Open Access

„Ich kann jetzt nicht krank werden – ich muss arbeiten“. Diesen Satz hat wohl jeder schon einmal gehört oder sogar selbst gesagt. Dahinter steckt das Phänomen des Präsentismus. Präsentismus wird ganz allgemein bezeichnet als behaviour of working in the state of illhealth (Ruhle et al. 2020). Der Begriff entstand in Anlehnung an sein Gegenteil, den Absentismus, welcher das Fernbleiben von der Arbeit beschreibt (Hägerbäumer 2017). Die negativen langfristigen gesundheitlichen und arbeitsbezogenen Auswirkungen des Verhaltens, trotz Krankheit zu arbeiten, sind in der Literatur gut belegt (z.B. Gustafsson/Marklund 2011). Vor allem im Home-Office, welches während der Corona-Pandemie häufig genutzt wurde und nach der Corona-Pandemie in vielen Bereichen Normalität wurde, tritt Präsentismus aufgrund der geringeren Barrieren (z.B. keine Ansteckungsgefahr, kein Pendeln) noch verstärkter auf (Steidelmüller et al. 2020). Auch bei Studierenden, die im Rahmen von Online-Lehre öfter von zu Hause aus lernen, ist davon auszugehen, dass dies den Präsentismus begünstigt. Eine Auseinandersetzung mit dem Thema ist also von großer Relevanz. Es fehlt eine strukturierte Zusammenstellung geeigneter Gegenmaßnahmen, die zur Reduzierung von Präsentismus angewendet werden können. Darüber hinaus wurde vor allem Präsentismus mit dem Schwerpunkt Hochschule und damit den Zielgruppen Hochschulmitarbeitende und Studierende bisher kaum untersucht. Diese Forschungslücke soll der vorliegende Beitrag schließen und Präsentismus an Hochschulen beschreiben sowie mithilfe eines Literaturreviews mögliche Maßnahmenbereiche aufzeigen.

Guzzo et al. (Reference Guzzo, Schneider and Nalbantian2022) argue that open science practices may marginalize inductive and abductive research and preclude leveraging big data for scientific research. We share their assessment that the hypothetico-deductive paradigm has limitations (see also Staw, Reference Staw2016) and that big data provide grand opportunities (see also Oswald et al., Reference Oswald, Behrend, Putka and Sinar2020). However, we arrive at very different conclusions. Rather than opposing open science practices that build on a hypothetico-deductive paradigm, we should take initiative to do open science in a way compatible with the very nature of our discipline, namely by incorporating ambiguity and inductive decision-making. In this commentary, we (a) argue that inductive elements are necessary for research in naturalistic field settings across different stages of the research process, (b) discuss some misconceptions of open science practices that hide or discourage inductive elements, and (c) propose that field researchers can take ownership of open science in a way that embraces ambiguity and induction. We use an example research study to illustrate our points.

In young adulthood, important foundations are laid for health later in life. Hence, more attention should be paid to the health measures concerning students. A research field that is relevant to health but hitherto somewhat neglected in the student context is the phenomenon of presenteeism. Presenteeism refers to working despite illness and is associated with negative health and work-related effects. The study attempts to bridge the research gap regarding students and examines the effects of and reasons for this behavior. The consequences of digital learning on presenteeism behavior are moreover considered. A student survey (N = 1036) and qualitative interviews (N = 11) were conducted. The results of the quantitative study show significant negative relationships between presenteeism and health status, well-being, and ability to study. An increased experience of stress and a low level of detachment as characteristics of digital learning also show significant relationships with presenteeism. The qualitative interviews highlighted the aspect of not wanting to miss anything as the most important reason for presenteeism. The results provide useful insights for developing countermeasures to be easily integrated into university life, such as establishing fixed learning partners or the use of additional digital learning material.

