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"Exhausted, but Unable to Disconnect: After-Hours Email, Work-Family Balance and Identification"
... Rather, we see OEEM as a unique stressor that creates a persistent attention allocation dilemma and, thus, elicits e-anxiety, which is negatively related to well-being outcomes of employees and their significant others. We argue that regardless of the actual involvement with work, salient norms for availability increase employee and significant other strain, even when not engaged in actual work during nonwork time (Belkin, Becker, & Conroy, 2016). Thus, we depict normative expectations for work e-mail monitoring during nonwork hours as a stressor, above and beyond actual workload and time spent on handling e-mail during nonwork hours. ...
... In addition, our findings provide robust evidence for the validity of our OEEM measure. The literature studying the effects of OEEM on organizational and personal outcomes is still scarce (e.g., Belkin et al. 2016;Butts et al., 2015;Piszczek, 2017); however, it is a growing area of interest among both scholars and practitioners. Establishing a measure that can be used by future researchers can create more replicability and consistency in the literature. ...
... Certainly, organizations should take the issues we highlight in this work seriously because negative health outcomes are costly to organizations (Darr & Johns, 2008;Goetzel et al., 1998;Spector & Jex, 1991). Prior work has suggested many possible interventions to address these issues, including having "no e-mail" policies at certain times of day and limiting hours when employees are allowed to respond to electronic communication (Belkin et al., 2016;Piszczek, 2017). ...
This paper tests the relationship between organizational expectations to monitor work-related electronic communication during nonwork hours and the health and relationship satisfaction of employees and their significant others. We integrate resource-based theories with research on interruptions to position organizational expectations for e-mail monitoring (OEEM) during nonwork time as a psychological stressor that elicits anxiety due to employee attention allocation conflict. E-mail–triggered anxiety, in turn, negatively affects the health and relationship quality of employees and their significant others. We conducted three studies to test our propositions. Using the experience sampling method with 108 working U.S. adults, Study 1 established within-employee effects of OEEM on anxiety, employee health, and relationship conflict. Study 2 used a sample of 138 dyads of full-time employees and their significant others to replicate detrimental health and relationship effects of OEEM through anxiety. It also showed crossover effects of OEEM on partner health and relationship satisfaction. Finally, Study 3 employed a two-wave data collection method with an online sample of 162 U.S. working adults to provide additional support for the OEEM construct as a distinct and reliable job stressor and replicated findings from Studies 1 and 2. Taken together, our research extends the literature on work-related electronic communication at the interface of work and nonwork boundaries, deepening our understanding of the impact of OEEM on employees and their families’ health and well-being.
... Overwork stress can ultimately increase employee illness through burnout (Melamed et al., 2006). Another problem is employees staying connected to work outside of work hours, which results in anticipatory stress (Belkin, Becker, & Conroy, 2016). According to the American Psychological Association (2013), about half of all workers use work-related communication outside of work hours daily, even on the weekend, during vacation, and while out sick because they report that they believe in its benefits. ...
... Many also report that it increases their workload and that they have difficulty psychologically disengaging and taking a break from work (APA, 2013). Indeed Belkin et al. (2016) found that, regardless of time spent actually responding to email, the perceived expectation that employees be available through email created anticipatory stress. ...
... Increasingly, workers are unable to disengage from work, with negative consequences for their perceptions of work-life balance and work identification (APA, 2013;Belkin et al., 2016). These negative perceptions can hurt performance. ...
The purpose of this study was to (a) address the problem of declining productivity in the workplace and (b) explore the relationship between leisure-time physical activity and employee performance in knowledge work. Employee engagement was the measure of performance, and nurses were the sample of knowledge workers. This study adds to the research on physical activity and to the research on engagement as indicators and measures of employee performance, as well as provides implications for practice and recommendations for future research. In addition, this study highlights the complexity of variables that must be expanded upon and considered in the quest for a better understanding of the relationship between physical activity and employee performance, as well as factors that must be considered for a sustainable approach to worker health and wellness.
... According to a previous study, computer-related problems such as memorising different passwords, computer run-time problems, extensive computer usage, and internet/email problems are among the most frequently reported ICT-induced problems (Shepherd 2004). In a more recent study; Belkin, Becker and Conroy (2016) claimed that along with the considerable time to actively deal with work e-mails, being ready to reply to an email after work hours also has negative effects on employees. When employees are obliged to deal with work e-mails after business hours, they experience anticipatory stress (Belkin et al. 2016). ...
... In a more recent study; Belkin, Becker and Conroy (2016) claimed that along with the considerable time to actively deal with work e-mails, being ready to reply to an email after work hours also has negative effects on employees. When employees are obliged to deal with work e-mails after business hours, they experience anticipatory stress (Belkin et al. 2016). ...
... A recent seminal study in this field demonstrated that employees feel stressed even from the mere expectation of an upcoming e-mail. In other words, rather than receiving and responding to an e-mail in an off-hour actively, the possibility of an incoming e-mail is enough to feel 'anticipatory stress' (Belkin et al. 2016). It is claimed that this permeation of work, known as techno-invasion and defined as the invasive effect of ICT that entail employees to be constantly connected to work, paves the way for techno-stress. ...
On the basis of neutralisation theory, this paper associates technology-induced work stress with the engagement in non-business activities while at work. When neutralisation theory is linked to organisational behaviour, the theory states that employees are prone to engage in deviant behaviours in the workplace to balance the difficulties they have suffered. In this context, employees may strive to neutralise the negative consequences of technology-induced stress and feel justified considering that it is their right to engage in deviant behaviours, such as performing non-business activities. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore the impact of technology-induced stress (techno-stress) on engaging in non-business online activities while at work (minor cyberslacking). To do so, survey method was used and data were gathered from 252 white-collar employees working in the manufacturing sector. Results of the regression analysis suggested that out of three dimensions of techno-stress, techno-invasion is the only predictor for cyberslacking. The practical contribution of this paper is that employers could decrease cyberslacking activities by alleviating techno-invasion level of employees. Recommendations are also offered to draw up policies to cope with techno-stress and cyberslacking..
Keywords: techno-stress; technostress; cyberloafing; cyberslacking; techno-overload; techno-invasion; Techno-complexity, techno-insecurity; techno-uncertainty.
cyberloafing cost to companies
cyberloafing in the workplace,
cyber loafing,
What is meant by cyberslacking?
What is the meaning of cyberloafing?
What is cyberloafing in the workplace?
"sanal kaytarma tekno-stress"
teknoloji kaynaklı stress,
teknostres,
tekno-stres,
What causes cyberloafing?,
What are the causes of Cyberloafing?,
How do you think the act of cyberloafing can affect your individual performance in the workplace?,
How long do employees spend cyberloafing?,
cyberloafing cost to companies,
Workplace deviance,
Deviant behaviour at work,
Organisational behaviour and stress,
Future of work and technology,
How to manage cyberslacking?,
cyberslacking cost to companies,
online deviance at work
How do employees involve in cyberloafing?
cyberloafing reasons,
cyberloafing determinants,
predictors of cyberloafing,
How do employees involve in cyberloafing?
Goldbricking
techno-stress systems corporation
techno-stress systems corporation photos
techno-stress phenomenon
what is cyberslacking
cyberslacking definition
cyberloafing cost to companies
cyberloafing distraction or motivation
... rather, we see OEEM as a unique stressor that creates a persistent attention allocation dilemma and, thus, elicits e-anxiety, which is negatively related to well-being outcomes of employees and their significant others. We argue that regardless of the actual involvement with work, salient norms for availability increase employee and significant other strain, even when not engaged in actual work during nonwork time (Belkin, Becker, & conroy, 2016). Thus, we depict normative expectations for work e-mail monitoring during nonwork hours as a stressor, above and beyond actual workload and time spent on handling e-mail during nonwork hours. ...
... Thus, we add to the literature by showing the value of being more specific, rather than general, in examining antecedents and outcomes of job demands, especially for complex issues like technology. in addition, our findings provide robust evidence for the validity of our OEEM measure. The literature studying the effects of OEEM on organizational and personal outcomes is still scarce (e.g., Belkin et al. 2016;Butts et al., 2015;Piszczek, 2017); however, it is a growing area of interest among both scholars and practitioners. Establishing a measure that can be used by future researchers can create more replicability and consistency in the literature. ...
