneficial. Some scholars have found that off-time work-related smartphone use has dark sides for employees' psychological health, such as work-home conflict (Derks et al., 2015(Derks et al., , 2016Gadeyne et al., 2018), and job burnout (Park et al., 2020). Besides, the emerging literature also found that off-time work-related smartphone use was negatively related to employees' physical health, such as sleep quantity and sleep quality (Lanaj et al., 2014;Xie et al., 2018). ...
... As smartphone use makes employees have permanent access to work-related information via e-mails, messengers, and phone calls, the boundary between work and home domain continually blurs (Lanaj et al., 2014). This not only poses challenges to employees in managing their work and family roles but also places increased risk on employee mental and physical health Derks et al., 2015Derks et al., , 2016Park et al., 2020). However, whether using the smartphone for work in the evening may drive employees to exhibit more sleeprelated unhealthy behaviors remains unclear. ...
... Second, we measured off-time work-related smartphone use by using Derks et al.'s (2014) scale, which has been verified as a reasonable and reliable approach (Derks et al., 2015(Derks et al., , 2016. However, to get a more concrete view of how employees actually use smartphone for work purposes during after-work hours, objective measures, such as the frequency of smartphone use or a log book, would be helpful. ...
Community Wellbeing Under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor: Role of Social, Economic, Cultural, and Educational Factors in Improving Residents’ Quality of Life
Jaffar Aman, Jaffar Abbas, [...], and Likun Gu
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Abstract
This present article explores the effects of cultural value, economic prosperity, and community mental wellbeing through multi-sectoral infrastructure growth projects under the Belt and Road Initiative. The implications of the social exchange theory are applied to observe the support of the local community for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). This study explores the CPEC initiative, it’s direct social, cultural, economic development, and risk of environmental factors that affect residents’ lives and the local community’s wellbeing. CPEC is a multibillion-dollar project to uplift economic growth and free trade between Pakistan, China, and other regional stakeholders. Although CPEC is still in its initial phases with partial startups, policymakers and government officials claim this mega project as a “game-changer” in the region, mainly for Pakistan and China. This gigantic project offers the significant potential to generate business slews and employment opportunities with international outreach. Due to the term’s newness, numerous studies have recently explored the macro and microeconomic benefits of the CPEC initiatives; still, these projects are theoretical. The existing literature insufficiently explored how helpful CPEC would be to a specific group and how residents perceive its advantages. This study fills in the literature gaps and explores the likely advantageous potential of the CPEC for the regional states. The study applied a convenient sampling technique for the data collection process. It used a mixed-method approach to gain scientific results, with a standardized questionnaire survey of 459 people (300 men and 159 women) from five major cities of Pakistan. The study results designate that residents believe that CPEC infrastructure projects will significantly improve residents’ life quality through more job openings and community poverty reduction. Still, they raised their concerns regarding environmental protection issues in the region. The findings specified that residents had an optimistic approach to better educational productivity by adopting environment-oriented policies. Policymakers should establish new CPEC study centers in different areas, and investors should be encouraged to participate in the industrial sector. Officials can overwhelm community worries about environmental degradation. Government officials in both countries can utilize the findings to raise public awareness about CPEC’s social, economic, cultural, mental wellbeing, and ecological implications.
... Work-home balance can be defined as the 'satisfaction and good functioning at work and at home, with a minimum of role conflict' (Clark, 2000, p. 751), while role conflict, in this context, refers to the inter-role conflict which occurs when an individual's participation in work complicates their participation in non-work or personal activities (Chen et al., 2009). Some individuals prefer to integrate domains to achieve a sense of balance, while others experience such integration as overwhelming and taxing because it often entails expectations for constant availability across multiple domains (Derks et al., 2015). These preferences might be influenced by the degree of alignment between life domains in terms of general life goals (Stoll et al., 2020), as well as the individual's level of vocational interest (Nye et al., 2017). ...
... Specifically, the study argues that those with a preference for domain segmentation would experience cross-domain online vigilance as more stressful than those who prefer to integrate domains. This is based on the premise that domain integrators are likely to utilise online media to achieve integration and, as such, orienting their attention towards their online domains would represent an intentional strategy (Derks et al., 2015;Kreiner, 2006;Kreiner et al., 2009). Segmentors, however, may experience online media as an obstruction or hindrance to their efforts to demarcate life domains and be present and mindful in their offline roles. ...
Purpose: High levels of online media use and permanent connectedness are common features of contemporary life in the developed world. In recent studies, the concept of online vigilance has been adopted to describe individuals’ chronic attentional orientation towards and engagement with their online spheres. The present study extends this notion by investigating its role in relation to stress and boundary management.
Design/methodology/approach: A sample of 299 knowledge workers completed an online survey concerning the role of cross-domain online vigilance in the blurring of work-personal boundaries and the potential impact this may have on perceived stress.
Findings/results: Contrary to extant evidence, the findings of this study indicate that cross-domain online vigilance does not predict stress, neither on its own nor when interacting with individuals’ domain segmentation preferences. However, the findings indicate that younger knowledge workers, more than their older colleagues, have trouble disconnecting from their personal online spheres while working.
Practical implications: Work communication policies and norms should enable workers to psychologically disconnect from work during non-working hours and should be sensitive to the differences in personal preferences for boundary segmentation. Constant psychological connection to personal online communication may impact performance among younger knowledge workers.
Originality/value: The present study is the first to consider the notion of online vigilance in relation to boundary management and stress among knowledge workers. The findings are particularly relevant given the increased blurring of work-personal boundaries that results from organisations adopting work-from-anywhere policies following the COVID-19 pandemic.
... Research has shown that there are some important betweenperson factors affecting the outcomes of WICT (Kühner et al., 2023). In particular, WICT has been found to be less unfavourable -or even favourable -when employees prefer to integrate their work and home domains (Derks et al., 2016;Gadeyne et al., 2018), when they experience fewer norms and pressures to engage in that behaviour (Derks et al., 2015), when they experience high levels of work centrality (Shi et al., 2021), and when they get more supervisory support (Park et al., 2020). In addition, the outcomes of WICT may not only depend on between-person differences, but could also differ over the days. ...
... To address our aims, we first examine whether daily work-related demands (i.e., unfinished tasks and workload) trigger daily WICT via daily intentions to engage in this behaviour. Secondly, we explore whether daily intentions to engage in WICT moderate the relationship between daily WICT and two well-known outcomes of daily WICT: daily work-to-home conflict and daily psychological detachment (Braukmann et al., 2018;Cho et al., 2020;Derks et al., 2014Derks et al., , 2015Eichberger et al., 2020). In that way, we cover the two main categories of outcomes of WICT identified by Ďuranová and Ohly (2015): subjective well-being outcomes (here assessed with work-to-home conflict) and recovery indicators (here captured with psychological detachment). ...
Because work-related ICT use after hours (WICT) has often been linked to negative outcomes, it is intriguing that many people still engage in this behaviour, often on a daily basis. Yet, qualitative research suggests that WICT may be less harmful when people consciously plan to engage in this behaviour. Drawing on Action-Regulation Theory, this paper tests the assumptions that WICT is sometimes a planned behaviour that people intend to engage in in response to work-related stimuli (e.g., daily unfinished tasks, daily workload) and that the outcomes of this behaviour are less detrimental when WICT is more intended or planned. We tested our hypotheses using a 5-day diary study (i.e., two measurement points a day) among 186 Flemish employees. We found that daily unfinished tasks – though not daily workload – were positively related to daily WICT via daily intentions to engage in WICT. Furthermore, daily intentions to engage in WICT were found to strengthen, rather than buffer, the negative relationship between daily WICT and psychological detachment. We found no moderation effect of daily intentions to engage in WICT in the relationship between WICT and work-to-home conflict. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
... While several studies have explored the link between afterhours WICT use and burnout and related constructs (e.g., Derks & Bakker, 2014;Zhang et al., 2021), most studies of the positive aspects of after-hours WICT use have focused on how its use grants individuals control over their work/home boundaries through the flexibility it provides. Despite the theoretical importance of work engagement in the JD-R model and growing acceptance of after-hours WICT use as a job resource or a demand, very few studies (e.g., Fujimoto et al., 2016;Derks, van Duin, Tims, & Bakker, 2015) have examined the link between after-hours WICT use and next day work engagement. This is a critical gap of theoretical and empirical importance in the literature because if after-hours WICT use is a potential job resource, then more evidence is needed to determine whether and under what conditions it facilitates work engagement the next day. ...
... Continuing the growing interest and literature in daily work engagment (e.g., Bakker & Oerlemans, 2019;Cho, Kim, Chin, & Ahmad, 2020;Derks et al., 2015;Vogel, Rodell, & Sabey, 2020) and calls for withinperson designs (Bakker, Demerouti, & Sanz-Vergel, 2014), we explore the relationship between after-hours WICT use and work engagement the next day using a daily diary research design. Such an approach not only provides additional evidence for daily fluctuations in WICT use and work engagement, but also approximates the reality of employees' behaviors across days. ...