Shaping off-job life is becoming increasingly important for workers to increase and maintain their optimal functioning (i.e., feeling and performing well). Proactively shaping the job domain (referred to as job crafting) has been extensively studied, but crafting in the off-job domain has received markedly less research attention. Based on the Integrative Needs Model of Crafting, needs-based off-job crafting is defined as workers’ proactive and self-initiated changes in their off-job lives, which target psychological needs satisfaction. Off-job crafting is posited as a possible means for workers to fulfill their needs and enhance well-being and performance over time. We developed a new scale to measure off-job crafting and examined its relationships to optimal functioning in different work contexts in different regions around the world (the United States, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Finland, Japan, and the United Kingdom). Furthermore, we examined the criterion, convergent, incremental, discriminant, and structural validity evidence of the Needs-based Off-job Crafting Scale using multiple methods (longitudinal and cross-sectional survey studies, an “example generation”-task). The results showed that off-job crafting was related to optimal functioning over time, especially in the off-job domain but also in the job domain. Moreover, the novel off-job crafting scale had good convergent and discriminant validity, internal consistency, and test–retest reliability. To conclude, our series of studies in various countries show that off-job crafting can enhance optimal functioning in different life domains and support people in performing their duties sustainably. Therefore, shaping off-job life may be beneficial in an intensified and continually changing and challenging working life.

Seit Sokrates bildet die Frage „Was macht ein glückliches Leben aus?“ den Ausgangspunkt der Entwicklung einer Vielfalt von Wohlbefindenstheorien. Den Kern dieses Aufsatzes bildet die Erörterung der Fragen, inwieweit das Konzept der empirischen Lebenszufriedenheit und die dadurch gewonnenen Korrelate einen Beitrag zur Beantwortung dieser Frage leisten und ob diese Antworten eine Wohlbefindenstheorie begründen können, welche die philosophische Theorie mit empirischen Ergebnissen verknüpft. Im Zentrum dieses Aufsatzes steht eine Diskussion der wichtigsten Wohlbefindenstheorien, ihrer Qualitäten, Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede. Einen Schwerpunkt bildet die Theorie der subjektiven Lebenszufriedenheit. Ich diskutiere Stärken und Schwächen des Konzeptes und stelle die wichtigsten Ergebnisse der empirischen Lebenszufriedenheitsforschung in einem Überblick dar. Im Ergebnis argumentiere ich, dass die Resultate der empirischen Forschung als Grundlage einer subjektiv-objektiven Wohlbefindenstheorie dienen können. Qualitativ hochwertige zwischenmenschliche Beziehungen, ein gesunder Lebensstil, eine ausgewogene Work-Life-Balance, der Einsatz für Andere, das Verfolgen von Lebenszielen und persönlichen Interessen bilden die Grundlage einer Wohlbefindenstheorie, die sich auf empirische Lebenszufriedenheitsforschung stützt.

Research has identified nudging as a promising and effective tool to improve healthy eating behavior in a cafeteria setting. However, it remains unclear who is and who is not “nudgeable” (susceptible to nudges). An important influencing factor at the individual level is nudge acceptance. While some progress has been made in determining influences on the acceptance of healthy eating nudges, research on how personal characteristics (such as the perception of social norms) affect nudge acceptance remains scarce. We conducted a survey on 1032 university students to assess the acceptance of nine different types of healthy eating nudges in a cafeteria setting with four influential factors (social norms, health-promoting collaboration, responsibility to promote healthy eating, and procrastination). These factors are likely to play a role within a university and a cafeteria setting. The present study showed that key influential factors of nudge acceptance were the perceived responsibility to promote healthy eating and health-promoting collaboration. We also identified three different student clusters with respect to nudge acceptance, demonstrating that not all nudges were accepted equally. In particular, default, salience, and priming nudges were at least moderately accepted regardless of the degree of nudgeability. Our findings provide useful policy implications for nudge development by university, cafeteria, and public health officials. Recommendations are formulated for strengthening the theoretical background of nudge acceptance and the susceptibility to nudges.

The aim of this study was to investigate employees’ self-reported creativity before and after vacation and to examine the impact of recovery experiences (detachment, relaxation, mastery, meaning, autonomy, affiliation) on changes in creativity. The DRAMMA model of Newman et al. provides the theoretical background of our approach. Longitudinal data was assessed with four repeated measurements. The study encompassed data from 274 white-collar workers. Analyses showed that employees subjectively perceive their creativity to benefit not immediately after their vacation but 2 weeks later. Detachment was significantly related to lower creativity within persons, while mastery experiences explained differences in creativity between persons. This study provides a detailed picture of changes in creativity around vacations.