... Practical Implications certainly, organizations should take the issues we highlight in this work seriously because negative health outcomes are costly to organizations (darr & Johns, 2008;Goetzel et al., 1998;Spector & Jex, 1991). Prior work has suggested many possible interventions to address these issues, including having "no e-mail" policies at certain times of day and limiting hours when employees are allowed to respond to electronic communication (Belkin et al., 2016;Piszczek, 2017). ...
... The blurring of working hours along with the changes has necessitated the emergence of policies and practices that will help manage businesses digitally (McDowall & Kinman, 2017). According to the Belkin et al. (2016), employees spend an average of eight hours per week responding to work-related emails after hours. According to the American Psychological Association, 30% of men and 23% of women regularly brought work home. ...
The purpose of this research is to develop a scale to assess the perceptions of employees regarding the "Right to Disconnect", which is a legal right in many countries but has not yet been guaranteed by law in Türkiye. In this context, this study is consisted of 4 studies. In Study 1 (N = 14), a semi-structured in-depth interview form was created based on literature review and expert opinions. Content analysis was used to transform the data obtained from the in-depth interviews into themes, and a draft scale consisting of 25 items was developed. The draft scale was reviewed by experts, and two items were eliminated. The 23-item scale was then pilot tested on 46 participants. In Study 2 (N = 275), exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted, and four items were eliminated. In Study 3 (N = 324), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed and one item was eliminated. As a result, the final 3-factor, 18-item Perception of Right to Disconnect Scale (PRDS) was developed. In Study 4 (N = 214), the final scale was tested using a model. Consequently, the scale was found to be valid and reliable. The fact that there is no scale in the literature regarding the Right to Disconnect makes this study unique. The use of this scale is important for policymakers, academics, and the business world to obtain data by revealing how the perception of being/not being accessible in business life is reflected in business outcomes.
... Entretanto, o suposto autocontrole e a consciência da urgência revelam uma falta de compreensão de que não se trata do tempo ou esforço necessários para responder e-mails ou mensagens, mas sim das expectativas da empresa de monitorar e responder durante o tempo de descanso, que podem impedir que os funcionários se desliguem totalmente do trabalho (Belkin, Becker, & Conroy, 2016). As expectativas organizacionais podem ser o principal culpado da incapacidade de um indivíduo se desligar. ...
Resumo Este estudo tem como objetivo abordar as percepções dos nativos digitais em relação ao uso de mídia social interna (ISM) em contextos corporativos. Pesquisas de empresas de consultoria, embora limitadas como evidência científica, revelaram que os nativos digitais, se tivessem escolha, deixariam seus empregos nos próximos dois anos, mostrando que engajá-los já é um desafio. No entanto, há uma lacuna na literatura, destacando este estudo como uma avaliação singular dos nativos digitais com exposição ao local de trabalho e suas práticas. Foi realizado um estudo exploratório por meio da aplicação de análise de conteúdo em entrevistas semiestruturadas com nativos digitais recém-empregados. Os resultados sugerem que o aspecto geracional pode impactar a forma como as tecnologias sociais são utilizadas para comunicação em contextos organizacionais; e que os nativos digitais acreditam em uma cultura participativa criada em sistemas sociais que impõem alto nível de contribuição dentro da empresa. Eles reconhecem os efeitos adversos da ISM, mas consideram que suas vantagens são predominantes, indicando uma visão otimista. Ainda que a comunicação interna (IC) tenha sido explorada em múltiplos contextos, poucos estudos abordam a influência da ISM nas organizações. Este estudo contribui para a literatura de IC com uma compreensão mais granular do papel das mídias sociais corporativas, a partir da perspectiva da força de trabalho mais recente. Também contribui para o campo pragmático, ao propor que as organizações podem tirar proveito da ambiguidade, porém que tenda a uma percepção positiva das ISM, e alavancar seu uso pelos nativos digitais.
... 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 ...
Introduction
As 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.
Results
Consistent 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.
Discussion
Overall, this study lends support to the idea that smartphones can be beneficial for individuals, particularly during times when face-to-face interaction is limited.
... Nevertheless, assumed self-control and urgency awareness reveal a lack of understanding that it is not about the time or effort required to respond to emails or messages, but rather the expectations to monitor and respond during non-working time that may prevent employees from ever fully disengaging from work (Belkin, Becker, & Conroy, 2016). Organizational expectations may be the main culprit of an individual's inability to disconnect. ...
This study aims to ascertain digital natives’ perceptions regarding internal social media (ISM) use in corporate contexts. Consulting company surveys, although limited as scientific evidence, revealed that digital natives would, if they had choice, quit their jobs in the next two years, showing that engaging them is already a challenge. However, there is a gap in the literature as digital natives’ workplace behaviors remain unexamined, singling out this study as a unique assessment of digital natives with exposure to the workplace and its practices. An exploratory study was performed by applying content analysis of semi-structured interviews with recently employed digital natives. The findings suggest that the lifespan aspect may impact how social technologies are used for communication in organizational contexts; and that digital natives believe in a participatory culture created on social systems that impose a high level of contribution within the company. They recognize the adverse effects of ISM but consider that its advantages predominate, indicating an optimistic view. Whereas internal communication (IC) has been explored in multiple contexts, few studies address ISM influence on organizations. As such, this study contributes to the IC literature with a more granular understanding of enterprise social media’s role from the perspective of the most current workforce. It also contributes to the pragmatic field by proposing that organizations can take advantage of ambiguos but tending to positive perception of ISM and leverage its use by digital natives to promote employee engagement.
... Systematic literature reviews in this area have described this type of research as persistent work-related technology use (Ďuranová & Ohly, 2016) and voluntary ICT use during nonwork time (Schlachter et al., 2018). Although some studies have focused broadly on various forms of after-hours electronic communication (e.g., Butts et al., 2015), others have focused narrowly on specific communication media like smartphone (e.g., Ohly & Latour, 2014;Van Laethem et al., 2018) or email use (e.g., time spent on emails; Belkin et al., 2016) after work hours. Below, we identify two subthemes of this research that are related to how ICT use might conflict with home demands or work recovery experiences after work hours. ...
Several decades of research have addressed the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology. However, segmented research streams with myriad terminologies run the risk of construct proliferation and lack an integrated theoretical justification of the contributions of ICT concepts. Therefore, by identifying important trends and reflecting on key constructs, findings, and theories, our review seeks to determine whether a compelling case can be made for the uniqueness of ICT-related concepts in studying employee and performance in I-O psychology. Two major themes emerge from our review of the ICT literature: (a) a technology behavior perspective and (b) a technology experience perspective. The technology behavior perspective with three subcategories (the “where” of work design, the “when” of work extension, and the “what” of work inattention) explores how individual technology use can be informative for predicting employee well-being and performance. The technology experience perspective theme with two subcategories (the “how” of ICT appraisals and “why” of motives) emphasizes unique psychological (as opposed to behavioral) experiences arising from the technological work context. Based on this review, we outline key challenges of current ICT research perspectives and opportunities for further enhancing our understanding of technological implications for individual workers and organizations.
... The substantial pressure to continue working unpaid even after the proverbial whistle has blown on the workday is detrimental to employee health. Recent studies reveal how this always-on culture can lead to employees experiencing chronic stress, cognitive overflow syndrome, emotional exhaustion, anxiety, sleep disorders, burnout, and overall deterioration of well-being (Belkin et al., 2016). The Heath and Well-Being at Work survey report issued by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) reveals a rising culture of leaveism (workers using allocated time off, such as annual leave, to work or if they are unwell, or working outside contracted hours) and presenteeism (employees coming to work when unwell) in the United Kingdom (2018;p. ...
... The concept of organizational identification is defined by Conroy et al. [24] as "an individual's perception of oneness with his or her organization". Studies associate positive outcomes with organizational identification, such as reduced turnover intention [25] and greater job satisfaction [26]. ...
