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In the literature on occupational stress and recovery from work several facets of thinking about work in off-job time have been conceptualized. However, research on the focal concepts is currently rather disintegrated. In this study we take a closer look at the five most established concepts, namely (1) psychological detachment, (2) affective rumination, (3) problem-solving pondering, (4) positive work reflection, and (5) negative work reflection. More specifically, we scrutinized (1) whether the five facets of work-related rumination are empirically distinct, (2) whether they yield differential associations with different facets of employee well-being (burnout, work engagement, thriving, satisfaction with life, and flourishing), and (3) to what extent the five facets can be distinguished from and relate to conceptually similar constructs, such as irritation, worry, and neuroticism. We applied structural equation modeling techniques to cross-sectional survey data from 474 employees. Our results provide evidence that (1) the five facets of work-related rumination are highly related, yet empirically distinct, (2) that each facet contributes uniquely to explain variance in certain aspects of employee well-being, and (3) that they are distinct from related concepts, albeit there is a high overlap between (lower levels of) psychological detachment and cognitive irritation. Our study contributes to clarify the structure of work-related rumination and extends the nomological network around different types of thinking about work in off-job time and employee well-being.
In the literature on occupational stress and recovery from work, several facets of thinking about work during off-job time have been conceptualized. However, research on the focal concepts is currently rather diffuse. In this study we take a closer look at the five most well-established concepts: (1) psychological detachment, (2) affective rumination, (3) problem-solving pondering, (4) positive work reflection, and (5) negative work reflection. More specifically, we scrutinized (1) whether the five facets of work-related rumination are empirically distinct, (2) whether they yield differential associations with different facets of employee well-being (burnout, work engagement, thriving, satisfaction with life, and flourishing), and (3) to what extent the five facets can be distinguished from and relate to conceptually similar constructs, such as irritation, worry, and neuroticism. We applied structural equation modeling techniques to cross-sectional survey data from 474 employees. Our results provide evidence for (1) five correlated, yet empirically distinct facets of work-related rumination. (2) Each facet yields a unique pattern of association with the eight aspects of employee well-being. For instance, detachment is strongly linked to satisfaction with life and flourishing. Affective rumination is linked particularly to burnout. Problem-solving pondering and positive work reflection yield the strongest links to work engagement. (3) The five facets of work-related rumination are distinct from related concepts, although there is a high overlap between (lower levels of) psychological detachment and cognitive irritation. Our study contributes to clarifying the structure of work-related rumination and extends the nomological network around different types of thinking about work during off-job time and employee well-being.
Although work events can be regarded as pivotal elements of organizational life, only a few studies have examined how positive and negative events relate to and combine to affect work engagement over time. Theory suggests that to better understand how current events affect work engagement (WE), we have to account for recent events that have preceded these current events. We present competing theoretical views on how recent and current work events may affect employees (e.g., getting used to a high frequency of negative events or becoming more sensitive to negative events). Although the occurrence of events implies discrete changes in the experience of work, prior research has not considered whether work events actually accumulate to sustained mid-term changes in WE. To address these gaps in the literature, we conducted a week-level longitudinal study across a period of 15 consecutive weeks among 135 employees, which yielded 849 weekly observations. While positive events were associated with higher levels of WE within the same week, negative events were not. Our results support neither satiation nor sensitization processes. However, high frequencies of negative events in the preceding week amplified the beneficial effects of positive events on WE in the current week. Growth curve analyses show that the benefits of positive events accumulate to sustain high levels of WE. WE dissipates in the absence of continuous experience of positive events. Our study adds a temporal component and informs research that has taken a feature-oriented perspective on the dynamic interplay of job demands and resources.
The aim of this study was to investigate whether beneficial vacation effects can be strengthened and prolonged with a smartphone-based intervention. In a four-week longitudinal study among 79 Finnish teachers, we investigated the development of recovery, well-being, and job performance before, during, and after a one-week vacation in three groups: non-users (n = 51), passive (n = 18) and active (n = 10) users. Participants were instructed to actively use a recovery app (called Holidaily) and complete five digital questionnaires. Most recovery experiences and well-being indicators increased during the vacation. Job performance and concentration capacity showed no significant time effects. Among active app users, creativity at work increased from baseline to after the vacation, whereas among non-users it decreased and among passive users it decreased a few days after the vacation but increased again one and a half weeks after the vacation. The fading of beneficial vacation effects on negative affect seems to have been slower among active app users. Only few participants used the app actively. Still, results suggest that a smartphone-based recovery intervention may support beneficial vacation effects.