... As for social normative work context characteristics, we expect availability expectations after work and workplace telepressure to be positively related to TASW and work family culture to be negatively associated with TASW. High expectations from within the organization regarding availability after work might pressure employees into engaging in TASW (Derks et al., 2015). Relatedly, high workplace telepressure, which is defined as the "combination of a strong urge to be responsive to people at work through messagesbased ICTs with a preoccupation with quick response times" (Barber & Santuzzi, 2015, p. 172), could make employees feel obliged to engage in TASW. ...
... This, in turn, can result in time-based (e.g., time spent on TASW is not available for participation in nonwork roles like quality time with family) and strain-based (e.g., increased tension due to TASW may spill into nonwork life) conflict (Gadeyne et al., 2018). There are many empirical studies identifying a positive relationship between TASW and work nonwork conflict (e.g., Derks et al., 2015). ...
Due to the increasing digitalization and connectivity of work, more and more employees engage in technology-assisted supplemental work (TASW). TASW refers to the performance of work-related tasks after regular work hours with the aid of technological tools. Based on a conceptual model of TASW, we present a comprehensive meta-analysis of potential antecedents and outcomes of TASW (K = 89 independent samples, N = 39,085 employees). Results showed that TASW is associated with social normative work context characteristics, such as availability expectations after work (ρ = 0.45), and work characteristics, such as job demands (ρ = 0.32). Associations were also found between TASW and person characteristics, such as work identity (ρ = 0.35) and segmentation preference (ρ = −0.20). Moreover, TASW is related to important employee outcomes, including recovery-related outcomes, such as psychological detachment (ρ = −0.38); well-being outcomes, such as job strain (ρ = 0.12); nonwork-related outcomes, such as work nonwork conflict (ρ = 0.32); as well as attitudinal and performance-related outcomes, such as organizational commitment (ρ = 0.16) and work performance (ρ = 0.27). We also found TASW to be related to certain demographic characteristics, such as male gender (ρ = 0.11) and job-level (ρ = 0.23). Exploratory moderator analyses further revealed that gender moderated the relationship between job demands and TASW, such that the relationship was weaker for samples with a higher percentage of females. We conclude by discussing potential directions for future research to advance the understanding of TASW.
... As machines transition from being useful instruments for production to playing a crucial part in multiple areas of organisational and economic life, the implications of technological breakthroughs and inventions for humans are becoming increasingly complex [4,5]. Work in modern society is driven by pervasive digitalisation and communication technologies, which require constant connectivity, create a requirement for rapid responses and raise a variety of issues regarding work-life balance [6]. Thus, human resource management (HRM) must shift beyond firefighting to plan for a new reality and make strategic advances. ...
Human resource management (HRM) is expected to become more strategic as a result of the development of internet-based HRM technology, or e-HRM, according to the rhetoric associated with it. Using a survey dataset, data for the study were collected from 396 companies listed on the Bursa Malaysia Stock Exchange for the years 2016–2020 using a survey designed to identify the e-HRM functions used by companies and which HR functions contribute to e-HRM usage within an organisation. It was found that most companies use e-HRM in at least one to two HRM functions, with the highest digitalisation use found in Payroll and Employee Benefits. These results indicate that HR professionals should work closely with digitalisation and human capital to better understand and subsequently implement technologies in order to fully embrace digital HRM technology.
... Further complicating our understanding of the impacts of phone use are the myriad ways that people become connected to their technology. For example, some rely on their use for health reasons (Anderson et al., 2016), facilitation of workplace needs (Derks et al., 2015), social connection , and regulation of their emotions (Torres et al., 2021)-even forming deep attachments with the technology (Parent & Shapka, 2020). Thus, the perceived or realized impacts of phone use and potential connections with desire to change are likely nuanced, based at least in part on reasons for use. ...
We examined objective smartphone use (via a mobile sensing application) and self-reported desire to change phone use among a sample of 268 U.S. parents of infants. Using the Transtheoretical Stages of Change model as a conceptual foundation, we contextualized their attitudes and behaviors and explored how phone use and desire to change relate to perceptions of distraction and problematic phone use around their child. Latent profile analysis of parents' precontemplation, contemplation, and action scores revealed two classes—precontemplators (15%) and contemplators (85%). Contemplators—those considering or desiring change—showed more bedtime phone use and general social networking than precontemplors; however, there were no significant differences between groups on other objective use measures (e.g., total daily duration of phone use, phone use around child, etc.). Contemplators also showed greater perceptions of problematic use around their child and parenting distraction. Moreover, parents’ problematic use and distraction were predictive of higher contemplation scores, even after controlling for demographic and objective phone use variables. Taken together, these results suggest that perceptions of phone use as problematic may be more important than actual phone habits, especially total phone use duration, for desire to change. Suggestions for future research and intervention are provided.
... As suggested by Derks et al., (2015), work engagement and its effect as a moderating variable should be further investigated in future studies. Similarly, as suggested by Anasori (2021) future research would provide a significant contribution by testing possible moderators of work engagement of workplace ostracism and its consequences. ...
This study provides tenets that guide a wide range of researchers, industry practitioners, and academics in order to work multifaceted environment of workplace ostracism, work engagement, and turnover intention. The prevalence of turnover intention has received critical attention among Human Resource practitioners as the alarming statistics nowadays allude to global epidemic of actual turnover. High turnover can be costly to any organization. Therefore, this issue needs special attention as it may impact the company's bottom line. Based on the research philosophies of positivism, this study employs a deductive approach or quantitative research design. This shall provide empirical evidence of the effect of ostracism on turnover and moderated by work engagement. Based on the available literature, a comparative analysis of different experiences with ostracism and turnover from diverse background studies has shown their adequacy for the requirement to involve work engagement as the mediator. This study only looking from East Culture's perspective which is the Malaysian Private Higher Education Institutions (MPHEIs). It is a cross-sectional, which prevents examining the evolution over time of the phenomenon under investigation. Many studies have examined the antecedents of turnover intention, however, the effects of relational experiences at work on turnover intention amongst junior employees have not been fully explored.
... Technological changes often affect an individual's workrelated well-being (Cañibano et al., 2021; Chamakiotis, 2020; Doyle and Conboy, 2020). While some changes may lead to the automation of routine activities, such as work-from-home decisions and greater access to information, others may present challenges to the individual's well-being, such as work-life, or home-life interference (Derks et al., 2015), quality of recovery time (Sonnentag, 2003), loss of control and increased stress (Chamakiotis, 2020;Deery et al., 2002;Doyle and Conboy, 2020). Further, according to the IMO theoretical framework, a team's virtuality can directly affect its employees' well-being. ...
Purpose-This paper aims to determine the impact of perceived virtuality on team dynamics and outcomes by adopting the Input-Mediators-Outcome (IMO) framework. Further, it also investigates the mediating role of team processes and emergent states. Design/methodology/approach-The authors collected survey data from 315 individuals working in virtual teams (VTs) in the information technology sector in India using both offline and online questionnaires. They performed the analysis using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). Findings-The authors investigated two sets of hypotheses-both direct and indirect (or mediation interactions). Results show that psychological empowerment and conflict management are significant in managing VTs. Also, perceived virtuality impacts team outcomes, i.e. perceived team performance, team satisfaction and subjective well-being. Research limitations/implications-The interplay between the behavioural team process (conflict management) and the emergent state (psychological empowerment) was examined. The study also helps broaden our understanding of the various psychological variables associated with teamwork in the context of VTs. Practical implications-Findings from this study will aid in assessing the consequences of virtual teamwork at both individual and organisational levels, such as guiding the design and sustainability of VT arrangements, achieving higher productivity in VTs, and designing effective and interactive solutions in the virtual space. Social implications-The study examined the interplay between behavioural team processes (such as conflict management) and emergent states (such as psychological empowerment). The study also theorises and empirically tests the relationships between perceived virtuality and team outcomes (i.e. both affective and effectiveness). It may serve as a guide to understanding team dynamics in VTs better. Originality/value-This exploratory study attempts to enhance the current understanding of the research and practice of VTs within a developing economy.
... Second, with respect to the potential detrimental effects of workload, organizations should encourage supervisors to learn new skills that will enable them to support smart workers in managing their job tasks when working remotely (e.g., eleadership) [164], with a focus on mutual trust and instrumental/emotional support, rather than excessive monitoring and control [159]. Moreover, to reduce the tendency to exceed regular working hours and to forestall an "always-on culture" [165], specific organizational policies might be aimed at dissuading the use of work-related technologies (e.g., email, virtual meetings) during leisure time [166], including the acknowledgment of a right to disconnect [167]. Finally, in addition to these top-down strategies [168], interventions could also be aimed at promoting bottom-up, job-crafting interventions. ...