Drawing upon the psychology of sustainability, effective organizations can create a sense of belongingness for people, and successfully facilitate growth and development activities for both individuals as well as the organization itself. Extending the recommendations of Zappala, Toscano, and Licciardello, the current study considers a range of variables. The role of overall justice judgements and change favorableness are taken as predictors of affective commitment to change and exit-based withdrawal. The relationship is mediated by organizational identification and moderated by trust in organization. Overall, the results support the hypothesized relationships. Specifically, findings showed that both change favorableness and overall justice judgements are positively related to affective commitment to change and negatively related to exit-based withdrawal. Organizational identification mediates the relationships between overall justice judgements–affective commitment to change, change favorableness–affective commitment to change, and change favorableness–exit-based withdrawal, whilst trust in organizations moderated the direct relationship between overall justice judgements–affective commitment to change, and change favorableness–exit-based withdrawal. Furthermore, the indirect effect of trust in organizations positively moderated the relationship of overall justice judgements and change favorableness with affective commitment to change, and at the same time, it negatively moderated the relationship between change favorableness and exit-based withdrawal via organizational identification. Crucially, for practitioners, this brings trust of employees as a key factor that should be managed to ensure sustainable change. Both trust and identity appear important in improving commitment and lowering the exit-based withdrawal behavior of employees. Future recommendations, implications, and limitations are discussed.
... For example, people use work-email to manage their task lists, organize multiple project strands, work flexibly and conveniently, or to keep an audit trail of responsibilities (Dawley & Anthony, 2003;Middleton & Cukier, 2006;O'Kane & Hargie, 2011). However, work-email can also create excessive workload, interrupt people and disrupt their current workflow, disrupt family/home life, and cause misinterpretation and miscommunication issues (Barley, Meyerson, & Grodal, 2011;Belkin, Becker, & Conroy, 2016;Lee, Panteli, Bulow & Hsu, 2018;Mark, Voida, & Cardello, 2012;Nurmi, 2011). Whether work-email activity is positively or negatively construed largely depends on the goals that people are striving towards, and these are in turn dependent on workers' job roles, current tasks, organizational culture, job level and status, and individual differences (Addas & Pinsonneault, 2018;Kneidinger-Müller, 2019;Huang & Lin, 2014;Pignata, Lushington, Sloan, & Buchanan, 2015;Russell, Purvis, & Banks, 2007;Russell, Woods, & Banks, 2017;Waller & Ragsdell, 2012). ...
This study considers the effects of digital transformation projects together with associated risks. Based on the reports of the World Bank and OECD, and academic papers of Russian and foreign scientists, the author highlighted a number of positive and negative consequences of digitalization at the state- and corporate-levels, which have both material and intangible effects and affect the economy and social sphere. Despite the number of existing articles devoted to the digital economy, academics usually sidestep assessments of generated impacts and do not contain methodological proposals or a criterion platform. The author proposes the following approaches for the evaluation of impacts inspired by digital transformation. At the state level – through the growth of gross domestic product, calculated based on an increase in gross value added and tax receipts. At the corporate level – through the calculation of economic value added. The author also evolves intangible effects, including the well-being of the population and employees and proposes to apply “willingness to pay” methodology. To systematize and centralize the impacts of digital transformation at the state level, a special digital index, similar to the OECD digital government concept, could be developed. This will allow the Russian Government to assess the current level of digital maturity, identify weaknesses and gaps, as well as areas for action. Further research in this area can be aimed at clarifying individual indicators of digital transformation and the effectiveness of their adaptation to the specifics of particular sectors of the economy.
Objectives: The present study aims to identify and compare the associations between long working hours and use of work-related communication devices outside regular working hours on anxiety symptoms, thereby providing insight into redefining working hours.
Methods: Based on the cross-sectional data from the 6th Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS), specifically the responses from 46,055 workers, the use of work-related communication devices outside of regular working hours, long working hours, and anxiety symptoms were assessed. To investigate the associations between using work-related communication devices outside regular working hours or long working hours on anxiety symptoms, odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using multiple logistic regression models.
Results: Among 46,055 participants, 25,659 (55.7%) used work-related communication devices outside working hours, 8,145 (17.7%) worked long hours, and 2,664 (5.8%) experienced anxiety symptoms. Compared to the reference group, those who used work-related communication devices outside regular working hours without working long hours, had higher OR of anxiety symptoms (OR:2.18, 95% CI:1.97-2.41) than those who worked long hours without using work-related communication devices during off-hours (OR:1.32, 95% CI:1.09-1.59). Furthermore, the group that both worked long hours and used work-related communication devices outside working hours exhibited the highest OR of anxiety symptoms (OR:2.57, 95% CI:2.24-2.97).
Conclusions: Using work-related communication devices outside regular working hours is associated with a higher risk of anxiety symptoms compared to long working hours. This result suggests that using work-related devices outside regular working hours, in addition to regular work time, should be considered when redefining working hours.
In the last 25 years, work‐email activity has been studied across domains and disciplines. Yet, despite the abundance of research available, a comprehensive, unifying framework of how work‐email activity positively impacts both well‐being and work‐performance outcomes has yet to emerge. This is a timely and significant concern; work‐email is the most prominent and popular form of work communication but it is still unclear what people need to do to be effective emailers at work. To address this, we undertook a rigorous cross‐disciplinary systematic literature review of 62 empirical papers. Using action regulation theory, we developed a multi‐action, multi‐goal framework and found four ‘super’ actions that consistently predict effectiveness (positive well‐being and work‐performance outcomes). These actions involve: (i) communicating and adhering to work‐email access boundaries; (ii) regularly triaging emails (iii) sending work‐relevant email and (iv) being civil and considerate in work‐email exchanges. We found that super actions are engaged when workers have the resources to appropriately regulate their activity, and can attend to their self, task and social needs. Our framework synthesizes a broad and disparate research field, providing valuable insights and guiding future research directions. It also offers practical recommendations to organizations and individuals; by understanding and encouraging the adoption of work‐email super actions, effective work‐email practices can be enhanced.
As digital media have become an integral part of many people’s everyday life, challenges also arise for people to cope with the constant connectivity and exposure to communication and information. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 30 adults, this study explores the strategies they use to disconnect from social media platforms and messaging apps, and how such disconnection relates to their sense of wellbeing. Participants employed strategies ranging from complete disconnection to nuanced ways to manage their connectivity (e.g., disconnecting from devices, social media platforms and apps, or from specific content and social connections). They also drew on features of technology to disconnect; however, such strategies were more common among those with greater digital skills. Finally, digital disconnection practices could benefit people in their everyday life activities and sense of wellbeing. By shedding light on people’s multifaceted and ever evolving relationship with digital media, this study informs future research on digital media use, digital disconnection, and wellbeing.
Email notifications are constantly calling for our attention, and the volume of emails is ever-increasing. A research group at the University of California, Irvine explores how managing the inbox affects stress for different working populations.
Workplaces increasingly use response speed as a proxy for hard work, signaling to employees that the only way to succeed is to be “always on.” Drawing on boundary theory and egocentrism, we examine a problematic bias around expectations of response speed for work emails, namely that receivers overestimate senders’ response speed expectations to non-urgent emails sent outside normative work hours (e.g., on the weekend). We label this phenomenon the email urgency bias and document it across eight pre-registered experimental studies (N = 4,004). This bias led to discrepancies in perceived stress of receiving emails, and was associated with lower subjective well-being via greater experienced stress. A small adjustment on the sender’s side alleviated the email urgency bias (a brief note senders can add in their emails to clarify their response expectations). This paper demonstrates the importance of perspective differences in email exchanges and the need to explicitly communicate non-urgent expectations.
Our study aimed to understand how cross‐domain communication via technology affects employees’ work–family interface. We examine the relationships among cross‐domain communication, role‐based resource loss and gain, and the bidirectional forms of work–family conflict and enrichment. Building on Conservation of Resources theory, we expect that cross‐domain communication has positive effects on role‐based resource loss and gain as well as both work–family conflict and enrichment. Furthermore, we suggest that the relationships between cross‐domain communication and role‐based resource loss and gain vary across different levels of role response expectations and role relationship quality. We test our ideas with data from two studies. Results confirm the role of cross‐domain communication on work–family conflict and enrichment through role‐based resource loss and gain. We also find significant interactions involving cross‐domain communication, role response expectations, and role relationship quality on both work‐ and family‐based resource loss and gain as well as on the mediating effects of family‐based resource loss.
Practitioner points
Cross‐domain work and family communication is not always harmful to employees’ work and family interface.
When employees engaged in cross‐domain communication perceive high work (family) response expectations and high‐quality work (family) relationships, they experience more personal resource losses and gains within the family (work) domain.
