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This paper reviews empirical evidence on psychological detachment from work during nonwork time. Psychological detachment as a core recovery experience refers to refraining from job-related activities and thoughts during nonwork time; it implies to mentally disengage from one’s job while being away from work. Using the stressor-detachment model as an organizing framework, we describe findings from between-person and within-person studies, relying on cross-sectional, longitudinal, and daily-diary designs. Overall, research shows that job stressors, particularly workload, predict low levels of psychological detachment. A lack of detachment in turn predicts high strain levels and poor individual well-being (e.g., burnout and lower life satisfaction). Psychological detachment seems to be both a mediator and a moderator in the relationship between job stressors on the one hand and strain and poor well-being on the other hand. We propose possible extensions of the stressor-detachment model by suggesting moderator variables grounded in the transactional stress model. We further discuss avenues for future research and offer practical implications.

Work characteristics such as time pressure and job control can be experienced as a challenge that is positively associated with performance-related behaviors. Using experience-sampling data from 149 employees, we examined the relationships between these work characteristics and creativity and proactive behavior on a daily level. Results from multilevel analyses indicate that time pressure and job control are perceived as challenging, and that challenge appraisal in turn is related to daily creativity and proactive behavior. Furthermore, cross-level mediation analyses revealed that daily work characteristics act as the mechanism underlying the relationships between chronic work characteristics and challenge appraisal. This study supports the view of time pressure as a challenge-related Stressor that leads to favorable outcomes.

Non-work experiences during the weekend provide opportunities to recover from work demands and to replenish lost resources. This longitudinal study examined how specific recovery experiences during the weekend (relaxation, mastery, control, and detachment), as well as non-work hassles, were associated with specific positive and negative affective states during the following workweek. Participants (N=229) completed surveys before the weekend, during the weekend, and during the following workweek. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that after controlling for affective states the previous week, recovery experiences during the weekend significantly explained variance in affective states at the end of the weekend and during the following workweek. Suggestions for future research include a closer examination of the role of individual differences, self-regulation, and specific work demands in employee stress recovery.

Current organizational theory and research affirm the beneficial effects of experiencing positive affect at work. In recent years, researchers have begun to question the popular notion that the more positive affect at work, the better—that more positive affect is desirable for work-related outcomes. In this article, we propose a rationale for why more positive affect may not be better for proactive behaviors at work. Findings from two field studies using two unique data sources demonstrate support for our hypothesis, suggesting that intermediate levels of positive affect are most beneficial for proactive behaviors.

Building on Affective Events Theory (AET), this study examined within-person relationships between employee perceptions of day-level leader-member exchange (LMX) and day-level positive affect as well as between positive affect and recovery from work in the evening (i.e., relaxation, mastery, control, and psychological detachment from work). In addition, LMX variability was examined as a moderator of these within-person relationships. Employees ( N  = 160) completed surveys at the end of the workday and in the evening across five consecutive workdays. Results indicate direct relationships between perceptions of LMX and employee positive affect at work. In addition, positive affect was positively associated with two of the four recovery experiences (mastery and relaxation). Furthermore, LMX variability across the workweek moderated these positive indirect effects such that the indirect associations between the perceptions of LMX and employees’ recovery experiences during the evening via positive affect was only positive when LMX variability was low. The indirect effects, however, were nonsignificant when LMX variability was moderate or high. The present study expands LMX research by adopting a dynamic within-person perspective and by connecting the literature on workplace leadership with the literature on recovery from work, indicating that perceptions of LMX can potentially impact employees’ nonwork time.