Building on the job demands-resources (JD-R) and allostatic load (AL) models, in the present study we examined the role of smart working (SW) in the longitudinal association between workload/job autonomy (JA) and a possible biomarker of work-related stress (WRS) in the hair-namely, the cortisol-dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA(S)) ratio-during the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, 124 workers completed a self-report questionnaire (i.e., psychological data) at Time 1 (T1) and provided a strand of hair (i.e., biological data) three months later (Time 2, T2). Results from moderated multiple regression analysis showed that SW at T1 was negatively associated with the hair cortisol/DHEA(S) ratio at T2. Additionally, the interaction between workload and SW was significant, with workload at T1 being positively associated with the hair cortisol/DHEA(S) ratio at T2 among smart workers. Overall, this study indicates that SW is a double-edged sword, with both positive and negative consequences on employee wellbeing. Furthermore, our findings suggest that the hair cortisol/DHEA(S) ratio is a promising biomarker of WRS. Practical implications that organizations and practitioners can adopt to prevent WRS and promote organizational wellbeing are discussed.
... To maintain contact and meet job expectations, teleworkers rely on ICT, which enables them to stay connected with their work community when working from different locations. This, however, may result in technostress (Beauregard et al, 2019) and exhaustion, longer working hours and difficulties in switching off from work, thus intensifying a culture where individuals are expected to be constantly available (e.g., Derks et al, 2015). Technostress is the mental outcome of increased use of ICTs and occurs when a teleworker is not able to cope with the situation because using technologies can lead to application multitasking, constant connectivity, information overload, and technical problems (for example, Camacho and Barrios, 2022). ...
This study answers the question 'What is hybrid work (HW)?' The concept was studied by reviewing meta-analyses and literature reviews on remote work and telework, empirical research reports and journal articles summarising COVID-19-related telework findings, and professional publications, reports and articles focusing on common challenges in and expectations for future hybrid work. Most data were collected through a standardised questionnaire circulated to the Network of Eurofound Correspondents (NEC) covering all EU-27 Member States from 15 th December 2021 to 7 th January 2022. The questionnaire generated data from each country about definitions, debates, policies, and practices related to hybrid work. Literature analysis was carried out by reading the material, focusing first on what hybrid work is from the perspectives of traditional remote work and telework concepts, and then looking for expectations concerning hybrid work. The analysis of the country reports was carried out using Atlas.ti software, which is a workbench for qualitative analysis. Based on these analyses, hybrid work (HW) is defined as any type of work arrangement where a worker operates in a sustainable manner alone or with others, as agreed upon between the worker and organisation, based on the latter's purpose, the former's needs and tasks, and the context, with flexibly regarding the time and place of the work-on the employer's premises or default location or remotely at home, other locations or on the road-using digital technologies such as laptops, mobile phones and the internet.
... Work-life conflict theory suggests that work-related intervention in the household is related to life conflicts that cause emotional exhaustion (Amstad et al., 2011;Buruck et al., 2020;Hall et al., 2010;Ingels, 2018;Nitzsche et al., 2013;Wang et al., 2012). W_ICTs causes work to intrude into individuals' personal lives through work-related emails, text messages, and calls when having dinner or engaged in other family activities , and consequently induces work-life conflict (Allen et al., 2015;Butts et al., 2015;Derks et al., 2015;Wang et al., 2022). Another theoretical basis is scarcity theory, which assumes that personal resources related to attention, energy, and time are finite, and that an increase in the resources people devote to one role decreases their devotion to another (Edwards & Rothbard, 2000). ...
The high turnover rate of kindergarten teachers has become a global problem. Job satisfaction is regarded as a contributing factor that can reduce turnover intention. We sought to examine the relationship between work-related use of information and communication technologies after hours (W_ICTs) and kindergarten teachers' job satisfaction, as well as the mediating role of emotional exhaustion and the moderating role of perceived organizational support in the link between W_ICTs and emotional exhaustion. A sample of 434 participants of kindergarten teachers completed questionnaires on W_ICTs, job satisfaction, perceived organizational support and emotional exhaustion. Results indicated that kindergarten teachers' emotional exhaustion played a partial mediating role in the relationship between W_ICTs and job satisfaction. In addition, perceived organizational support moderated the association between W_ICTs and emotional exhaustion. Specifically, W_ICTs had a greater impact on emotional exhaustion for kindergarten teachers with low perceived organizational support.
... This condition makes it difficult for individuals to leave their workplace, and feel a situation called workplace telepressure (Jonas, 2022). This underlies the importance of looking at the possible relationship of information and communication to workplace telepressure and its impact on employee well-being (Derks et al., 2015). ...
Orientation: The massive development of information, communication and technology (ICT) in the last decade has motivated companies to adopt it in their business. However, this becomes one of the pressures faced by employees, as it may lead to job burnout.
Research purpose: To explore the influence of workplace telepressure on employee burnout by considering transformational leadership and perceived organisational support (POS) as moderators.
Motivation for the study: The literature on how workplace telepressure affects job burnout still needs to be explored, and there is a need to examine the condition by which this relationship can be strengthened or weakened.
Research approach/design and method: This study employs a quantitative approach with 388 employees of manufacturing companies in three provinces in Indonesia. The data processing is done using conditional process analysis with SPSS macro-PROCESS.
Main findings: Workplace telepressure is positively related to higher levels of job burnout. Transformational leadership moderates the influence of workplace telepressure on job burnout. Finally, POS strengthens the moderating role of transformational leadership in workplace telepressure on job burnout.
Practical/managerial implications: Managers must be aware that workplace telepressure can trigger job burnout among employees. Leaders need to apply a transformational leadership style, and organisations need to provide full support for employees.
Contribution/value-add: This study builds a model of stress management, represented by job burnout, because of the existence of workplace telepressure by considering contextual factors that individuals can use as resources to regulate the pressure they feel on having to respond to ICT continuously in their work.
... Indeed, high workload deplete resources (Christensen, Dawson, and Nielsen 2021), leading to emotional exhaustion (Alarcon 2011), which often results to work-home conflict (Bell, Rajendran, and Theiler 2012) and difficulties achieving work-life balance (WLB) (Haar et al. 2019). Individuals have often resorted to the use of smartphone, especially in the evening to recover from work stress (Rieger, Hefner, and Vorderer 2017), but the use of this electronic gadget in the evening for non-work purposes, which is mostly expected to help individuals to recover from high workload, unfortunately does not only incite stress and sleep problems (Lepp, Barkley, and Karpinski 2014); it exacerbates stress (Rieger, Hefner, and Vorderer 2017), intrudes into family time (Peters, den Dulk, and Van der Lippe 2009), and causes imbalance between work and family life (Derks et al. 2015). 2021). ...
The study examined dual-pathway (emotional exhaustion and intensive smartphone use in the evening for non-work purposes) through which high workload is related to work-life balance (WLB). The study equally tested whether family cohesion moderated these mediation effects among university academics from the Southeastern region of Nigeria. Results from a 3-wave survey data (N = 683) using PROCESS model 14 showed that high workload related negatively to WLB. High workload related positively to emotional exhaustion. Emotional exhaustion mediated the relationship between high workload and WLB. The results equally indicated that high workload related positively to intensive smartphone use in the evening for non-work purposes. Intensive smartphone use in the evening mediated the negative relationship between high workload and WLB. Family cohesion moderated the mediation effect of emotional exhaustion by buffering its influence on WLB but did not moderate the mediation effect between intensive smartphone use in the evening for non-work purposes and WLB. Our findings extend the understanding of how high workload impairs WLB via emotional exhaustion and intensive smartphone use in the evening and shed light on how to cope with high workload to achieve WLB. ARTICLE HISTORY
... Waters, et al. (2009) believe that interactivity plays an important role in developing relationships online with stakeholders, and Manetti and Ballucci (2016) corroborate that social media and social networks are powerful mechanisms for reaching and keeping in touch with a large number of stakeholders, thus guaranteeing an interactive dialogue with them at a very low cost. Derks, et al. (2015) also acknowledge that devices such as smart phones and tablets afford greater flexibility in working behaviours and sharing of information. Moreover, Saxton and Guo (2011) conclude that through strategically targeted content, firms can mobilise stakeholders, build meaningful relationships and ultimately foster increased accountability and public trust. ...
Urban construction projects are renowned for their dynamic complexities, which can adversely affect the external stakeholders surrounding the project. Complex collaboration and communication amongst stakeholders has resulted in the fast development of ICT in the construction industry, which tends to lag behind other industries considering technological advancements. Therefore, this paper aims to identify and document methods of ICT and emerging technologies used in the management and engagement of external stakeholders on urban construction projects. In addressing this aim, the core objective is to identify what methods of ICT are involved in the management and engagement of the stakeholders in these inherently risky environments. The methodology undertaken is qualitatively based, encompassing a descriptive literature review and four exploratory cases study interviews with project managers in an Irish construction company. The data accumulated is examined using mind mapping software, and cognitively summarised, which identified the Internet in particular, BIM, VR / AR and 3D Laser Scanning as methods of communicating with stakeholders. This research demonstrates and strengthens that when face-to-face communication is unavailable, the Internet, through Email and Social Media usage, can be implemented as a suitable method of ICT in the management and engagement of external stakeholders on urban construction projects.