Managers need to educate employees regarding both the pros and cons of cross‐domain work and family communication and provide them with explicit rules about how they can navigate the double‐edged functions of communicating across work and family domains.
Training employees to manage communications across domains will enable them to reduce potential work–family conflict and enhance work–family enrichment.
Information and communication technologies (ICT) afford benefits in staying connected and increasing work flexibility for employees; however, they also bring us negative behavioral and psychological outcomes. This research examines the potential consequences of workplace telepressure, referring to the preoccupation with and urge to respond quickly to work-related ICT messages, on employee physical and psychological outcomes and the intervening roles of psychological detachment and boundary-crossing behaviors. A sample of 233 full-time workers from an online survey panel completed an online questionnaire. We observed bivariate relationships between workplace telepressure and health outcomes (i.e., employee burnout, poor sleep quality), psychological detachment, and boundary crossing. Bootstrapped indirect effects analyses showed that only boundary crossing provided a viable pathway by which workplace telepressure was associated with physical fatigue, poor sleep quality, and low sleep quantity. Implications of the intervening role of boundary crossing and the relationships between workplace telepressure and negative health outcomes are discussed.
Workplace telepressure—an employee’s preoccupation and urge to respond quickly to work-related messages via information and communication technologies (ICTs)—may be associated with negative well-being outcomes for workers. The present study expands upon past work on ICT-related stressors and worker well-being with an examination of the presumed role of lower psychological detachment from work in the relationships between workplace telepressure and negative worker outcomes. A three-wave web-based survey with 234 employed adults confirmed between-person associations between workplace telepressure and lower psychological detachment from work, higher levels of exhaustion (physical and cognitive), and more sleep problems. Moreover, results supported the predicted indirect effect of workplace telepressure to physical exhaustion and sleep problems through psychological detachment at the between-person level. Results also showed a negative indirect effect of workplace telepressure through psychological detachment on within-person variation in work engagement, despite the positive bivariate association between workplace telepressure and engagement (absorption). Finally, exploratory analyses suggested that workplace telepressure might be a stronger predictor of exhaustion when ICT connection demands at work are low. We discuss implications for workplace telepressure in terms of both health impairment and motivational processes with respect to work recovery.
Today’s work environment is shaped by the electronic age. Smartphones are important tools that allow employees to work anywhere and anytime. The aim of this diary study was to examine daily smartphone use after and during work and their association with psychological detachment (in the home domain) and work engagement (in the work domain), respectively. We explored whether workplace telepressure, which is a strong urge to respond to work-related messages and a preoccupation with quick response times, promotes smartphone use. Furthermore, we hypothesized that employees experiencing high workplace telepressure would have more trouble letting go of the workday during the evening and feel less engaged during their workday to the extent that they use their smartphone more intensively across domains. A total of 116 employees using their smartphones for work-related purposes completed diary questionnaires on five workdays (N = 476 data points) assessing their work-related smartphone use, psychological detachment after work, and engagement during work. Workplace telepressure was measured as a between-individual variable and only assessed at the beginning of the study, as well as relevant control variables such as participants’ workload and segmentation preference (a preference for work and home domains to be as segmented as possible). Multilevel path analyses revealed that work-related smartphone use after work was negatively related to psychological detachment irrespective of employees’ experienced workplace telepressure, and daily smartphone use during work was unrelated to work engagement. Supporting our hypothesis, employees who reported high telepressure experienced less work engagement on days that they used their smartphone more intensively during work. Altogether, intensive smartphone use after work hampers employees’ psychological detachment, whereas intensive smartphone use during work undermines their work engagement only when employees experience high workplace telepressure as well. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
Prior research has shown that work-related ICT-use outside work hours is generally related with more work-to-home conflict, but that this effect can be mitigated or even reversed when people have an integration preference. In this study, we posit that the moderating role of integration preference in itself depends on the work environment because the context can alter people's sense of control and autonomy and may therefore affect the influence of a preference-behavior alignment. To test this, we examine three-way interactions between two types of work-related ICT-use outside work hours (i.e., smartphone use and PC/laptop use), integration preference and two characteristics of the work environment (i.e., organizational integration norms and work demands) on time- and strain-based work-to-home conflict. Analyses are performed on a survey sample of 467 working parents in Belgium. Findings indicate that only work-related PC/laptop use – and not smartphone use – outside work hours is positively related to work-to-home conflict. This effect is buffered for people who have a preference to integrate work and personal life, but only when their work environment is characterized by low organizational integration norms and/or low work demands. This indicates that for employees with integration preferences, work-related ICT-use outside work hours may not complicate – and could even facilitate – finding work-home compatibility; yet, this effect depends on organizational factors as well. The results of this study may help organizations to better understand the impact of expectations regarding staying connected to work while being at home.
Over the past 30 years, conservation of resources (COR) theory has become one of the most widely cited theories in organizational psychology and organizational behavior. COR theory has been adopted across the many areas of the stress spectrum, from burnout to traumatic stress. Further attesting to the theory’s centrality, COR theory is largely the basis for the more work-specific leading theory of organizational stress, namely the job demands-resources model. One of the major advantages of COR theory is its ability to make a wide range of specific hypotheses that are much broader than those offered by theories that focus on a single central resource, such as control, or that speak about resources in general. In this article, we will revisit the principles and corollaries of COR theory that inform those more specific hypotheses and will review research in organizational behavior that has relied on the theory. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior Volume 5 is January 21, 2018. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
Workplace deviance harms the well-being of an organization and its members. Unfortunately, theory and prior research suggest that deviance is associated with job stressors, which are endemic to work organizations and often cannot be easily eliminated. To address this conundrum, we explore actions individuals can take at work that serve as buffering conditions for the positive relationship between job stressors and deviant behavior. Drawing upon conservation of resources theory, we examine a resource-building activity (i.e., learning something new at work) and a demand-shielding activity (i.e., taking time for relaxation at work) as potential boundary conditions. In 2 studies with employee samples using complementary designs, we find support for the buffering role of learning but not for relaxation. When employees learn new things at work, the relationship between hindrance stressors and deviance is weaker; as is the indirect relationship mediated by negative emotions. Taking time for relaxation at work did not show a moderating role in either study. Therefore, although relaxation is a response that individuals might be inclined to turn to for counteracting work stress, our findings suggest that, when it comes to addressing negative emotions and deviance in stressful work environments, building positive resources by learning something new at work could be more useful. In that way, doing more (i.e., learning, and not relaxing) is associated with less (deviance) in the face of job stressors. (PsycINFO Database Record
Job-stress recovery during nonwork time is an important factor for employee well-being. This article reviews the recovery literature, starting with a brief historical overview. It provides a definition of recovery that differentiates between recovery as a process and recovery as an outcome. Empirical studies have shown that recovery activities (e.g., physical exercise) and recovery experiences (e.g., psychological detachment from work) are negatively associated with strain symptoms (e.g., exhaustion) and positively associated with positive well-being indicators (e.g., vigor). Recovery activities and recovery experiences suffer when employees face a high level of job stressors. Psychological mechanisms underlying recovery seem to be similar across different temporal recovery settings (e.g., work breaks, free evenings, vacations) and seem to be enhanced in natural environments. Intervention studies have pointed to a diverse set of strategies for how everyday job-stress recovery can be supported. This article discusses 5 avenues for future research, with a particular focus on individual and contextual factors that may influence recovery as well as highlighting more complex temporal patterns than those uncovered in previous research.
