Carmen Binnewies

Did you have a nice evening? A day-level study on recovery experiences, sleep, and affect.

In this study, the authors used a within-person design to examine the relation between recovery experiences (psychological detachment, relaxation, mastery experiences) during leisure time, sleep, and affect in the next morning. Daily survey data gathered over the course of 1 work week from 166 public administration employees analyzed with a hierarchical linear modeling approach showed that low psychological detachment from work during the evening predicted negative activation and fatigue, whereas mastery experiences during the evening predicted positive activation and relaxation predicted serenity. Sleep quality showed relations with all affective states variables. This study adds to research on job-stress recovery and affect regulation by showing which specific experiences from the nonwork domain may improve affect before the start of the next working day.

Staying well and engaged when demands are high: the role of psychological detachment.

The authors of this study examined the relation between job demands and psychological detachment from work during off-job time (i.e., mentally switching off) with psychological well-being and work engagement. They hypothesized that high job demands and low levels of psychological detachment predict poor well-being and low work engagement. They proposed that psychological detachment buffers the negative impact of high job demands on well-being and work engagement. A longitudinal study (12-month time lag) with 309 human service employees showed that high job demands predicted emotional exhaustion, psychosomatic complaints, and low work engagement over time. Psychological detachment from work during off-job time predicted emotional exhaustion and buffered the relation between job demands and an increase in psychosomatic complaints and between job demands and a decrease in work engagement. The findings of this study suggest that psychological detachment from work during off-job time is an important factor that helps to protect employee well-being and work engagement.

Being engaged at work and detached at home : A week-level study on work engagement, psychological detachment, and affect

Abstract Although earlier research has shown that work engagement is associated with positive outcomes for the employee and the organization, this paper suggests that employees also need time periods for temporarily disengaging (i.e., psychological detaching) from work. We hypothesized that work engagement and psychological detachment from work during off-job time predict high positive affect and low negative affect and that psychological detachment is particularly important when work engagement is high. Over the course of four working weeks, 159 employees from five German organizations from various industries completed surveys twice a week, at the beginning and the end of four consecutive working weeks. Hierarchical linear modelling showed that a persons general level of work engagement and the week-specific level of psychological detachment from work during off-job time jointly predicted affect at the end of the working week. As expected, work engagement moderated the relationship between psychological detachment and positive affect. These findings suggest that both engagement when being at work and disengagement when being away from work are most beneficial for employees’ affective states.

Learning how to recover from job stress: effects of a recovery training program on recovery, recovery-related self-efficacy, and well-being.

This quasi-experimental study evaluated the effects of a recovery training program on recovery experiences (psychological detachment from work, relaxation, mastery experiences, and control during off-job time), recovery-related self-efficacy, and well-being outcomes. The training comprised two sessions held one week apart. Recovery experiences, recovery-related self-efficacy, and well-being outcomes were measured before the training (T1) and one week (T2) and three weeks (T3) after the training. A training group consisting of 48 individuals and a waitlist control group of 47 individuals were compared (N = 95). Analyses of covariance revealed an increase in recovery experiences at T2 and T3 (for mastery only at T2). Recovery-related self-efficacy and sleep quality increased at T2 and T3, perceived stress and state negative affect decreased at T3. No training effects were found for emotional exhaustion.

Taking personal initiative and communicating about ideas: What is important for the creative process and for idea creativity?

Using multisource data, this study focused on the process aspect of creativity at work. A modification of Amabiles (1988) stage model of the creative process with the stages of problem identification, preparation, idea generation, and idea validation served as the basis for our study. We examined personal initiative and idea-related communication as two important factors for the creative process and for the degree of creativity of one specific idea an employee recently produced at work. In a sample of 52 nurses, we found that idea-related communication was positively related to engagement in the creative process but not to idea creativity. Personal initiative boosted engagement in the beginning of the creative process and was positively related to creativity as an outcome. Results suggest that idea-related communication is important for showing engagement in the creative process, whereas personal initiative is important in the beginning of the creative process and for idea creativity.