... Waters, et al. (2009) believe that interactivity plays an important role in developing relationships online with stakeholders, and Manetti and Ballucci (2016) corroborate that social media and social networks are powerful mechanisms for reaching and keeping in touch with a large number of stakeholders, thus guaranteeing an interactive dialogue with them at a very low cost. Derks, et al. (2015) also acknowledge that devices such as smart phones and tablets afford greater flexibility in working behaviours and sharing of information. Moreover, Saxton and Guo (2011) conclude that through strategically targeted content, firms can mobilise stakeholders, build meaningful relationships and ultimately foster increased accountability and public trust. ...
Urban construction projects are renowned for their dynamic complexities, which can adversely affect the external stakeholders surrounding the project. Complex collaboration and communication amongst stakeholders has resulted in the fast development of ICT in the construction industry, which tends to lag behind other industries considering technological advancements. Therefore, this paper aims to identify and document methods of ICT and emerging technologies used in the management and engagement of external stakeholders on urban construction projects. In addressing this aim, the core objective is to identify what methods of ICT are involved in the management and engagement of the stakeholders in these inherently risky environments. The methodology undertaken is qualitatively based, encompassing a descriptive literature review and four exploratory cases study interviews with project managers in an Irish construction company. The data accumulated is examined using mind mapping software, and cognitively summarised, which identified the Internet in particular, BIM, VR / AR and 3D Laser Scanning as methods of communicating with stakeholders. This research demonstrates and strengthens that when face-to-face communication is unavailable, the Internet, through Email and Social Media usage, can be implemented as a suitable method of ICT in the management and engagement of external stakeholders on urban construction projects.
... Daily SoSM use was measured using a two-item scale adapted from a scale developed by Derks et al. (2015). The two items were 'Today, I used social media intensively' and 'Today, I checked my social media account whenever I had time.' Cronbach's alpha of this scale, averaged over the 10 days of observation, was 0.81. ...
Past research has predominantly regarded (private) socialization-oriented social media (SoSM) use at work as a counterproductive behavior and has thus focused more on its dark side. However, given the prevalence of social media in today’s work life and the various affordances this technology can have, social media might have important bright sides. In this research, drawing on the affordance perspective, we propose that the day-to-day use of SoSM at work is positively associated with perceptions of social connectedness, which is further positively associated with life satisfaction and task performance. We examined our hypotheses using an experience sampling study of 134 full-time employees in China across 10 consecutive workdays. The results of multilevel modeling showed that, as expected, daily SoSM use at work related positively with employees’ perceptions of social connectedness, which in turn predicted their daily life satisfaction and daily task performance. We also found that the relationship between daily SoSM use at work and perceived social connectedness was stronger for employees with higher, rather than lower, perceived workloads. We suggest this moderating effect occurs because social media is an efficient medium, providing greater affordances, through which busy workers can meet their belongingness needs. Overall, our study sheds light on the previously less-studied positive effects of social media use at work.
... Because a phone addiction of employees other than their activities in the workplace disrupts work and employee happiness may be affected differently from this situation. In the literature, Derks et al. (2015) revealed that employees' smartphone use has positive and significant relationships with the workload. In their research, they emphasized that employees who face pressure from their colleagues in their work engagement experience more work-home interaction on days when there is an increase in their smartphone use. ...
This research was carried out in the field of management and organization; In this study, it is focused on the level of use smartphones of by employees working in the public and private sectors while performing their job duties in terms of their psychological happiness. In the research, the use of smartphones in the organizations of the employees, the internet access of the smartphone, and the smartphone applications were considered. The effectiveness of the smartphone in the workplace activities of the employees is emphasized. Depending on today's technological developments, smartphones have come to a position that can contribute to the work activities of employees. This situation has made it necessary to research smartphones that are active in the organization. In the literature, the benefits that smartphones bring to the work activities of the employees are not taken into account and the psychological happiness created by the employees is not focused on. The effect of smartphones on the psychological happiness of employees in the organization constitutes the main problem of the research. In the literature, the communication aspect of smartphones is generally emphasized. No research has been found that measures the effect of using the smartphone for work activities (in terms of internet access or smartphone applications) in the workplace on the psychological happiness of the employees. In addition, the negative aspects of addiction caused by smartphone use have been emphasized in the literature. In the research, the functionality of smartphones in organizational activities was taken into account. In this respect, the positive aspects of the addiction created by the smartphone used for business activities were evaluated. In the contribution of the smartphone used for work in the organization to the psychological happiness of the employee, scale questions were developed for the variables of information, accuracy, trust, anxiety, and addiction provided by smartphones. With 25 different models created in the research, the demographic information of the employees was also included in the analysis. A total of 430 employees participated in the research. 392 employees working in different fields in the public and private sectors stated that they use smartphones for their activities in the workplace. Research analyzes were carried out taking into account the answers given by 392 employees. The research can make remarkable contributions to the literature with its analysis results.
... Similarly, smartphone interference has been shown to be related to lower levels of well-being (David et al., 2015;Kushlev et al., 2016;Roberts and David, 2016;Kushlev and Dunn, 2019). For example, work-related email notifications have been shown to interfere with leisure activities outside of work hours (Derks and Bakker, 2014;Derks et al., 2015), which can reduce levels of well-being and the quality of time spent with family (Belkin et al., 2016). This effect could Frontiers in Psychology 03 frontiersin.org ...
IntroductionAs smartphones have become increasingly integrated into people’s lives, researchers have attempted to answer whether they are beneficial or detrimental to well-being. Of particular interest to the current study is the role that smartphones played during the first year of the COVID-19 Pandemic.Methods
In an intensive longitudinal study, we explore how varying uses of smartphones relate to well-being using the Displacement-Interference-Complementarity framework.ResultsConsistent with pre-pandemic research, we show that people felt better, calmer, and more energetic when they used their phones more for complementary purposes (i.e., to access information, entertainment, and connection not otherwise available). In contrast to most pre-pandemic research, however, we find no evidence that any type of phone use predicted lower well-being during the pandemic.DiscussionOverall, this study lends support to the idea that smartphones can be beneficial for individuals, particularly during times when face-to-face interaction is limited.
... Second, with respect to the potential detrimental effect of workload, organizations should encourage supervisors to develop new skills that effectively support smart workers in managing their job tasks when working remotely (e.g., e-leadership) [160], with a focus on mutual trust and instrumental/emotional support, rather than excessive monitoring and control [156]. Moreover, to reduce the tendency to exceed regular working hours and to forestall an "always-on culture" [161], specific organizational policies might be aimed at dissuading the use of work-related technologies (e.g., email, virtual meetings) during leisure time [162], including the acknowledgment of a right to disconnect [163]. Finally, in addition to these top-down strategies [164], interventions could also be aimed at promoting bottomup, job crafting interventions, in which workers may be encouraged to proactively optimize their job [165], for example, by increasing structural job resources (e.g., seeking greater clarity of tasks or roles). ...
Building on the job demands-resources (JD-R) and the allostatic load (AL) models, in this study we investigated the role of smart working (SW) in the longitudinal association between workload/job autonomy (JA) and a possible biomarker of work-related stress (WRS) in the hair, namely the cortisol to dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEA(S)) ratio, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, 124 workers completed a self-report questionnaire (i.e., psychological data) at Time 1 (T1) and collected a strand of hair (i.e., biological data) three months later (Time 2, T2). Results from moderated multiple regression analysis showed that smart working at T1 was negatively associated with hair cortisol/DHEA(S) ratio at T2. Additionally, the interaction between workload and SW was significant, with workload at T1 being positively associated with hair cortisol/DHEA(S) ratio at T2 among smart workers. Overall, this study indicates that SW can be conceived as a double-edged sword, with both positive and negative consequences on employee well-being. Furthermore, our findings suggest that hair cortisol/DHEA(S) ratio is a promising biomarker of WRS. Practical implications that organizations and practitioners can adopt to promote organizational well-being are discussed.
... This leads to emotional fatigue, which is detrimental to one's mental health. 31,32 Second viewpoint, on the other hand, gives value to flexibility by helping them to combine office and home settings and leading to more value for their time working at home itself. 33 This leads to a more holistic approach by combining work experiences with their personal experiences and vice versa by working from home. ...