Recent narrative reviews (e.g., Hom, Mitchell, Lee, & Griffeth, 2012; Hom, Lee, Shaw, & Hausknecht, 2017) advise that it is timely to assess the progress made in research on voluntary employee turnover so as to guide future work. To provide this assessment, we employed a three-step approach. First, we conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis of turnover predictors, updating existing effect sizes and examining multiple new antecedents. Second, guided by theory, we developed and tested a set of substantive moderators, considering factors that might exacerbate or mitigate zero-order meta-analytic effects. Third, we examined the holistic pattern of results in order to highlight the most pressing needs for future turnover research. The results of Step 1 reveal multiple newer predictors and updated effect sizes of more traditional predictors, which have received substantially greater study. The results of Step 2 provide insight into the context-dependent nature of many antecedent-turnover relationships. In Step 3, our discussion takes a birds-eye view of the turnover “forest” and considers the theoretical and practical implications of the results. We offer several research recommendations that break from the traditional turnover paradigm, as a means of guiding future study. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
Objective. A global and systematic review of the available evidence examining the cost of work-related stress would yield important insights into the magnitude and nature of this social phenomenon. The objective of this systematic review was to collate, extract, review, and synthesize economic evaluations of the cost of work-related stress to society. Method. A research protocol was developed outlining the search strategy. Included cost-of-illness (COI) studies estimated the cost of work-related stress at a societal level, and were published in English, French or German. Searches were carried out in ingentaconnect, EBSCO, JSTOR, Science Direct, Web of Knowledge, Google and Google scholar. Included studies were assessed against ten COI quality assessment criteria. Results. Fifteen COI studies met the inclusion criteria and were reviewed. These originated from Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the EU-15. At a national and pan-European level, the total estimated cost of work-related stress in 2014 was observed to be considerable and ranged substantially from US187 billion. Productivity related losses were observed to proportionally contribute the majority of the total cost of work-related stress (between 70 to 90%), with healthcare and medical costs constituting the remaining 10% to 30%. Conclusion. The evidence reviewed here suggests a sizeable financial burden imposed by work-related stress on society. The observed range of cost estimates across studies was understood to be attributable to variations in definitions of work-related stress; the number and type of costs estimated; and, in how production loss was estimated. It is postulated that the cost estimates identified by this review are likely conservative due to narrow definitions of work-related stress (WRS) and the exclusion of diverse range of cost components.
It has been almost a decade since Journal of Occupational Health Psychology published back-to-back meta-analyses on occupational stress management interventions (Richardson & Rothstein, 2008) and organizational wellness programs (Parks & Steelman, 2008). These studies cited the need for systematic reviews given the growing body of literature in the field and the proliferation of stress management interventions and mental health wellness programs, which have traditionally been viewed as two distinct initiatives. More recent research has shown a trend toward incorporating stress management as a component of workplace wellness programs. As part of the special series Journal of Occupational Health Psychology at 20, the purpose of this paper is to reflect back on the findings of the 2008 meta-analyses to review what was learned, see what new studies have added to the literature, and assess recent social and political changes that present new challenges—and opportunities—for the field.
The dimensionality of Maslach's (1982) 3 aspects of job burnout—emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment—was examined among a sample of supervisors and managers in the human services. A series of confirmatory factor analyses supported the 3-factor model, with the first 2 aspects highly correlated. The 3 aspects were found to be differentially related to other variables reflecting aspects of strain, stress coping, and self-efficacy in predictable and meaningful ways. Implications for better understanding the burnout process are discussed.
Some studies have argued that information and communication technologies such as smartphones can
pressure employees to work more from home, while others argue that they help employees manage transitions
between the work and family role domains. Leveraging boundary theory and the job demands–resources
model, the present study examines the conditions under which work–family technology use is associated with
greater boundary control. Findings show that technology use is associated with higher boundary control for
those who prefer role integration and lower boundary control for those who prefer role segmentation.
Findings also show that boundary control is linked to emotional exhaustion and that organizational afterhours
electronic communication expectations can compel work–family technology use despite individual
preferences.
We examined the use of a mobile device for work during family time (mWork) to determine the role that it plays in employee turnover intentions. Using a sample of 344 job incumbents and their spouses, we propose a family systems model of turnover and examine 2 paths through which we expect mWork to relate to turnover intentions: the job incumbent and the spouse. From the job incumbent, we found that the job incumbent's mWork associated with greater work-to-family conflict and burnout, and lower organizational commitment. From the spouse, we found that incumbent mWork and greater work-to-family conflict associated with increased resentment by the spouse and lower spousal commitment to the job incumbent's organization. Both of these paths played a role in predicting job incumbent turnover intentions. We discuss implications and opportunities for future research on mWork for integrating work and family into employee turnover intentions. (PsycINFO Database Record
Mindfulness research activity is surging within organizational science. Emerging evidence across multiple fields suggests that mindfulness is fundamentally connected to many aspects of workplace functioning, but this knowledge base has not been systematically integrated to date. This review coalesces the burgeoning body of mindfulness scholarship into a framework to guide mainstream management research investigating a broad range of constructs. The framework identifies how mindfulness influences attention, with downstream effects on functional domains of cognition, emotion, behavior, and physiology. Ultimately these domains impact key workplace outcomes, including performance, relationships, and well-being. Consideration of the evidence on mindfulness at work stimulates important questions and challenges key assumptions within management science, generating an agenda for future research.
Hom, Griffeth, and Sellaro's (1984) theoretical alternative to Mobley's (1977) turnover model was investigated in two studies. In Study 1, conceptual distinctions among model constructs and operationalizations of those constructs were validated. 206 nurses were surveyed, and constructs were assessed with multiple indicators. Although discriminating most constructs, structural equation modeling (SEM) identified a more parsimonious conceptualization in which a general construct underlies withdrawal cognitions. Other SEM analyses supported the indicators' construct validity and Hom et al.'s structural network. In Study 2, a longitudinal analogue of Hom et al.'s model was tested. A survey of 129 new nurses measured model constructs on three occasions. SEM disclosed that some causal effects in this model materialized contemporaneously, whereas others emerged after a lengthy time. Moreover, these causal effects systematically changed during newcomer assimilation. Implications for future research of turnover models are discussed.
Proposed as a theory of motivation, the basic tenet of conservation of resources (COR) theory is that humans are motivated to protect their current resources and acquire new resources. Despite its recent popularity in the organizational behavior literature, several criticisms of the theory have emerged, primarily related to the central concept of resources. In this review, we address concerns regarding the conceptualization, conservation, acquisition, fluctuation, and measurement of resources. We highlight gaps in the COR literature that can be addressed by integrating research from other areas of psychology and management. In this manner, we hope to push the COR literature forward by resolving several concerns and providing suggestions for future research that might address other concerns.
As advances in communication technologies have made organizations more easily connected to their workforce outside of normal work hours, there is increased concern that employees may experience heightened work-nonwork conflict when away from the office. The current study investigates the effects of electronic communication received during nonwork time using an experience sampling methodology to examine withinperson relationships among elements of electronic communication (affective tone, time required), emotional responses (anger, happiness), and work-to-nonwork conflict in a sample of 341 working adults surveyed over a seven-day period. Hierarchical linear modeling results suggested that both affective tone and time required were associated with anger, but only affective tone was associated with happiness. Further, anger was associated with work-to-nonwork conflict and mediated the effects of affective tone and time required on work-to-nonwork conflict. Results also revealed cross-level moderating effects of abusive supervision and communication sender together, as well as segmentation preference. Implications of these findings for future theorizing and research on electronic communication during nonwork time are discussed.
This article proposes a perspective on careers that recognizes the interdependencies between work and home over the life course and is particularly suitable to contemporary careers. We first discuss the meaning of a work–home (WH) perspective and elaborate on the economic, organizational, and workforce changes that have affected contemporary careers. We then illustrate the implications of adopting a WH perspective for four streams of scholarship relevant to contemporary careers (career self-management, career success, global careers, and sustainable careers), suggest directions for future research in each area, and discuss the practical implications of adopting a WH perspective. We conclude that contemporary careers can be better understood by considering how employees’ home lives influence and are influenced by career processes and that the adoption of a WH perspective requires understanding the role of gender norms in prescribing and sanctioning women’s and men’s participation in the work and home domains in a given culture.
Workplace flexibility initiatives as a potential remedy for work-life conflicts are the focus of a considerable number of investigations. Despite their contributions, research findings reveal tensions and contradictions in the ways that employees, managers and organizations develop, enact and respond to these flexibility initiatives. This critical review identifies three primary tensions (variable vs fixed arrangements, supportive vs unsupportive work climates and equitable vs inequitable implementation of policies) that reveal inconsistent and sometimes contradictory findings. We tie these tensions, and the management of them, to an overarching dilemma in implementing workplace flexibility, the autonomy-control paradox. To develop alternatives for handling these tensions, we recommend reframing them through changing organizational cultures, adopting a philosophy of adaptability, customizing work and making workplace flexibility an employee right. We conclude by urging organizations and society to reframe the tensions between work and life, to treat them as enriching rather than competing with each other and to transcend these opposite poles through exploring third spaces.
