Understanding constant connectivity to work: How and for whom is constant connectivity related to employee well-being?

Waiting for the Boss's Blue Checkmark to Appear: Supervisor's Attentiveness, Negative Emotions, and Work Engagement During Instant Messaging at Work

In organizations, employees actively manage the immediacy with which they respond to instant messages to cope with mobile connectivity overload caused by continuous interactions. This research conducted a naturalistic observational design to examine real-life mobile connectivity behaviors in organizations and measure their occupational well-being consequences. Specifically, we focused on the use of a feature (WhatsApp's blue checkmark) that enables senders to know precisely when recipients choose to read their messages. In the study, 192 participants sent important messages to their supervisors through WhatsApp. The study used Confirmatory Factor Analysis and moderation analyses to explore the relationship between supervisors' attentiveness (indicated by WhatsApp's blue checkmark), negative emotions, work engagement, and the quality of leader-member exchange (LMX). Drawing on the perspective of 'digital well-being,' we investigated the role of relationship quality between supervisors and employees (LMX) as a moderator. We hypothesized that relationship quality would buffer against negative feelings and decreased work engagement when employees await a response after sending important messages to their supervisors. Indeed, supervisor's inattentiveness was positively correlated with negative affect and negatively correlated with employee engagement. Surprisingly, we found that employees with strong relationship quality (high LMX) with their supervisors experienced lower work engagement while waiting for an indication that their message had been read. These results suggest that timely indications of message read by supervisors play an important role in mitigating negative emotions and fostering higher work engagement among employees.

Association between constant connectivity to work during leisure time and insomnia: does work engagement matter?

PURPOSE

The influx of communication media to contemporary workplaces has exposed workers to be always connected to their work. Constant connectivity to work (CCW) refers to the condition in which workers are always connected to work, even during their non-work hours, and are not detached from the work situation. We investigated the association between CCW and insomnia and the moderating effect of work engagement.

METHODS

A total of 29,512 nationally representative samples of workers in Korea were used. Insomnia was assessed by the Minimal Insomnia Symptom Scale. Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). The additive interaction between CCW and low work engagement was estimated by calculating Relative Excess Risk due to Interaction (RERI).

RESULTS

Exposure to CCW was related to insomnia (OR [95% CI] 1.33 [1.22-1.46]). Additionally, a significant negative interaction between CCW and work engagement was observed. The effects of CCW were mitigated in those with high work engagement. The OR of the combined effect of CCW exposure and low work engagement was 2.52 (95% CI 2.22-2.87). RERI between exposure to CCW and low work engagement was 0.69 (95% CI 0.38-0.99), indicating that there is a supra-additive interaction.

CONCLUSION

Our study found that CCW is related to an increased risk of insomnia and that high work engagement can mitigate the effect of CCW. Our study suggests that improving work engagement and disconnecting from work outside of work hours can help protect employees' sleep quality.

Strain, loss of time, or even gain? A systematic review of technology-based work extending and its ambiguous impact on wellbeing, considering its frequency and duration

Especially in knowledge-intensive professions, workers engage in work-related communication and access digital work content outside of working hours. Scientific research on technology-based work extending has flourished in recent decades, but yielded inconclusive results about its relationship with workers' wellbeing and focused on different temporal characteristics of the behaviour. Consequently, in this article, we address the question of whether different temporal characteristics of technology-based work extending, such as the frequency and duration of the behaviour, may have different consequences for workers' wellbeing. In the course of a systematic literature review, we analyzed 78 empirical studies published between 2007 and 2021 that investigate the relationship between the self-rated frequency and the self-rated duration of work extending behaviours and 14 wellbeing indicators. Whereas most studies examined the frequency of work extending behaviours and its consequences, only 19 studies examined the effects of its duration. Based on our findings, we propose three effects: The strain effect of frequent work extending, the gain effect of sustained work extending, and the loss-of-private-time effect inherent to work extending and independent from its frequency and duration. Our findings not only provide in-depth information on a widespread contemporary behaviour and its psychological implications, we also reveal research gaps and shed light on behaviours associated with role transitions and thus contribute to boundary theory.

A meta-analysis of polychronicity: Applying modern perspectives of multitasking and person-environment fit

We apply modern theory on multitasking and person-environment fit to holistically explain the relations of polychronicity as well as provide justifications for disparate results found in prior studies, such as undetected differences regarding task-switching and dual-tasking. We then conduct a meta-analysis of polychronicity's relations. We show that the nomological net surrounding polychronicity matches our proposed fit perspective. We likewise demonstrate that differences in task-switching and dual-tasking indeed influence the observed results of polychronicity, and the growing complexity of businesses may have caused the association of polychronicity and job performance to strengthen over time. Our discussion highlights that polychronicity plays an important role in personal well-being and employee performance, which can be understood by our person-environment fit perspective.