Minimizing the effects of COVID-19 is one of the world's highest priorities, and India is taking essential measures to curb the outbreak. Many businesses promoted social distancing through the announcement of compulsory work-from-home. In this backdrop, Remote Work has become a significant model mainly to retain talent and attrition. The present study analyses whether work-life integration and work-life satisfaction are related to psychological well-being. Research hypotheses are formulated based on the investigation of the literature review. This data was collected in India during July and October 2020 while the Covid pandemic was coming down to normal. The survey was aimed at people who work in Indian-based companies. Workers received an electronic version of the questionnaire, and organizations received e-mail requests. The decision was made to use the comfort sampling method. During the pandemic, a sample of 400 employees from the Information Technology industry in the cities of Hyderabad and Bangalore, India. Work-Life integration leading to Psychological Well-being were analyzed considering the role of work-life satisfaction as a mediator. This research focuses on job and life satisfaction, showing the mechanisms that help workers in remote working conditions stay mentally healthy during a pandemic. This mediation study revealed that Work-life satisfaction has an optimistic and robust relationship with psychological health, with this relationship being influenced by work satisfaction and life satisfaction among the Indian IT companies surveyed. These studies' findings suggest that a successful workfrom- home community is built on a foundation of work-life integration based on contentment. The research findings are that positive work-life integration contributes to employees' positive levels of psychological well-being. We found that the higher the job and life satisfaction, the better the psychological well-being. Since the current study is a cross-sectional analysis, there are some restrictions on how long the investigation can last. Longitudinal research should be conducted to improve the results of the studies.
... The blurring of the boundaries between the work-home interface is not a new phenomenon, but it was aggravated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Studies by Derks et al. (2015) and Köffer et al. (2015) show the use of technology has been the greatest catalyst of the blurring of the work-home interface (WHI). Field and Chan (2018) similarly found that the work-life interface is becoming increasingly boundaryless, especially for technology-enabled workers like academics. ...
The unprecedented extended Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns forced higher education institutions (HEIs) to find innovative ways to effectively deliver student tuition and support. The lockdown brought many challenges to the education sector, including increasing the blurring of the work–home boundaries. This study investigated how Covid-19 accelerated the blurring of lecturers’ work–home boundaries in the College of Education at a distance education institution in South Africa. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from 15 lecturers. The results showed that a lack of workspace at many lecturers’ homes forced them to work beyond normal office hours. One of the key findings was that complete segmentation and integration were impossible because these lines were continuously blurred during the pandemic. The demand for immediate feedback by students exacerbated the situation for many lecturers. There is a need for the design of fluid policies that can be readily implemented during times of emergency such as the pandemic.
... Many arguments have been found on employers and employees developing responsive expectations which shape the technology usage in building connectivity to work. A team-level shared expectations on responsiveness can raise the need to be connected after hours (Derks & Tims, 2015). It can also be argued that both material and social practices and expectations in decision to employ Technology Assisted Supplement Work (Zoonen, et al., 2021). ...
In this paper, the authors explored the impact that organizational culture has on the Technology Assisted Supplemental Work (TASW) of Sri Lankan knowledge workers. This study focuses on a challenge that managers of Technology-Assisted Supplemental Work (TASW) of Knowledge Workers in Sri Lanka must address by incorporating organizational culture-based response expectations. The organizational culture can be categorized into four main cultures Clan, Market, Hierarchy, and Adhocracy. In this study, those are considered as the independent variables where the dependent variable is the TASW which is meditated by response expectation. It is proposed to conduct quantitative research to test the hypothesis assumed by the authors.
Keywords: TASW; Response expectation; Organizational culture
... Furthermore, although the use of ICTs to perform work tasks may lead to greater flexibility that may help employees better combine work and family life, this may also make them feel connected and performative 24 h a day [73]. Constant accessibility can create the expectation of having to respond immediately and be indiscriminately accessible, implicitly suggesting not to detach from work [74]. As a result, the boundaries between work and private life are more permeable, and workers may perceive a greater invasion of technology into family life, finding it difficult to disconnect from work [8]. ...
Although a growing body of research has analyzed the determinants and effects of technostress, it is still unclear how and when technostress would impact workers’ psycho-physical health and work-family interface during the pandemic. To fill this gap, this study tests the mediating mechanisms and the boundary conditions associated with the impact of technostress on workers’ psycho-physical well-being and work-family conflict. A total of 266 Italian workers completed online questionnaires measuring (traditional vs. remote) working modalities, technostress, fear of COVID-19, working excessively, psycho-physical distress, work-family conflict, loss of a loved one due to COVID-19, and resilience. Structural equation models were performed. Results indicated that technostress was positively related to psycho-physical distress and work-family conflict, as mediated by fear of COVID-19 and working excessively, respectively. The loss of a loved one exacerbated the effects of fear of COVID-19 on psycho-physical health, while resilience buffered the effects of working excessively on work-family conflict. Since numerous organizations intend to maintain remote working also after the COVID-19 emergency, it is crucial to study this phenomenon during its peaks of adoption, to prevent its potential negative outcomes. The implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed.
Existing studies on boundary management are mainly discussing the work and family conflicts. However, online social networks (OSNs), such as Facebook, Twitter, and WeChat, are widespread in both personal and business settings, which has profoundly shifted employees’ professional/personal boundary management practices. OSNs offer the advantages of efficient communication, social capital, and newcomer socialization, but can also blur the boundaries between professional and personal issues, which may cause concerns such as privacy anxiety, professional evaluation distortion, and even career path obstacle. This chapter first introduces the conceptualizations of boundary management and blurring boundary, discussing current topics and issues with great concerns by practitioners and researchers such as roles transition between work and personal lives, and the self-presentation motivation. Then, I review the key antecedents and outcomes of boundary management, which followed by the distinctions between two forms of blurring boundaries. On the topic of “Concerns and Challenges about Blurring Boundary in the Workplace”, I discuss the difficulties in dealing with blurring boundaries, and provide tactics suggestions in the following section. This chapter ends by providing an overview of the boundary management measurement, significance, and future research directions.KeywordsBoundary managementRole theorySelf-presentation theoryOnline social networks
Arguing that maintaining a separate relationship at a distance is closer, the consequences of excessive use of smartphones can actually reduce physical closeness by making people who are physically close to further. Loneliness is the subjective psychological discomfort people experience when their network of social relationships is significantly deficient in either quality or quantity. The objective of the present study was to investigate the relationship between smartphone addiction and loneliness among young adults. The population in this study were young adults of Aceh. These samples included 400 young adults in Aceh. The sampling technique used was unrestricted self-selected surveys. Data collection tools used are Smartphone Addiction Scale and University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale Version 3. The reliability of the scale of smartphone addiction and loneliness in this study .912 and .888. The analysis used in the parametric method was product-moment correlation analysis. The result showed there was a positive and significant correlation between smartphone addiction and loneliness (r = .432, p.05).
The spread of remote working exponentially increased in recent years. Since remote working is by definition ICT-enabled, it seems important to identify which organizational and ICT-related factors may influence employees’ attitudes towards remote working and remote productivity.With this aim, we integrated the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model (UTAUT) with technostress literature, using Job demands-resources model (JD-R) as main conceptual framework.Therefore, we proposed and tested a model of remote working acceptance in which predictors are operationalized in terms of techno-job demands (namely techno-complexity, techno-invasion and techno-overload) and techno-job resources (namely technical support and remote leadership support), to explore their distinctive influence on attitude towards remote working and, in turn, on remote working-enabled productivity.Data from 836 remote workers from different organizations were collected and analyzed through structural equation modeling.Results supported empirically the proposed model: both techno-job demands and techno-job resources affected attitude towards remote working which completely mediated the effect of the predictors on remote working-enabled productivity. Practical and theoretical contributions, along with limitations and future research direction, are presented and discussed.KeywordsRemote workingTechnostressRemote productivityJD-R Model
Purpose
Smart device use for work during family time is a growing issue of concern and is likely exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors test a broad range of well-being outcomes (job anxiety, job depression and insomnia) to extend the literature. Work–family conflict was included as a mediator with age as a moderator.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses representative data from 422 New Zealand employees across a wide range of occupations, sectors, and industries from late 2020. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of the data was used and moderated mediation analysis was conducted.
Findings
Overall, hypotheses were supported, with mWork positively influencing work–family and family–work conflict, and all well-being outcomes. Work–family and family–work conflict acted as mediators and age interacted with mWork leading to more conflict for older workers. Finally, moderated mediation effects were supported with age acting as a boundary condition, whereby the indirect effect of mWork on well-being outcomes increases as age increases.
Research limitations/implications
The findings highlight the danger of using mobile devices to work in family time and highlight the additional risks for older workers.
Originality/value
The mWork literature has a limited focus on well-being outcomes, and the New Zealand data provides insights from a largely underrepresented population in the literature. Further, the use of age as a moderator of mWork towards well-being outcomes provides further originality.