Scholars have hypothesized that experiencing incivility not only negatively affects well-being, but may even trigger further antisocial behavior. Previous research, however, has focused mainly on the relation between incivility and well-being. Thus, little is known about the behavioral consequences of incivility. With this in mind, we conducted an interaction-record diary study to examine whether supervisor incivility causes retaliatory incivility against the supervisor. Using the self-control strength model as a framework, we further examined whether the target’s trait (trait self-control) and state (exhaustion) self-regulatory capacities moderate this effect. In addition, we examined the role of time by testing the duration of the effect. When we analyzed the full data set, we found no support for our hypotheses. However, using a subset of the data in which the subsequent interaction happened on the same day as the prior interaction, our results showed that experiencing incivility predicted incivility in the subsequent interaction, but only when the time lag between the two interactions was short. Furthermore, in line with the assumption that self-regulatory capacities are required to restrain a target from retaliatory responses, the effect was stronger when individuals were exhausted. In contrast to our assumption, trait self-control had no effect on instigated incivility.
Organizational support theory (OST) proposes that employees form a generalized perception concerning the extent to which the organization values their contributions and cares about their well-being (perceived organizational support, or POS). Based on hypotheses involving social exchange, attribution, and self-enhancement, we carried out a meta-analytic assessment of OST using results from 558 studies. OST was generally successful in its predictions concerning both the antecedents of POS (leadership, employee-organization context, human resource practices, and working conditions) and its consequences (employee’s orientation toward the organization and work, employee performance, and well-being). Notably, OST successfully predicted the relative magnitudes of different relationships, influences of process variables, and mediational effects. General implications of the findings for OST and research on POS are discussed.
In many organizations, e-mail is an effective and dominant workplace application tool; however, research identifying its role as a potential workplace stressor remains limited. Utilizing the Transactional Model of Stress (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), 215 full-time administrative and academic staff at a university were surveyed about workplace e-mail. The aim was to study the effects of potential e-mail stressors on emotional exhaustion as mediated and moderated by person and situation variables. Results indicated that 2 distinct e-mail stressors- high quantity and poor quality (in terms of high emotionality and ambiguity) of workplace e-mail-were associated both with stress appraisals (e-mail overload and e-mail uncertainty) and with emotional exhaustion. Furthermore, the effects of the 2 e-mail stressors on emotional exhaustion were mediated by appraised e-mail overload. Perceived normative response pressure-a relevant aspect of the specific work environment-added to the explanation of emotional exhaustion and accentuated the positive effect of e-mail ambiguity on emotional exhaustion, although effects involving normative response pressure were not explained by the stress appraisals.
We examine the relationships between work-to-family conflict, time allocation across work activities, and the outcomes of work satisfaction, well-being, and salary in the context of self-regulation and self-discrepancy theories. We posit work-to-family conflict is associated with self-discrepant time allocation such that employees with higher levels of work-to-family conflict are likely to allocate less time than preferred to work activities that require greater self-regulatory resources (e.g., tasks that are complex, or those with longer term goals that delay rewards and closure) and allocate more time than preferred to activities that demand fewer self-regulatory resources or are replenishing (e.g., those that provide closure or are prosocial). We suggest this self-discrepant time allocation (actual vs. preferred time allocation) is one mechanism by which work-to-family conflict leads to negative employee consequences (Allen, Herst, Bruck, & Sutton, 2000; Mesmer-Magnus & Viswesvaran, 2005). Using polynomial regression and response surface methodology, we find that discrepancies between actual and preferred time allocations to work activities negatively relate to work satisfaction, psychological well-being, and physical well-being. Self-discrepant time allocation mediates the relationship between work-to-family conflict and work satisfaction and well-being, while actual time allocation (rather than the discrepancy) mediates the relationship between work-to-family conflict and salary. We find that women are more likely than men to report self-discrepant time allocations as work-to-family conflict increases. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).
Organizations rely heavily on asynchronous message-based technologies (e.g., e-mail) for the purposes of work-related communications. These technologies are primary means of knowledge transfer and building social networks. As a by-product, workers might feel varying levels of preoccupations with and urges for responding quickly to messages from clients, coworkers, or supervisors—an experience we label as workplace telepressure. This experience can lead to fast response times and thus faster decisions and other outcomes initially. However, research from the stress and recovery literature suggests that the defining features of workplace telepressure interfere with needed work recovery time and stress-related outcomes. The present set of studies defined and validated a new scale to measure telepressure. Study 1 tested an initial pool of items and found some support for a single-factor structure after problematic items were removed. As expected, public self-consciousness, techno-overload, and response expectations were moderately associated with telepressure in Study 1. Study 2 demonstrated that workplace telepressure was distinct from other personal (job involvement, affective commitment) and work environment (general and ICT work demands) factors and also predicted burnout (physical and cognitive), absenteeism, sleep quality, and e-mail responding beyond those factors. Implications for future research and workplace practices are discussed.
Work recovery research has focused mainly on how after-work break activities help
employees replenish their resources and reduce fatigue. Given that employees spend a
considerable amount of time at work, understanding how they can replenish their
resources during the workday is critical. Drawing on ego depletion (Muraven &
Baumeister, 2000) and self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985), we employed
multi-source experience sampling methods to test the effects of a critical boundary
condition, employee lunch break autonomy, on the relation between lunch break
activities and end-of-workday fatigue. Although specific energy-relevant activities had
a main effect on end-of-workday fatigue, each of these was moderated by the degree of
autonomous choice associated with the break. Specifically, for activities that supported
the psychological needs of relatedness and competence (i.e., social and work
activities, respectively), as lunch break autonomy increased, effects switched from
increasing fatigue to reducing fatigue. To the extent that lunch break activities involved
relaxation, however, lunch break autonomy was only important when levels of
relaxation were low. We conclude that lunch break autonomy plays a complex and
pivotal role in conferring the potential energetic benefits of lunch break activities.
Contributions to theory and practice are discussed.
The aim of the present study was to make a clear distinction between work and home domains in the explanation of burnout. First, a 3-factor structure of job and home demands was hypothesized, consisting of quantitative demands, emotional demands, and mental demands. Next, a model was tested that delineates how demands in both life domains are related to occupational burnout through work-home interference (WHI) and home-work interference (HWI). In doing so, the partial mediating role of WHI and HWI was examined. Consistent with hypotheses, empirical support was found for the 3-factor structure of both job and home demands as well as for the partial mediating effects of both WHI and HWI. Job demands and home demands appeared to have a direct and indirect effect (through WHI and HWI, respectively) on burnout. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This study examines the relationship between time pressure and unfinished tasks as work stressors on employee well-being. Relatively little is known about the effect of unfinished tasks on well-being. Specifically, excluding the impact of time pressure, we examined whether the feeling of not having finished the week's tasks fosters perseverative cognitions and impairs sleep. Additionally, we proposed that leader performance expectations moderate these relationships. In more detail, we expected the detrimental effect of unfinished tasks on both rumination and sleep would be enhanced if leader expectations were perceived to be high. In total, 89 employees filled out online diary surveys both before and after the weekend over a 5-week period. Multilevel growth modeling revealed that time pressure and unfinished tasks impacted rumination and sleep on the weekend. Further, our results supported our hypothesis that unfinished tasks explain unique variance in the dependent variables above and beyond the influence of time pressure. Moreover, we found the relationship between unfinished tasks and both rumination and sleep was moderated by leader performance expectations. Our results emphasize the importance of unfinished tasks as a stressor and highlight that leadership, specifically in the form of performance expectations, contributes significantly to the strength of this relationship. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).
This study develops a model of engagement in the multiple roles of work and family. I examine two competing arguments about the effects of engaging in multiple roles, depletion and enrichment, and integrate them by identifying the type of emotional response to a role, negative or positive, as a critical contrasting assumption held by these two perspectives. Moreover, I represent depletion and enrichment as complex multistep processes that include multiple constructs, such as engagement and emotion. This study jointly examines both the depleting and enriching processes that link engagement in one role to engagement in another, using structural equation modeling. Findings from a survey of 790 employees reveal evidence for both depletion and enrichment as well as gender differences. Specifically, depletion existed only for women and only in the work-to-family direction. Men experienced enrichment from work to family, while women experienced enrichment from family to work. Overall, more linkages were found between work and family for women than for men.