Plain Language Summary

We apply modern theory on multitasking and person-environment fit to holistically explain the relations of polychronicity as well as provide justifications for disparate results found in prior studies, such as undetected differences regarding task-switching and dual-tasking. We then conduct a meta-analysis of polychronicity's relations. We show that the nomological net surrounding polychronicity matches our proposed fit perspective. We likewise demonstrate that differences in task-switching and dual-tasking indeed influence the observed results of polychronicity, and the growing complexity of businesses may have caused the association of polychronicity and job performance to strengthen over time. Our discussion highlights that polychronicity plays an important role in personal well-being and employee performance, which can be understood by our person-environment fit perspective.

Work-Related Smartphone Use at Night and Job Satisfaction: Testing a Moderated Mediation Model of Emotional Exhaustion and Organizational Dehumanization

Work-related smartphone use at night has attracted substantial research attention. Surprisingly, its impact on employees' job satisfaction is mixed. Based on the stressor-strain-outcome model, this study aims to examine whether emotional exhaustion mediates the relationship between work-related smartphone use at night and job satisfaction. Furthermore, the role of organizational dehumanization in moderating the relation between work-related smartphone use and emotional exhaustion, and the association between emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction, was examined. A total of 372 participants reported on two online surveys. Bivariate correlation results showed that work-related smartphone use was positively related to emotional exhaustion but there was no significant association between work-related smartphone use and job satisfaction. Moderated mediation analysis results suggested that organizational dehumanization (T1) did not interact with work-related smartphone use at night (T1) in predicting emotional exhaustion (T1). However, organizational dehumanization (T1) interacted with emotional exhaustion (T1) in predicting job satisfaction (T2), in which individuals who perceived higher organizational dehumanization reported lower job satisfaction under higher emotional exhaustion. The limitations and implications of this study are also discussed in this paper.

The association of work-related extended availability with recuperation, well-being, life domain balance and work: A meta-analysis

Work-related extended availability (WREA; the availability of employees for work-related matters in their leisure time) seems to be associated with decreases in well-being and life-domain balance, but to date there is no quantitative synthesis of the scattered evidence. We conducted a random-effects meta-analysis (113 articles with 121 studies relying on k = 117 independent samples with N = 131,872) on the associations between WREA and employee outcomes while examining potential moderators as well as differences between availability demands and behaviors. WREA was adversely associated with recuperation, well-being and private life, but favorably with some work-related criteria. There were no systematic differences in effect sizes between availability demands and behaviors; however, segmentation preferences were a moderator. Overall, these results suggest that WREA may pose a threat to employee recuperation, well-being and private lives, especially when employees prefer separating work and private life. However, positive potentials of WREA should not be overlooked. Plain Language Summary Work-related extended availability (WREA) refers to the availability of employees for work-related matters in their leisure time. Studies have shown that WREA may go along with primarily negative consequences for employees, but to date, there is no comprehensive overview of the literature statistically summarizing the current state of research, which was done in the study at hand. We assumed that WREA be related to problems with recovery, poorer well-being and difficulties to find a balance between work and private life. We also assessed in how far WREA goes along with attitudes towards work, absence from work and the intention to change jobs. Moreover, we considered differences between demands to be available and behaviors of actually taking care of work-related matters during leisure time. Finally, we investigated factors that may be associated with stronger consequences of WREA. We included 113 scientific papers with a total of 131,872 participants. WREA was related to problems with recovery, poorer well-being and difficulties to find a balance between work and private life, but also to more positive attitudes towards work. We did not find systematic differences between demands to be available and availability behaviors. However, we found that the relationship between WREA and work creating conflict with family life were stronger in samples with higher preferences to segment work and private life. Our findings suggest that WREA may pose a threat to employee recuperation, well-being and private lives, especially when employees prefer separating life domains. Still, positive potentials of WREA should not be overlooked.

Gender plays different roles? Examining the dark side of ubiquitous connectivity enabled by personal IT ensembles usage

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to explore the negative consequences of ubiquitous connectivity enabled by personal IT ensembles (PITEs) usage; and second, to investigate the gender differences in the adverse effects of ubiquitous connectivity.