Technology has made life more complex, and mobile working (mWork) captures the way employees’ smart‐device use (e.g. smartphones, laptops etc.) can facilitate working during family time at home and what the effects of this use are. Engaging in mWork is expected to be detrimental to employee outcomes. In this study, mWork is explored as it relates to turnover intentions and work–family and family–work conflict, with conflict expected to mediate the influence on turnover. Furthermore, given the potential dynamics from gender and parental status, these are both included as moderators, and ultimately a moderated mediation model is tested. Using data from 419 New Zealand employees just after New Zealand's lockdown finished in May 2020, there is overall strong support found for the direct and mediation hypotheses. Overall, mWork influences turnover intentions by blurring the line between work and personal life (leading to higher work–family and family–work conflict), and these also influence turnover intentions.
Uzaktan çalışma gerek teknolojik gelişmeler gerekse COVID-19 pandemisinin yaratmış olduğu sokağa çıkma yasakları nedeniyle üzerinde tartışılan önemli konulardan biri olmuştur. Bugün pandeminin devamında yaşanan yeni normal sürecinde de işletmeler tarafından sunulan uzaktan çalışma imkanları hızla artmaktadır. Bu gelişmelere paralel olarak, uzaktan çalışma konusunda özellikle işletme alanındaki araştırmalar da giderek artmaktadır. Bu çalışmanın amacı da uzaktan çalışma literatüründe referans olan Grant vd. (2019) tarafından geliştirilen uzaktan çalışma yaşam ölçeğinin (EWL) Türkçeye doğru bir şekilde uyarlamasının sağlanmasıdır. Ölçek uyarlaması için 17 sorudan oluşan orijinal ölçek, öncelikle dil geçerliliğini sağlamak üzere dil uzmanlarınca kontrol edilerek Türkçeye çevrilmiştir. Türkçeye çevirisi yapılan soru formu, alan uzmanlarının değerlendirmesi sonucu çeşitli sektörlerden katılımcılara elektronik ortamda sunulmuştur. Toplam 210 katılımcıdan toplanan veriler ile yapılan açıklayıcı faktör analizinde; faktör analizlerinin yapılabileceği ve yeterli güvenirlik düzeyinin sağlandığı görülmüştür. Ayrıca doğrulayıcı faktör analizi sonucunda dört alt boyutlu yapı doğrulanmıştır. Bu doğrultuda, uyarlaması yapılan Türkçe formun geçerli ve güvenilir olduğu sonucuna ulaşılmıştır.
Pervasive and ubiquitous computing facilitates immediate access to information in the sense of always-on. Information, such as news, messages, or reminders, can significantly enhance our daily routines but are rendered useless or disturbing when not being aligned with our intrinsic interruptibility preferences. Attention management systems use machine learning to identify short-term opportune moments, so that information delivery leads to fewer interruptions. Humans’ intrinsic interruptibility preferences—established for and across social roles and life domains—would complement short-term attention and interruption management approaches. In this article, we present our comprehensive results toward social role-based attention and interruptibility management. Our approach combines on-device sensing and machine learning with theories from social science to form a personalized two-stage classification model. Finally, we discuss the challenges of the current and future AI-driven attention management systems concerning privacy, ethical issues, and future directions.
Cell phones are like a notepad PC with their own working framework, processor, interior memory, and top-notch camera focal points. Cell phones are more open and less expensive than versatile analytical devices. The quantity of cell phone users overall outperformed 2 billion in 2016 and it addresses more than a fourth of the worldwide population. There have been numerous new articles on the utilization of cell phones as versatile detectors, bioanalytical equipment, and instrument interfaces. The utilization of cell phones has opened doors for prognostic, diagnostic, detection, observing, quantification, control, or making versatile applications, since it can be very well utilized to run routine tests. Moreover it does not require a trained personnel and it is convenient and considered a minimal-expense gadget. The development of analytical methods is crucial in drug development. Improvement of existing and execution of new methodologies are essential for the present-day analytical chemistry of drugs. Recently published studies focussed on some of the applications of smartphone-based analytical methodologies in the last few years for the determination of drugs in different matrices. The aim of the presented review was to enhance the visibility of one of the fast and novel applications of smartphone technology. This will help scientists and researchers to understand the recent developments and explore new possibilities in this field.
Relying on self-presentation theory and boundary management theory, this study investigated the association between employees’ personal/professional boundary blurring on social media and work engagement. We examined whether social media anxiety mediates the link between blurring boundary online and work engagement. From a relational perspective, we also investigated how perceived leader support might moderate this mediated relationship. Results from an online survey of 212 full-time employees were consistent with the proposed conceptual scheme, in that social media anxiety mediated the relationship between boundary blurring online and work engagement when employees’ perceived leader support was low. The findings highlight that the connection between boundary blurring online and work engagement demonstrates a pattern of moderated mediation that is more complex than previously thought. This study implies that blurring boundary online can result in negative psychological experiences for employees and the implications of this study present some managerial insights for the design of social media use in the workplace.
This paper reviews empirical evidence on how telecommunications technologies affect the context of work and organizations at the individual, group, organizational, and inter-organizational level of analysis. Telecommunications is defined broadly to include both networks themselves and applications that enable not only computer-mediated communication but also digital transactions. Because digital telecommunications is an emergent phenomena, our knowledge of its implications for work is sparse. Despite this lack of evidence, numerous claims are made in the literature. Telecommunications are depicted as freeing the work of individuals and organizations from the constraints of time and space. In addition, telecommunications are said to facilitate market coordination and cause greater interdependence among organizations. In general, predictions of the effects of telecommunications neglect intervening variables and are overly deterministic. We evaluate the claims that have been made about telecommunications technology in light of the available evidence and conclude with suggestions for further research.
An examination of the literature on conflict between work and family roles suggests that work-family conflict exists when: (a) time devoted to the requirements of one role makes it difficult to fulfill requirements of another; (b) strain from participation in one role makes it difficult to fulfill requirements of another; and (c) specific behaviors required by one role make it difficult to fulfill the requirements of another. A model of work-family conflict is proposed, and a series of research propositions is presented.
While diary studies have gained in popularity, the validity of the measures utilized in such studies remains an underresearched issue. This study examines the factor structure of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) on both between-person (trait) and within-person (state) levels. A multilevel confirmatory factor analysis was performed to confirm that the between-level factor structure also operates on the within-level. Data from 271 employees who filled in a state version of the UWES on five consecutive days were used to perform the analysis. Results showed that the UWES can be used to measure both trait and state work engagement. The three-factor multilevel model appeared to best fit the data. Implications for future research on engagement are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This paper reports on the stepwise development of a new questionnaire for measuring work-home interaction, i.e. the Survey Work-home Interaction—NijmeGen, the SWING). Inspired by insights from work psychology, more specifically from Effort-Recovery Theory (Meijman & Mulder, 199839.
Meijman , T. F. and
Mulder , G. 1998. “Psychological aspects of workload”. In Handbook of work and organizational psychology, Edited by:
Drenth , P. J. ,
Thierry , H. and
de Wolff , C. J. 5–33. Hove: Psychology Press. View all references), we defined work-home interaction by differentiating between the direction and quality of influence. Four types of work-home interaction were distinguished and measured by using 22 (including 13 self-developed) items. By using data from five independent samples (total N=2472), validity evidence was provided based on the internal structure of the questionnaire. The results showed that the questionnaire reliably measured four empirically distinct types of work-home interaction, and that this four-dimensional structure was largely invariant across the five samples as well as across relevant subgroups. Validity evidence was also provided based on the relations with external (theoretically relevant) variables (i.e. job characteristics, home characteristics, and indicators of health and well-being). The results generally supported the hypothesized relationships of these external variables with negative work-home interaction. Less support was found, however, for the hypothesized relationships with positive work-home interaction. This contributes to current literature as it employs a relatively broad conceptualization of work-home interaction and offers a promising tool that measures its multiple components across a wide variety of workers.
An examination of the literature on conflict between work and family roles suggests that work-family conflict exists when: (a) time devoted to the requirements of one role makes it difficult to fulfill requirements
of another; (b) strain from participation in one role makes it difficult to fulfill requirements of another; and (c) specific behaviors required by one role make it difficult to fulfill the requirements of another. A model of work-family conflict is proposed, and a series of research propositions is presented.
We develop a cross-level model and typology of work–family (W–F) boundary management styles in organizations. A boundary management style is the general approach an individual uses to demarcate boundaries and attend to work and family roles. We argue that variation in W–F boundary management styles (integrator, separator, alternating) is a function of individual boundary-crossing preferences (flexibility, permeability, symmetry, direction); the centrality and configuration of work–family role identities; as well as the organizational work–family climate for customization. The model assumes that an individual’s perceived control to enact a boundary style that aligns with boundary-crossing preferences and identities has direct effects on individual perceptions of work–family conflict and also moderates the level of work–family conflict of boundary management styles experienced across organizational contexts. We offer propositions relevant to future research and practice.