Many people do not consume as much healthy food as recommended. Nudging has been identified as a promising intervention strategy to increase the consumption of healthy food. The present study analyzed the effects of three body shape nudges (thin, thick, or Giacometti artwork) on food ordering and assessed the mediating role of being aware of the nudge. Students (686) and employees (218) of a German university participated in an online experimental study. After randomization, participants visited a realistic online cafeteria and composed a meal for themselves. Under experimental conditions, participants were exposed to one out of three nudges while choosing dishes: (1) thin body shape, (2) thick body shape, and (3) the Giacometti artwork nudge. The Giacometti nudge resulted in more orders for salad among employees. The thin and thick body shape nudges did not change dish orders. Awareness of the nudge mediated the numbers of calories ordered when using the Giacometti or thin body shape nudges. These findings provide useful insights for health interventions in occupational and public health sectors using nudges. Our study contributes to the research on the Giacometti nudge by showing its effectiveness when participants are aware (it is effective under conditions where it is consciously perceived).

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, a high frequency 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 a continuous experience of positive events. Our study adds a temporal component by highlighting that positive events affect work engagement, particularly in light of recent negative events. Our study informs research that has taken a feature-oriented perspective on the dynamic interplay of job demands and resources.

In March 2020, the world was hit by the coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) pandemic which led to all‐embracing measures to contain its spread. Most employees were forced to work from home and take care of their children because schools and daycares were closed. We present data from a research project in a large multinational organisation in the Netherlands with monthly quantitative measurements from January to May 2020 (N = 253–516), enriched with qualitative data from participants' comments before and after telework had started. Growth curve modelling showed major changes in employees' work‐related well‐being reflected in decreasing work engagement and increasing job satisfaction. For work‐non‐work balance, workload and autonomy, cubic trends over time were found, reflecting initial declines during crisis onset (March/April) and recovery in May. Participants' additional remarks exemplify that employees struggled with fulfilling different roles simultaneously, developing new routines and managing boundaries between life domains. Moderation analyses demonstrated that demographic variables shaped time trends. The diverging trends in well‐being indicators raise intriguing questions and show that close monitoring and fine‐grained analyses are needed to arrive at a better understanding of the impact of the crisis across time and among different groups of employees.

While academic research on recovery was rather segregated between occupational health psychology and management research at the beginning of the 20s century and streams of research developed independently, recent developments hint at a closing divide and better integration of recovery research across disciplines. This for example becomes evident in publications of researchers across the traditional outlets within both fields, as well as increasing close collaborations of researchers firmly rooted in one of the fields. In preparation of this special issue, the editors were interested in whether this development represents a convergence or even a true merging of research in these different disciplines. We therefore interviewed Prof. Sabine Sonnentag as expert from occupational health psychology research and Prof. Ute Stephan with expertise in management research. Both are excellent and world-famous researchers in their disciplines. We discussed the current state, the advances during the last years, and the future directions of recovery research in their respective fields. We also talked about their perspectives on integrative topics and about specific issues in both domains that might stimulate a new recovery management research agenda.

Ziel der vorliegenden Forschungsarbeit ist es, den Einfluss von Persönlichkeit auf nachhaltige Maßnahmen anhand des Streamingkonsums zu eruieren. Der allgemein steigende Streamingkonsum und die damit einhergehenden Umweltschäden einerseits und ein wachsendes gesellschaftliches Umweltbewusstsein andererseits stellen einen Widerspruch dar. An einer Online-Umfrage zu diesen und weiterführenden Aspekten nahmen 204 Probanden teil. Während sich die Eigenschaften Verträglichkeit und Offenheit in hoher Ausprägung positiv auf die Umwelteinstellung, das Umweltverhalten und die Umweltbesorgnis auswirkten, wurden die umweltfreundlichen Maßnahmen in einer Clusteranalyse hingegen stärker von der Gruppe bevorzugt, deren Verträglichkeit und Offenheit verhältnismäßig schwach ausgeprägt waren. Ein geringes Wissen über die streamingbedingten Umweltfolgen lag grundsätzlich vor und dient als möglicher Erklärungsansatz des genannten Widerspruchs. Die Probanden forderten, ein Bewusstsein für diese Thematik zu schaffen. Um Streamingkonsum umweltfreundlicher zu gestalten empfiehlt es sich, alle am Prozess beteiligten Akteure einzubeziehen. Die befragten Konsumenten bevorzugten dabei vor allem die Verwendung von Ökostrom und lehnten eine Umstellung der Bezahlstruktur vorwiegend ab.