Building on conservation of resources theory, we examined the duality inherent in one of the most significant work-related transitions an employee may go through: becoming a manager. Specifically, we explored intra-individual resource gains (i.e., increases in participation in decision-making) and resource losses (i.e., increases in time pressure) and their associations with intra-individual shifts in well-being (i.e., job satisfaction, exhaustion, and work-to-family conflict) when employees transitioned to a managerial position. In addition, we examined whether new managers’ perceived ability to detach from work during nonwork time moderated these processes. Multilevel analyses among 2052 individuals demonstrated that individuals experienced both a resource gain and a loss when they became managers. As expected, there was an indirect effect of the transition to a managerial position to an increase in job satisfaction via an increase in participation in decision-making. Additionally, there were indirect effects of the transition to a managerial position to an increase in both exhaustion and work-to-family conflict via an increase in time pressure. In line with the hypotheses, we found that new managers who perceived that they were able to detach well experienced a weaker increase in exhaustion and work-to-family conflict (as transmitted via an increase in time pressure). Contrary to the hypothesis, perceived ability to detach reduced the increase in job satisfaction (as transmitted via an increase in participation in decision-making). Our findings shed light on the intra-individual processes that occur when employees become managers, indicating that this transition can be a “double-edged sword.”

Abstract Sleep is linked to critical outcomes in the work context including job attitudes, job performance, and health. This study examines daily positive behaviors (i.e., task accomplishment) and positive experiences (i.e., job satisfaction) at work as well as outside of work (i.e., psychological detachment from work in the evening) as positive antecedents of sleep quality. Specifically, the study tested a moderated mediation model in which job satisfaction and psychological detachment from work interact with daily task accomplishment to predict sleep quality and in turn positive affect and self-efficacy the following morning. Based on daily survey data over five consecutive workdays, results from multilevel structural equation modeling indicate that daily task accomplishment alone was neither significantly related to sleep quality nor positive affect or self-efficacy the following morning. However, sleep quality was positively and significantly linked to positive states the following morning. Furthermore, both job satisfaction and detachment from work moderated the association between daily task accomplishment and sleep quality. Specifically, the conditional indirect effects from task accomplishment to positive affect and self-efficacy via sleep quality were significant and positive when both daily job satisfaction and detachment from work were high, and when job satisfaction was low and detachment was high. The results point to the role of the interaction between positive experiences for sleep and next morning outcomes.

Workplace incivility (i.e., rudeness and disrespect) is a pervasive problem that impacts a number of important employee workplace outcomes. This study expands past research on outcomes of experienced incivility by proposing a spillover-crossover model in which experienced incivility is associated with negative work rumination outside of work as well as insomnia symptoms (i.e., spillover). We further propose that rumination in one employee is also linked to insomnia symptoms in the employee’s partner (i.e., crossover). The moderating effect of being work-linked (working in the same organization or occupation as one’s partner) was also investigated. We tested the hypothesized Actor-Partner Interdependence Mediation Model in the context of dual-earner couples ( N  = 305). To test moderation effects, we conducted a multi-group analysis by comparing our hypothesized model across work-linked and non-linked couples. Our results support the spillover effect, suggesting that experienced incivility is linked to employee insomnia symptoms through rumination. However, the crossover effect was only found among work-linked couples. By connecting the sleep and workplace incivility literatures, our findings support a dyadic model in which workplace incivility, as an interpersonal stressor, is linked to employee as well as partner insomnia through negative work rumination. Interventions aimed at alleviating negative work rumination may help reduce work-home spillover as well as crossover, particularly for work-linked, dual-earner couples.

While common in many workplaces, intrusions –i.e., interruptions in task progress while engaged in a task – have not been well studied yet. Building on conservation of resources theory and the job demands-resources model, we examined relationships between intrusions, increased fatigue, and decreased perceived job performance. Three pilot studies were conducted to develop a survey measure of intrusions and to establish its psychometric properties. The main study examined relationships between intrusions at the beginning of the workweek and fatigue and perceived job performance over the course of the week. Results indicate that intrusions on Monday were indirectly related to increased fatigue on Thursday through increased fatigue on Tuesday and Wednesday. Results were not significant for perceived job performance. The results highlight the relevance of intrusions at work for employee experiences beyond the day on which they occur pointing to a loss of individual resources over the course of the workweek.