We investigated how people manage boundaries to negotiate the demands between work and home life. We discovered and classified four types of boundary work tactics (behavioral, temporal, physical, and communicative) that individuals utilized to help create their ideal level and style of work-home segmentation or integration. We also found important differences between the generalized state of work-home conflict and "boundary violations," which we define as behaviors, events, or episodes that either breach or neglect the desired work-home boundary. We present a model based on two qualitative studies that demonstrates how boundary work tactics reduce the negative effects of work-home challenges. "Balance" between work and home lives is a much sought after but rarely claimed state of being. Work-family researchers have successfully encour- aged organizations, families, and individuals to recognize the importance of tending to their needs for balance. Over 30 years ago, Kanter (1977) spoke of the "myth of separate worlds" and called atten- tion to the reality that work and home are inexora- bly linked. Yet, she argued, organizations are often structured in such a way that their leadership for- gets or ignores employees' outside lives. Although organizational leaders and managers generally tend more to employees' nonwork needs than they did when Kanter wrote her landmark work, struggles to balance work and home demands are still common-
This study outlines the experiences and ramifications of the use of wireless email devices within a small private equity firm. We find that the opportunity to frequently monitor and respond to email enables a sense of control over the pace and substance of information flow while the specific properties of wireless email devices provide an opportunity to control potential interruptions. This encourages a compulsive checking of email and an inability to disengage from work that is common to all users but framed as a matter of individual choice. Emerging norms reveal implicit expectations of availability and responsiveness that are in direct contrast to espoused firm values. Thus, members of an entire firm carrying a device that facilitates 'unobtrusive' access to email may unwittingly generate shared patterns of use that encourage a self-reinforcing cycle of constant communication.
As workers strive to manage multiple roles such as work and family, research has begun to focus on how people manage the boundary between work and nonwork roles. This paper contributes to emerging work on boundary theory by examining the extent to which individuals desire to integrate or segment their work and nonwork lives. This desire is conceptualized and measured on a continuum ranging from segmentation (i.e., separation) to integration (i.e., blurring) of work and nonwork roles. We examine the fit between individuals' desires for integration/segmentation and their access to policies that enable boundary management, suggesting that more policies may not always be better in terms of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Using survey methodology and a sample of 460 employees, we found that desire for greater segmentation does moderate the relationship between the organizational policies one has access to and individuals' satisfaction and commitment. People who want more segmentation are less satisfied and committed to the organization when they have greater access to integrating policies (e.g., onsite childcare) than when they have less access to such policies. Conversely, people who want greater segmentation are more committed when they have greater access to segmenting policies (e.g., flextime) than when they have less access to such policies. Moreover, the fit between desire for segmentation and organizational policy has an effect on satisfaction and commitment over and above the effects of demographic characteristics such as age, gender, marital status, income, number of children, and the ages of those children.
Communication technologies have made it increasingly feasible for employees to stay connected to work when not in the office. Yet we have little understanding of the implications for important aspects of work and work life. This study investigates how the use of communication technologies beyond normal work hours relates to work-related attitudes and work-to-life conflict. Results found that employees with higher ambition and job involvement were more likely to use communication technologies after hours. Furthermore, use of communication technologies after hours was associated with the employee's work-to-life conflict as reported by the employee and a significant other of the employee.
This article reports on the development of a short questionnaire to measure work engagement—a positive work-related state of fulfillment that is characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption. Data were collected in 10 different countries (N = 14,521), and results indicated that the original 17-item Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) can be shortened to 9 items (UWES-9). The factorial validity of the UWES-9 was demonstrated using confirmatory factor analyses, and the three scale scores have good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Furthermore, a two-factor model with a reduced Burnout factor (including exhaustion and cynicism) and an expanded Engagement factor (including vigor, dedication, absorption, and professional efficacy) fit best to the data. These results confirm that work engagement may be conceived as the positive antipode of burnout. It is concluded that the UWES-9 scores has acceptable psychometric properties and that the instrument can be used in studies on positive organizational behavior.
Interest in the problem of method biases has a long history in the behavioral sciences. Despite this, a comprehensive summary of the potential sources of method biases and how to control for them does not exist. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to examine the extent to which method biases influence behavioral research results, identify potential sources of method biases, discuss the cognitive processes through which method biases influence responses to measures, evaluate the many different procedural and statistical techniques that can be used to control method biases, and provide recommendations for how to select appropriate procedural and statistical remedies for different types of research settings.
This article presents an overview of the literature on daily fluctuations in work engagement. Daily work engagement is a state of vigor, dedication, and absorption that is predictive of important organizational outcomes, including job performance. After briefly discussing enduring work engagement, the advantages of diary research are discussed, as well as the concept and measurement of daily work engagement. The research evidence shows that fluctuations in work engagement are a function of the changes in daily job and personal resources. Particularly on the days that employees have access to many resources, they are able to cope well with their daily job demands ( e. g., work pressure, negative events), and likely interpret these demands as challenges. Furthermore, the literature review shows that on the days employees have sufficient levels of job control, they proactively try to optimize their work environment in order to stay engaged. This proactive behavior is called job crafting and predicts momentary and daily work engagement. An important additional finding is that daily engagement has a reciprocal relationship with daily recovery. On the days employees recover well, they feel more engaged; and engagement during the day is predictive of subsequent recovery. Finding the daily balance between engagement while at work and detachment while at home seems the key to enduring work engagement.
Do professors put in very long workweeks solely out of a love of their work, or do expectations for teaching and publishing essentially require a sixty-hour workweek for the successful completion of the job? How do faculty members reconcile the demands of an academic career with the realities of family life? Drawing on a large national survey of postsecondary faculty conducted in 1998, the authors examine the length of the workweek by analyzing its relationship to faculty dissatisfaction with their workload. The authors find evidence that many professors are dissatisfied with their workload. Moreover, dissatisfaction increases among those working the longest hours. The data also indicate that very long hours on the job greatly contribute to research productivity. The very long hours demanded by faculty jobs thus pose a dilemma for parents who want to spend time with their children and their families. The authors conclude by suggesting that the challenge is to create a set of expectations for academic employment that are compatible with responsible parenting in dual-career couples.
This diary study examines the impact of daily recovery experiences on daily work–home interference (WHI) and daily burnout symptoms within a group of smartphone users. A total of 69 employees using smartphones on the initiative of their employer completed a diary questionnaire on five successive workdays (N = 293 data points). We hypothesised that particularly for intensive smartphone users it would be important to engage in activities fostering psychological detachment and relaxation in order to reduce the risk of WHI. We predicted that smartphone use would be positively related to WHI. Finally, we predicted that the positive relationship between WHI and state levels of burnout would be stronger for intensive smartphone users. Overall, the results of multi-level analyses supported these hypotheses. The findings emphasise the importance of a clear organisational policy regarding smartphone use during after-work hours.
This diary study builds on the effort-recovery and broaden-and-build theories to examine whether the subjective experience of off-job activities (work-related, household, social, physical, low-effort) matters for an individual's daily recovery from work. It was hypothesized that momentary happiness experienced during off-job activities stops the prolongation of load reactions from work-related effort, and builds personal resources that benefit daily recovery from work. Using a day reconstruction method, 384 participants recruited via a Dutch website reconstructed their time spent on, and happiness during, off-job activities, and their daily recovery on workdays over a two-week period. Results of hierarchical linear modelling showed that work-related and household activities during off-job time were negatively associated with recovery at bedtime when happiness during such activities was low, but not when happiness was high. Social and physical activities were associated positively with recovery when happiness during such activities was high, but negatively when happiness was low, indicating that such activities only aid recovery when they are enjoyed. The findings expand knowledge on recovery by showing that it is not just the time spent on off-work activities but the subjective experience of such activities that plays a pivotal role in the way they are linked to recovery.
As both technologies and organizations undergo dramatic changes in form and function, organizational researchers are increasingly turning to concepts of innovation, emergence, and improvisation to help explain the new ways of organizing and using technology evident in practice. With a similar intent, I propose an extension to the structurational perspective on technology that develops a practice lens to examine how people, as they interact with a technology in their ongoing practices, enact structures which shape their emergent and situated use of that technology. Viewing the use of technology as a process of enactment enables a deeper understanding of the constitutive role of social practices in the ongoing use and change of technologies in the workplace. After developing this lens, I offer an example of its use in research, and then suggest some implications for the study of technology in organizations.
As both technologies and organizations undergo dramatic changes in form and function, organizational researchers are increasingly turning to concepts of innovation, emergence, and improvisation to help explain the new ways of organizing and using technology evident in practice. With a similar intent, I propose an extension to the structurational perspective on technology that develops a practice lens to examine how people, as they interact with a technology in their ongoing practices, enact structures which shape their emergent and situated use of that technology. Viewing the use of technology as a process of enactment enables a deeper understanding of the constitutive role of social practices in the ongoing use and change of technologies in the workplace. After developing this lens, I offer an example of its use in research, and then suggest some implications for the study of technology in organizations.