Unsachgemäß entsorgte Zigarettenkippen stellen aufgrund der in ihnen enthaltenen Giftstoffe ein relevantes, ökologisches Problem dar. Diese Forschungsarbeit untersucht den Einsatz von Nudging zur Bekämpfung der Problematik. In einer quantiativen Online-Befragung wurden zunächst die Gründe für das umweltschädliche Verhalten untersucht (N = 96). Hierbei konnte die Gegenwartstendenz von Personen als statistisch signifikanter Hauptgrund ermittelt werden. Viele Personen gaben an, die langfristigen ökologischen Kosten einer unsachgemäßen Entsorgung aufgrund des kurzfristigen persönlichen Nutzens zu ignorieren. Dieser entsteht durch die Gemütlichkeit des „Wegschnipsens“ einer Zigarettenkippe. Im Anschluss wurde ein auf die Gegenwartstendenz von Personen fokussierter Nudge entwickelt und in einem Feldexperiment auf seine Wirksamkeit überprüft, indem die Relation von unsachgemäß zu sachgemäß entsorgten Zigarettenkippen vor und nach dem Einsatz des Nudges dokumentiert wurde. Ohne Einsatz des Nudges (N = 92) wurden am Erhebungsort 64.1 Prozent und mit Einsatz des Nudges (N = 142) lediglich 38.0 Prozent der Zigarettenkippen unsachgemäß entsorgt. In dem Feldexperiment konnte der Nudge effektiv zur Förderung von nachhaltigem Verhalten eingesetzt werden.

OSC data file

Background: While work-related rumination increases the risk of acute stressors developing into chronic load reactions and adverse health, mental detachment has been suggested as a way to interrupt this chain. Despite the importance of mentally detaching from work during leisure time, workers seem to struggle to disengage and, instead, experience the constant mental representation of work-related stressors, regardless of their absence. Those who struggle with work-related rumination could benefit from an easy-access intervention that fosters mental detachment by promoting recreational activities. Especially during vacations, workers appear to naturally engage in sufficient recovery activities; however, this beneficial behaviour is not sustained. The smartphone app-based intervention “Holidaily” promotes recovery behaviour and, thus, mental detachment from work with the intension of extending the beneficial effects of workers’ vacations into their daily working life. Methods: This randomised-controlled trial (RCT) evaluates the efficacy of “Holidaily”. The Holidaily app is a German stand-alone program for mobile devices with either Android/iOS operating systems. The sample includes workers, who are awaiting to go on vacation and are randomly assigned to either the intervention (IG) or a waitlist-control group (CG). The IG receives two weeks pre-vacation access to Holidaily, while the CG receives access two weeks post-vacation. On a daily basis participants in the IG are provided with three options promoting recreational activities and beneficial recovery experiences. Online questionnaires are distributed to all participants at several timepoints. The primary outcome measure assesses participants’ work-related rumination (Irritation Scale). A significant difference two weeks post-vacation is expected, favouring the IG. Secondary outcomes include symptoms of depression, insomnia severity, emotional exhaustion, thinking about work, recovery experiences, vacation specifics, work and personal characteristics. To help explain the intervention’s effect, explorative analyses will investigate the mediation properties of the frequency of engaging in recreational activities and the moderation properties of Holidaily users’ experiences. Discussion: If successful, workers will maintain their recovery behaviour beyond their vacation into daily working life. Findings could, therefore, provide evidence for low-intensity interventions that could be very valuable from a public-health perspective. App-based interventions have greater reach; hence, more workers might access preventative tools to protect themselves from developing adverse health effects linked to work-related rumination. Further studies will still be needed to investigate whether the vacation phenomenon of “lots of fun quickly gone” can be defied and long-term benefits attained.

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.

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.

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.