Design/methodology/approach

This study employs a socio-technical approach to identify the technical and interpersonal dimensions of PITE-enabled ubiquitous connectivity and develops a theoretical model to investigate their stress-inducing effects based on the framework of technostress. Furthermore, the moderating role of gender is examined based on the social role theory. The authors test the model on a sample of 439 Chinese netizens.

Findings

Ubiquitous technical and interpersonal connectivity induce four stressors: information overload, communication overload, life invasion and privacy invasion. These stressors further lead to psychological exhaustion and reluctance to try new ITs. The ubiquitous technical connectivity exerts stronger effects on stressors for female users than male users, and interpersonal connectivity exerts a stronger effect for male users than female users.

Originality/value

This study primarily contributes to the small amount of research on PITE-enabled ubiquitous connectivity by considering ubiquitous connectivity from a socio-technical perspective and examining the stress-related effects and outcomes of both technical and interpersonal dimensions of ubiquitous connectivity. This study also provides valuable insights into the gender differences in the stress-inducing effects of the two dimensions of ubiquitous connectivity.

The relationship between telework from home and employee health: a systematic review

BACKGROUND

Globalization and technological progress have made telework arrangements such as telework from home (TWFH) well-established in modern economies. TWFH was rapidly and widely implemented to reduce virus spread during the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, and will probably be widespread also post-pandemic. How such work arrangements affect employee health is largely unknown. Main objective of this review was to assess the evidence on the relationship between TWFH and employee health.

METHODS

We conducted electronic searches in MEDLINE, Embase, Amed, PsycINFO, PubMed, and Scopus for peer-reviewed, original research with quantitative design published from January 2010 to February 2021. Our aim was to assess the evidence for associations between TWFH and health-related outcomes in employed office workers. Risk of bias in each study was evaluated by the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale and the collected body of evidence was evaluated using the the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach.

RESULTS

We included 14 relevant studies (22,919 participants) reporting on 28 outcomes, which were sorted into six outcome categories (general health, pain, well-being, stress, exhaustion & burnout, and satisfaction with overall life & leisure). Few studies, with many having suboptimal designs and/or other methodological issues, investigating a limited number of outcomes, resulted in the body of evidence for the detected outcome categories being GRADED either as low or very low.

CONCLUSIONS

The consisting evidence on the relationship between TWFH and employee health is scarce. The non-existence of studies on many relevant and important health outcomes indicates a vast knowledge gap that is crucial to fill when determining how to implement TWFH in the future working life.

SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION NUMBER

PROSPERO registration ID # CRD42021233796 .

Risk Factors and Leadership in a Digitalized Working World and Their Effects on Employees' Stress and Resources: Web-Based Questionnaire Study

Background

In today’s world of work, the digitalization of work and communication processes is increasing, and will increase even further. This increase in digitalization at the workplace brings many new aspects of working life to light, such as working in virtual teams, mobile working, expectations of being constantly available, and the need for support in adapting and learning new digital tools. These changes to the workplace can contain risks that might harm the well-being of employees. Leaders can support the well-being of their employees in terms of protecting and replenishing their work-related resources to cope with critical work demands. This so-called health-promoting leadership could serve as a buffer between risk at the workplace and critical outcomes, such as stress, by amplifying work-related resources.

Objective

This study’s aims were twofold. First, we wanted to investigate if risk factors related to higher digitalization at the workplace can be identified and if these risk factors have an impairing effect on the well-being of employees (eg, higher stress and lower resources). Second, we wanted to investigate if the health-impairing effects of these risk factors can be reduced by health-promoting leadership.

Methods

A total of 1412 employees from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland took part in this online study and provided information on their perceived risks at the workplace, their leaders’ health-promoting behaviors, and their work-related stress and resources.

Results

The results of a hierarchical regression analysis showed that all four risk factors of digital work (distributed team work, mobile work, constant availability, and inefficient technical support) were related to higher stress at the workplace. In addition, distributed team work and inefficient technical support were associated with lower work-related resources. A possible buffer effect of health-promoting leadership between these risks and employee well-being was visible for inefficient technical support. In particular, in the case of having fewer support opportunities in learning and using digital tools, leaders could weaken the potential critical effects on stress. As for the other risk factors, leaders might engage in a different leadership behavior to improve their employees’ well-being, as the physical distance between leaders and employees in virtual team work or mobile work could make health-promoting leadership more difficult.

Conclusions

In a digitalized working world, solutions are needed to create working conditions that benefit employees. The results of this study strongly support the importance of investigating risk factors associated with an increase in digitalization at the workplace in addition to traditional risk factors. As for leadership, leaders need to show leadership behavior adapted to a digitalized workplace in order to reduce employee stress and increase work-related resources.