What are the benefits and negative consequences of our increased connectivity at school, at work, and at home? Is being constantly distracted now a worldwide problem? This book examines how new technologies and social pressures have changed the way we use our attention, and the extent to which they drive us to distraction, by interpreting hundreds of scientific studies from the literatures in cognitive and social psychology, sociology, communication, management, and decision making.
While distraction is ever-present in daily life, staying connected in an efficient way is the goal for one and all. To accomplish that, some amount of fine-tuning of typical interactions with technology is in order. Nearly everyone recognizes the addictive nature of constant connectivity—and its destructive effect on productivity and quality of work. But the availability of technology also promotes better engagement, control, and flexibility in both professional and personal settings. An in-depth analysis of these tradeoffs can lead to smarter choices about when and how to be connected throughout the day and across settings. The ultimate objective is to have technology enhance our lives without serving as a source of constant distraction.
Distracted: Staying Connected without Losing Focus explains the nuances of what this addiction stems from—considering both societal and technological factors—and identifies both the invaluable opportunities and the counterproductive consequences of living in our technology-enabled, instant-access-to-everything world. The chapters examine a wide swath of scientific research to expose how technology use affects our attention and the extent to which it causes distraction. Authors Terri Kurtzberg and Jennifer Gibbs apply the science of human attention to reveal how specific areas of our lives are significantly changed with the advent of “continuous connectedness,” including in the workplace, in personal relationships, in childhood development, and with regard to education and learning. Readers will clearly understand why multitasking fails us, what the consequences are—to ourselves and those around us—of being focused on a screen for much of the day, and how each of us can adjust our use of technology in order to improve our lives.
This paper tests the relationship between organizational expectations to monitor work-related electronic communication during nonwork hours and the health and relationship satisfaction of employees and their significant others. We integrate resource-based theories with research on interruptions to position organizational expectations for e-mail monitoring (OEEM) during nonwork time as a psychological stressor that elicits anxiety due to employee attention allocation conflict. E-mail–triggered anxiety, in turn, negatively affects the health and relationship quality of employees and their significant others. We conducted three studies to test our propositions. Using the experience sampling method with 108 working U.S. adults, Study 1 established within-employee effects of OEEM on anxiety, employee health, and relationship conflict. Study 2 used a sample of 138 dyads of full-time employees and their significant others to replicate detrimental health and relationship effects of OEEM through anxiety. It also showed crossover effects of OEEM on partner health and relationship satisfaction. Finally, Study 3 employed a two-wave data collection method with an online sample of 162 U.S. working adults to provide additional support for the OEEM construct as a distinct and reliable job stressor and replicated findings from Studies 1 and 2. Taken together, our research extends the literature on work-related electronic communication at the interface of work and nonwork boundaries, deepening our understanding of the impact of OEEM on employees and their families’ health and well-being.
Recently, an alarmingly high number of burnout cases in the work world has been reported. Burnout is an indicator of unsustainable careers because it evokes undesirable aspects in various career-related variables. Based on the conservation of resources theory and rationales from the sustainable career framework, the aim of this study is to
explore the mechanisms that explain the relationship between burnout and career turnover intentions, which presents a major indicator of career unsustainability. We assume that this relationship is mediated by the reduced personal resources of perceived internal marketability and career satisfaction. We also assume that the contextual resource of perceived departmental support moderates the mediated paths, and therefore plays a buffering role within unsustainable career development. We verified our
assumptions by means of a moderated mediation analysis with Haye's PROCESS Macro. The sample consisted of 385 academic scientists from diverse research fields who participated in an online survey across three points of time (each one year apart, totaling two years). Our results suggest that burnout is positively related to career turnover intentions, and that perceived internal marketability, as well as career satisfaction, mediate the relationship between burnout and career turnover intentions. We found no moderation of perceived departmental support for the direct relationship between burnout and career turnover intentions. However, we found support for the notion that perceived
departmental support moderates the relationship between burnout and perceived internal marketability and career satisfaction. Our findings help to further our understanding of how burnout is a risk to sustainable careers, and how perceived departmental support is a promising resource toward sustainable careers.
Work interruptions have made significant inroads into the knowledge workers' nonwork domain, in large part due to the ubiquitous nature of mobile devices that blur the work-nonwork boundaries by enabling work interruptions anywhere and at any time. We examine the effects of such technology-mediated work-related interruptions that occur during one's time off on both work and nonwork outcomes. Leveraging theoretical perspectives from interruption, work-life interface, and conservation of resources, we conceptualize both positive and negative effects of such interruptions on behavioral and psychological outcomes. We identify three mediating mechanisms via which these effects occur: interruption overload and psychological transition via which negative effects occur and task closure via which positive effects occur. Results reveal significant effects of interruptions on work and nonwork outcomes through the three mediating mechanisms. Although positive effects are observed, the total effects of work-related interruptions are detrimental across both work and nonwork outcomes, with the strongest negative effect on work exhaustion. The results suggest that after-hours work interruptions do not necessarily benefit work performance and come at the cost of work exhaustion. Analyses also reveal that the effects of interruptions are dependent on the technology via which these occur. While phone and messaging generate negative outcomes through interruption overload, e-mail leads to both positive and negative outcomes through task closure and psychological transition respectively. The study concludes with implications for research and practice on how to mitigate negative effects and enhance positive effects.
Interruption of work by e-mail and other communication technologies has become widespread and ubiquitous. However, our understanding of how such interruptions influence individual performance is limited. This paper distinguishes between two types of e-mail interruptions (incongruent and congruent) and draws upon action regulation theory and the computer-mediated communication literature to examine their direct and indirect effects on individual performance. Two empirical studies of sales professionals were conducted spanning different time frames: a survey study with 365 respondents and a diary study with 212 respondents. The results were consistent across the two studies, showing a negative indirect effect of exposure to incongruent interruptions (interruptions containing information that is not relevant to primary activities) through subjective workload, and a positive indirect effect of exposure to congruent interruptions (interruptions containing information that is relevant to primary activities) through mindfulness. The results differed across the two studies in terms of whether the effects were fully or partially mediated, and we discuss these differences using meta-inferences. Technology capabilities used during interruption episodes also had significant effects: rehearsing (fine-tuning responses to incoming messages) and reprocessing (reexamining received messages) were positively related to mindfulness, parallel communication (engaging in multiple e-mail conversations simultaneously) and leaving messages in the inbox were positively related to subjective workload, and deleting messages was negatively related to subjective workload. This study contributes to research by providing insights on the different paths that link e-mail interruptions to individual performance and by examining the effects of using capabilities of the interrupting technology (IT artifact) during interruption episodes. It also complements the experimental tradition that focuses on isolated interruptions. By shifting the level of analysis from specific interruption events to overall exposure to interruptions over time and from the laboratory to the workplace, our study provides realism and ecological validity.
Based on the Job Demands Resources model (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007), we empirically investigate how technology-based job autonomy, technology-based job overload, and technology-based job monitoring impact job attitudes and employee intentions to turnover. Using a sample of 326 full time employees, we found that the resource of technology-based job autonomy worked through job engagement, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment to lower employee turnover intentions. Simultaneously, the demands of technology-based job overload and technology-based job monitoring worked through job tension and job satisfaction, but not organizational commitment, to impact intentions to turnover. Implications and opportunities for future research of examining technology-based job characteristics are discussed.
Exploring the role of both the employee and supervisor, we tested a model of how cognition-based work-to-family conflict manifests itself in the workplace, impacting employee job success. Based on conservation of resources theory and the concept of loss spirals, we hypothesized that when an employee's work interferes with family demands, the resulting work-to-family conflict spills over to the work domain via employee emotional exhaustion. We further argued that the behavioral manifestation of employee emotional exhaustion in the workplace is low employee engagement, as assessed by the supervisor. Drawing on signaling theory, we proposed that supervisor assessments of employee engagement are related to promotability, performance ratings, and salary. Work scheduling autonomy, as a boundary condition, is examined as a resource that attenuates these relationships. Data collected from 192 employee–supervisor dyads of a Fortune 1000 company, as well as performance ratings and salary obtained from company records 9 months later, indicated support for our conceptual model. Future research examining employee work–family conflict and job outcomes is discussed. Copyright
Structural equation modeling (SEM) has been a staple of the organizational sciences for decades. It is common to report degrees of freedom (df) for tested models, and it should be possible for a reader to recreate df for any model in a published paper. We reviewed 784 models from 75 papers published in top journals in order to understand df-related reporting practices and discover how often reported df matched those that we computed based on the information given in the papers. Among other things, we found that both df and the information necessary to compute them were available about three-quarters of the time. We also found that computed df matched reported df only 62% of the time. Discrepancies were particularly common in structural (as opposed to measurement) models and were often large in magnitude. This means that the models for which fit indices are offered are often different from those described in published papers. Finally, we offer an online tool for computing df and recommendations, the Degrees of Freedom Reporting Standards (DFRS), for authors, reviewers, and editors.
