The Impact of Work-Related Use of Information and Communication Technologies After Hours on Time Theft

Buffering or boosting? The dynamic curvilinear relationship between work-related use of information and communication technologies after-hours and wok procrastination

Work-related use of information and communication technologies after-hours (W_ICTs) blurs the boundaries between work and non-work domains, representing a typical boundary-crossing behavior that affects employees' lives and organizational development. Drawing on the Job Demands-Resources theory, this study develops a dynamic curvilinear model of the impact of W_ICTs on work procrastination, considering intrinsic motivation (self-efficacy and enjoyment) and regulatory focus (prevention focus). Empirical testing of the research hypotheses is conducted through a survey involving 817 employees with standard working hours (e.g. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.). The results indicate that W_ICTs can be regarded as both inhibitors and promoters, with a U-shaped impact on work procrastination and an inverted U-shaped effect on self-efficacy and enjoyment. The mediating roles of self-efficacy and enjoyment are significant. Moreover, prevention focus moderates the relationship between W_ICTs and enjoyment, whereas the moderating effect between W_ICTs and self-efficacy is insignificant. This dynamic curvilinear relationship may explain the inconsistent results of prior studies regarding the relationship between W_ICTs and employees' negative behaviors. It contributes to expanding research on the outcomes of W_ICTs and the antecedents of work procrastination. Moreover, the proposed influence mechanism between W_ICTs and work procrastination has not been established from the perspective of intrinsic motivation and prevention focus. Hence, this study responds to scholars' calls and adds to the existing research on how W_ICTs affect work procrastination. These research findings enhance the current understanding of the effects of W_ICTs and offer valuable insights for organizations to effectively manage W_ICTs and address work procrastination behavior in practice.

Reducing Employees' Time Theft through Leader's Developmental Feedback: The Serial Multiple Mediating Effects of Perceived Insider Status and Work Passion

Time theft, especially with the shift to remote work during the pandemic, is an increasing challenge for organizations. Existing studies demonstrate that both authoritarian leadership and laissez-faire leadership can exacerbate time theft, putting leaders in a behavioral dilemma of neither being strict nor lenient. Additionally, the pervasive and covert nature of time theft diminishes the effectiveness of subsequent corrective actions. Our study aims to investigate how to prevent time theft by mitigating employees' inclinations. Based on role theory, our study examines whether supervisor developmental feedback can encourage employees to perform work roles more appropriately. To uncover the complicated internalization process of role expectation, our study incorporates perceived insider status and work passion as serial mediators and considers the boundary effect of leaders' word-deed consistency. In Study 1, a survey of 402 employees revealed that supervisor developmental feedback can negatively predict employee time theft through employees' perceived insider status and work passion. Study 2 employs the same sample to further identify three topics of supervisor developmental feedback: skill learning, attitude learning, and social learning. Moreover, serial multiple mediating effects are affirmed across topics. The findings suggest that providing feedback on employees' learning and growth is an effective approach to prevent time theft.

Congruence in leaders-subordinates’ mindfulness and knowledge hiding: The role of emotional exhaustion and gender similarity

Many scholars have focused on understanding ways of how to suppress knowledge hiding by employees. Existing studies have demonstrated that mindfulness could effectively inhibit employees’ knowledge hiding. This study aims to investigate the impact of leader–subordinate mindfulness congruence on subordinate knowledge hiding and its internal mechanisms. Based on the role theory, we collected 169 leadership data and 368 employee data at three time-points through collecting questionnaire of matching leaders and subordinates. In addition, we used polynomial regression and response surface analysis to validate our research hypotheses. The results demonstrated that: (i) Compared with the “high leader–high subordinate” mindfulness congruence condition, subordinates in the “low leader–low subordinate” mindfulness congruence condition were more likely to exhibit knowledge hiding. (ii) Compared with the “low leader–high subordinate” mindfulness incongruence, subordinates under the “high leader–low subordinate” mindfulness incongruence are more likely to exhibit knowledge hiding. (iii) The more incongruent the mindfulness between the leader and the subordinate is, the more likely an employee is to exhibit knowledge hiding. (iv) Emotional exhaustion mediated the correlation between leader–subordinate mindfulness congruence and knowledge hiding. (v) When the gender of the leader and the subordinate is different, the impact of mindfulness congruence on the inhibition of emotional exhaustion is stronger. This study provides a new perspective for researching the impact of mindfulness on individual behavior and provides a new idea for the research related to inhibiting knowledge hiding.

Longitudinal relations between abusive supervision, subordinates' emotional exhaustion, and job neglect among Pakistani Nurses: The moderating role of self-compassion

The main purpose of this study was to investigate reciprocal relationships between abusive supervision, subordinates' emotional exhaustion, and job neglect, and to examine the mediating role of emotional exhaustion in the cross-lagged relationship between abusive supervision and job neglect. Besides, we tested the moderating role of self-compassion in the cross-lagged relationship between abusive supervision and emotional exhaustion. We applied a two-wave cross-lagged panel design with a time lag of six months. Participants were 331 staff nurses of public sector hospitals in Islamabad, Pakistan. Data were collected using a self-report questionnaire at two points in time. Longitudinal structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to compare nested models. Results of cross-lagged SEM analyses supported the posited reciprocal model, indicating that abusive supervision, emotional exhaustion, and job neglect are mutually related. Results of mediation analysis showed that emotional exhaustion partially mediates the cross-lagged relationship between abusive supervision and job neglect. Further, we found that self-compassion attenuates the positive cross-lagged effect of abusive supervision on emotional exhaustion, and the indirect effect of abusive supervision on job neglect was weaker at higher levels of self-compassion. Our findings suggest that subordinates may find themselves in abusive relationships, in part, because their own behavioral responses to abuse can reinforce abusive supervision. Moreover, we identified the stress-buffering effect of self-compassion on emotional exhaustion.