This commentary argues that the quality and usefulness of student-recruited data can be evaluated by examining the external validity and generalization issues related to this sampling method. Therefore, we discuss how the sampling methods of student- and non-student-recruited samples can enhance or diminish external validity and generalization. Next, we present the advantages of the student-recruited sampling method (heterogeneity of the sample, student learning, cost reduction, and elaborate research designs) and conclude with making additional suggestions on how to improve the quality of these data.
This diary study investigates time allocation between work and private life of dual-earner couples. Addressing the association between positive and negative experiences in romantic relationships and time spent on work, we test propositions derived from a general control-theoretical approach. We also study the consequences of time allocation to work and private life for relationship-oriented needs and goals (i.e., intimacy and social support). A total of 152 persons (i.e., 76 couples), mainly working in academia, took part in our study. Using multilevel path analysis, we found support for the general control-theoretical approach. Relationship quality was positively and relationship hassles were negatively associated with time spent on work. We found evidence for a trade-off between time spent on work and relationship time. Relationship time in turn was positively associated with intimacy and social support. In our discussion, we stress the importance of time control in organizations in order to support employees in their daily trade-off between time spent on work and on the relationship. Practitioner pointsWe examine daily time spent to work, a variable that is highly important for goal-pursuit at work and in the private life.We shed light on resource allocation between work and private life as a self-regulatory strategy helpful for the simultaneous pursuit of concerns in both life domains.The outcomes intimacy and social support have relevance for performance and dealing with stress in the work domain.Valuing and engaging in face time at work is challenged.
Student-recruited sampling, a technique involving the use of student recruiters to find participants on behalf of a researcher, has been increasingly used in organizational research; yet there has been little attempt to understand its implications for the conclusions scholars draw from research. In this study, we meta-analyse studies of engagement and perceptions of politics in order to examine whether student-recruited sampling leads to samples that differ from other samples and whether those differences result in different observed relationships between variables. We found that student-recruited samples were not substantively demographically different from non-student-recruited samples. Further, we found few differences in the observed correlations of student-recruited samples compared with non-student-recruited samples; the differences found would not lead to different practical conclusions from the findings. We discuss the implications of these results for future studies and provide guidance for researchers, reviewers, and editors regarding the use of student-recruited samples in organizational research. Practitioner pointsThe type of sample used can lead to over- or under-representation of demographic characteristics with the sample, which has unknown affects on analyses of data.Student-recruited samples may lead to smaller effect sizes of observed statistical relationships.
In this qualitative study, we examine how converged mobile devices (e.g. BlackBerries, Treos, and iPhones) are experienced by users of this contemporary connectivity technology. Perhaps not surprisingly, users experience similar pressures to be accessible and responsive; however, the sources of these expectations extend beyond those internal to organizations to include sources external to organizations (e.g. family, friends, industry, CMD-user community, and society in general). Users’ reactions to responsiveness-accessibility pressures differ in this study, clustering into three different categories — ‘enthusiastic,’ ‘balanced,’ and ‘trade-offs.’ Further analyses reveal three emergent factors influencing users’ reactions: the number of expectation sources; specificity of the sources; and adoption motives. Our research builds on technology and work studies to include factors that are related to heterogeneity in interpretations and enactments. Moreover, findings suggest that in the context of this connectivity technology, the role of the organization may not be as central as it has been in many other studies of technology and work.
New technologies could have a positive impact on women's lives because of their potential to disrupt old social and political conventions. Using the recent development of the cellular telephone as an example, the authors find, however, that gender differences in the acquisition and use of this technology already are reproducing familiar inequities. Women in the authors' study use the cellular telephone to manage creatively their responsibilities for home and children. Their husbands believe the women are in special need of protection.
In this essay, I begin with the premise that everyday organizing is inextricably bound up with materiality and contend that this relationship is inadequately reflected in organizational studies that tend to ignore it, take it for granted, or treat it as a special case. The result is an understanding of organizing and its conditions and consequences that is necessarily limited. I then argue for an alternative approach, one that posits the constitutive entanglement of the social and the material in everyday life. I draw on some empirical examples to help ground and illustrate this approach in practice and conclude by suggesting that a reconfiguration of our conventional assumptions and considerations of materiality will help us more effectively recognize and understand the multiple, emergent, and shifting sociomaterial assemblages entailed in contemporary organizing.
This article introduces work/family border theory - a new theory about work/family balance. According to the theory, people are daily border-crossers between the domains of work and family. The theory addresses how domain integration and segmentation, border creation and management, border-crosser participation, and relationships between border-crossers and others at work and home influence work/family balance. Propositions are given to guide future research.
Although work–home interference (WHI) refers to a process of negative interaction between the work and home domains, little attention has been paid to the actual processes involved in the within-person, day-to-day management of work and home. Therefore, this study investigated if, and how, a global report for the individual, of WHI (i.e., a general indicator of experienced WHI) is reflected in daily reports of WHI, in employees’ daily activity patterns in the work and home domain, and in their daily health and well-being. Effort-Recovery theory (Meijman & Mulder, 199824.
Meijman , T. F. and
Mulder , G. 1998. “Psychological aspects of workload”. In Handbook of Work and Organizational Psychology, 2nd ed., Edited by:
Drenth , P. J. D. ,
Thierry , H. and
de Wolff , C. J. 5–33. Hove: Psychology Press. View all references) provided the theoretical basis for this study. Data were collected among 120 academic staff members (62% male) who completed a general questionnaire, addressing global WHI as well as demographical information, and who also participated in a 5-day daily diary study. WHI was measured using the 8-item WHI subscale of the Survey Work–home Interaction Nijmegen (SWING), with an adapted version being used for the diary studies. Results showed that global WHI: (1) was positively related to daily WHI; (2) was positively related to the time spent daily on overtime work in the evening; (3) was negatively related to the time spent daily on low-effort activities; and (4) was positively related to daily fatigue and sleep complaints. We conclude that Effort-Recovery theory seems promising for the study of WHI, and that diary studies are valuable, as these provide detailed insight into what global reports of WHI actually signify from day to day.
The Study How Pervasive Is Feeling Overworked? What Aspects of Jobs Contribute to Feeling Overworked? Do Different Demographic Groups Feel More or Less Overworked? What Happens when Employees Feel Overworked? Implications for Employers What Might Be Done to Reduce the Frequency with which Employees Feel Overworked?
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the shifting boundaries between two experiential categories – home and work – for office workers. The boundaries are both spatial and temporal, and the paper seeks to analyse how certain kinds of mobile technology are being used in such a way as to make these boundaries increasingly permeable.
Design/methodology/approach
The research involved both the collection of quantitative data using a survey tool, and the gathering of qualitative data through in‐depth interviews.
Findings
The paper finds that the mobile technology discussed enables work extension – the ability to work outside the office, outside “normal” office hours. This provides flexibility with respect to the timing and location of work, and makes it easier to accommodate both work and family. But at the same time, of course, it also increases expectations: managers and colleagues alike expect staff to be almost always available to do work, which makes it easier for work to encroach on family time, and also leads to a greater workload. The ability to perform work extension is, then, a dual‐edged sword.
Practical implications
The paper provides both managers and non‐managers with insight into the effects of providing mobile technology to office workers, and suggests some mechanisms to mitigate negative effects.
Originality/value
The paper explores the impact of mobile technologies on non‐mobile office staff.
Do professors put in very long workweeks solely out of a love of their work, or do expectations for teaching and publishing essentially require a sixty-hour workweek for the successful completion of the job? How do faculty members reconcile the demands of an academic career with the realities of family life? Drawing on a large national survey of postsecondary faculty conducted in 1998, the authors examine the length of the workweek by analyzing its relationship to faculty dissatisfaction with their workload. The authors find evidence that many professors are dissatisfied with their workload. Moreover, dissatisfaction increases among those working the longest hours. The data also indicate that very long hours on the job greatly contribute to research productivity. The very long hours demanded by faculty jobs thus pose a dilemma for parents who want to spend time with their children and their families. The authors conclude by suggesting that the challenge is to create a set of expectations for academic employment that are compatible with responsible parenting in dual-career couples.
Simple slopes, regions of significance, and confidence bands are commonly used to evaluate interactions in multiple linear regression (MLR) models, and the use of these techniques has recently been extended to multilevel or hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) and latent curve analysis (LCA). However, conducting these tests and plotting the conditional relations is often a tedious and error-prone task. This article provides an overview of methods used to probe interaction effects and describes a unified collection of freely available online resources that researchers can use to obtain significance tests for simple slopes, compute regions of significance, and obtain confidence bands for simple slopes across the range of the moderator in the MLR, HLM, and LCA contexts. Plotting capabilities are also provided.