Building on the conservation of resources model, we conducted three studies to explore the link between ambient temperature and individual prosocial behavior. In Study 1, analyzing the two-wave field data from a chain of retail stores in Eastern Europe, we find that, in hot, as opposed to normal temperatures, employees are less likely to act in a prosocial manner. In Study 2, we replicate and extend these findings in a randomized controlled experiment by identifying mechanisms underlying the relationship between hot ambient temperature and helping behavior. Specifically, we find that heat increases fatigue that leads to reduction in positive affect and subsequently reduces individual helping. Finally, in Study 3, we replicate these findings in a field experiment. Taken together our study helps to explain how and through what mechanisms ambient temperature influences individual helping. The theoretical and practical implications of our findings are discussed.
Telepressure is a psychological state consisting of the preoccupation and urge to respond quickly to message-based communications from others. Telepressure has been linked with negative stress and health outcomes, but the existing measure focuses on experiences specific to the workplace. The current study explores whether an adapted version of the workplace telepressure measure is relevant to general social interactions that rely on information and communication technologies. We validated a general telepressure measure in a sample of college students and found psychometric properties similar to the original workplace measure. Also, general telepressure was related to, but distinct from, the fear of missing out, self-control and technology use. Using a predictive validity design, we also found that telepressure at the beginning of the semester was related to student reports of burnout, perceived stress and poor sleep hygiene 1 month later (but not work-life balance or general life satisfaction). Moreover, telepressure was more strongly related to more negative outcomes (burnout, stress and poor sleep hygiene) and less positive outcomes (work-life balance and life satisfaction) among employed compared with non-employed students. Thus, the costs of staying connected to one's social network may be more detrimental to college students with additional employment obligations. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Is work-related smartphone use during off-job time associated with lower conflict owing to the blurring of the boundaries between work and family life? Or does it help employees juggling work and family demands? The present four-day quantitative diary study (N = 71 employees, N = 265–280 data points) aims to shed light on the relationship between daily work-related smartphone use during off-job time, and daily work–family conflict and daily family role performance, respectively. Moreover, individuals’ general segmentation preference is investigated as a potential cross-level moderator in the relationships between daily work-related smartphone use during off-job time and both work–family conflict and family role performance. Overall, the results of multilevel modelling support our mediated moderation model indicating that for integrators more frequent work-related smartphone use during off-job time is associated with better family role performance through reduced work–family conflict. For segmenters, smartphone use does not have any impact on work–family conflict and family role performance. These findings suggest that for integrators smartphone use during off-job time may be useful to simultaneously meet both work demands and family demands, which has the potential to reduce work–family conflict and enhance family role performance; whereas for segmenters no effects were found.
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.
Our research examines how knowledge professionals use mobile email devices to get their work done and the implications of such use for their autonomy to control the location, timing, and performance of work. We found that knowledge professionals using mobile email devices to manage their communication were enacting a norm of continual connectivity and accessibility that produced a number of contradictory outcomes. Although individual use of mobile email devices offered these professionals flexibility, peace of mind, and control over interactions in the short term, it also intensified collective expectations of their availability, escalating their engagement and thus reducing their ability to disconnect from work. Choosing to use their mobile email devices to work anywhere/anytime-actions they framed as evidence of their personal autonomy-the professionals were ending up using it everywhere/all the time, thus diminishing their autonomy in practice. This autonomy paradox reflected professionals' ongoing navigation of the tension between their interests in personal autonomy on the one hand and their professional commitment to colleagues and clients on the other. We further found that this dynamic has important unintended consequences-reaffirming and challenging workers' sense of themselves as autonomous and responsible professionals while also collectively shifting the norms of how work is and should be performed in the contemporary workplace.
This three-week longitudinal field study with an experimental intervention examines the association between daily events and employee stress and health, with a specific focus on positive events. Results suggest that both naturally occurring positive work events and a positive reflection intervention are associated with reduced stress and improved health, though effects vary across momentary, lagged, daily, and day-to-evening spillover analyses. Findings are consistent with theory-based predictions: positive events, negative events, and family-to-work conflict independently contribute to perceived stress, blood pressure, physical symptoms, mental health, and work detachment, suggesting that organizations should focus not only on reducing negative events, but also on increasing positive events. These findings show that a brief, end-of-workday positive reflection led to decreased stress and improved health in the evening.
Single-item measures of employees' attitudes and beliefs are generally discouraged because their (internal consistency) reliability cannot be estimated. This results in the concern that reliability may be unacceptably low, particularly when compared to scales used to measure the same construct. A method for estimating the reliability of a single-item measure is demonstrated on original data that included both a single-item and a multiple-item measure of three constructs, namely, Over-all Job Satisfaction, Perceived Amount of Participation, and Desired Amount of Participation in decision-making. The average minimum estimated reliability for these single-item measures is .57; however, a realistic yet conservative estimate of their likely minimum reliability is at least .70.
The use of control variables plays a central role in organizational research due to practical difficulties associated with the implementation of experimental and quasi-experimental designs. As such, we conducted an in-depth review and content analysis of what variables and why such variables are controlled for in ten of the most popular research domains (task performance, organizational citizenship behaviors, turnover, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, employee burnout, personality, leader-member exchange, organizational justice, and affect) in organizational behavior/human resource management (OB/HRM) and applied psychology. Specifically, we examined 580 articles published from 2003 to 2012 in AMJ, ASQ, JAP, JOM, and PPsyc. Results indicate that, across research domains with clearly distinct theoretical bases, the overwhelming majority of the more than 3,500 controls identified in our review converge around the same simple demographic factors (i.e., gender, age, tenure), very little effort is made to explain why and how controls relate to focal variables of interest, and control variable practices have not changed much over the past decade. To address these results, we offer best-practice recommendations in the form of a sequence of questions and subsequent steps that can be followed to make decisions on the appropriateness of including a specific control variable within a particular theoretical framework, research domain, and empirical study. Our recommendations can be used by authors as well as journal editors and reviewers to improve the transparency and appropriateness of practices regarding control variable usage.
Work-family research emphasizes the importance of mechanisms that link work and family. However, these mechanisms typically are described in metaphoric terms poorly suited to rigorous research. In this article we translate work-family linking mechanisms into causal relationships between work and family constructs. For each relationship we explain its sign and causal structure and how it is influenced by personal intent. We show how these respecified linking mechanisms constitute theoretical building blocks for developing comprehensive models of the work-family interface.
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 points
Employees 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.
This paper reviews empirical evidence on psychological detachment from work during nonwork time. Psychological detachment as a core recovery experience refers to refraining from job-related activities and thoughts during nonwork time; it implies to mentally disengage from one's job while being away from work. Using the stressor-detachment model as an organizing framework, we describe findings from between-person and within-person studies, relying on cross-sectional, longitudinal, and daily-diary designs. Overall, research shows that job stressors, particularly workload, predict low levels of psychological detachment. A lack of detachment in turn predicts high strain levels and poor individual well-being (e.g., burnout and lower life satisfaction). Psychological detachment seems to be both a mediator and a moderator in the relationship between job stressors on the one hand and strain and poor well-being on the other hand. We propose possible extensions of the stressor-detachment model by suggesting moderator variables grounded in the transactional stress model. We further discuss avenues for future research and offer practical implications. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
We examined the relationship between employees' attitudes related to communication technology (CT) flexibility, communication technology (CT) use, work-to-life conflict and work satisfaction. Based on data obtained from 193 employees, CT flexibility predicted more CT use. Further, CT use was associated not only with increased work satisfaction, but also with higher levels of work-to-life conflict. Finally, work-to-life conflict negatively predicted work satisfaction. Our findings point toward various trade-offs associated with CT use.