Age and creativity at work The interplay between job resources, age and idea creativity

Purpose – The purspose of this study is to examine the interplay between job resources (job control and support for creativity from coworkers and supervisors), age and creativity at work. Job control and support for creativity are assumed to benefit idea creativity and to moderate the relationship between age and idea creativity. Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 117 nurses completed questionnaire measures and reported a creative idea they recently had at work. Three subject matter experts rated the creativity of the ideas. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to test hypotheses. Findings – Job control and support for creativity as well as age were unrelated to idea creativity. However, job control and support for creativity moderated the relationship between age and idea creativity. Age was positively related to idea creativity under high job control and negatively related to idea creativity under low job control and low support for creativity. Research limitations/implications – A potentially selective sample due to systematic drop-outs and a selection effect of older nurses might limit the generalizability of our results. Future research should examine the mechanisms that explain the moderating effect of job resources in the relationship between age and performance. Practical implications – Older employees’ creativity at work can be raised by fostering support for creativity from coworkers and supervisors. Younger employees should get support to deal with a high level of job control, because their creativity is lowest under a high level of job control.

Daily Recovery Experiences : The Role of Volunteer Work During Leisure Time

This study focused on the role of volunteer work for daily recovery from work. In a 1-week diary study with 166 employees, we assessed the amount of time spent on volunteer work during leisure time, and the recovery facets of psychological detachment from work (i.e., mentally switching off from work), mastery experiences (i.e., pursuing challenging activities), and community experiences (i.e., cultivating relationships) every day before participants went to bed. Results from hierarchical linear modeling (n = 529 days) showed volunteer work during leisure time to be positively related to mastery experiences and community experiences suggesting volunteer work to contribute to successful recovery by creating new resources.

Happy and Proactive? The Role of Hedonic and Eudaimonic Well‐Being in Business Owners' Personal Initiative

This two–year study with 122 business owners examined the link between affective well–being and task–oriented as well as relationship–oriented personal initiative (PI). We tested two complementary models explaining the link between well–being and PI: (1) broaden–and–build theory and (2) self–regulation as limited resource approach. In line with current research on well–being, we differentiated between hedonic and eudaimonic well–being using life satisfaction and vigor as indicators. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that only vigor predicted both forms of PI. Our results support the self–regulation approach and indicate that eudaimonic well–being is the relevant affective well–being dimension for proactive behavior.

Disengagement in work-role transitions

The present study examines whether disengagement from previous work-roles positively predicts adaptation to a new work-role (here, becoming self-employed) by reducing negative consequences of psychological attachment to these previous roles. Disengagement involves an individuals effort to release attention from thoughts and behaviours related to the previous work-role. A three-wave longitudinal study investigated the relationship between psychological attachment (measured as affective commitment) to a prior work-role, disengagement from the prior work-role, and adaptation to a new work-role [pursuit of learning, fit perceptions with self-employment, task performance over time]. Participants included 131 persons who recently founded a small business. Results indicated that psychological attachment to the past work-role was negatively related to pursuit of learning and fit with the new work-role. Disengagement from the past work-role was positively related to pursuit of learning in the new work-role, and buffered the negative relationship between psychological attachment and fit as well as task performance.

Attributed causes for work–family conflict: Emotional and behavioral outcomes

Work–family conflict may give rise to different emotional reactions, depending on the causal attributions people make for the experience of work–family conflict. These emotional reactions, in turn, may result in specific behavioral reactions, that may either be adaptive or maladaptive in nature. In this essay, we advance this thesis using attribution theory and theory of emotions that specifies different behavioral outcomes associated with different attribution-induced negative emotions. We develop a model of causal attributions for work–family conflict that includes differentiated emotional reactions (e.g., guilt and shame) and both adaptive (e.g., job crafting, self-development) and maladaptive (e.g., withdrawal, aggression, turnover) behavioral outcomes of work–family conflict. We conclude the article with directions for future research, guided by the proposed model.