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Identifying ICT-Related Affective Events Across Life Domains and Examining their Unique Relationships with Employee Recovery

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of information and communication technology (ICT) use for employees by exploring affective ICT events and their relation to employee recovery. We conducted two daily diary studies with knowledge workers in Germany. In study 1 (N = 153), we followed a qualitative approach by developing a taxonomy of negative and positive ICT events at work and at home. We found 11 negative (e.g., multichannel use, work e-mails in the evening) and 10 positive ICT event clusters (e.g., utilizing idle times, availability at home). In study 2 (N = 154), we examined how the occurrence of ICT-related events in the evening is related to detachment from work and sleep quality using a multilevel design. Study 2 provided a differentiated picture of relationships between evening ICT events and recovery. Overall, results indicate that work-related ICT events in the evening—even in cases where they are appraised as positive—are detrimental for employee recovery. Our study contributes to the refinement of the operationalization of ICT use for future analyses of ICT impacts and sheds light on the differential effects of specific types of ICT events. ICT use conceptualized as the occurrence of affective events helps to advance our understanding of the diversity of ICT-related experiences. The negative effects of handling work e-mails at home imply that organizations should engage in optimizing their “e-mail culture.”

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Notes

  1. Only data from T2 and T3 were included in this study.

  2. In order to discriminate between the negative and the positive event clusters that are both labeled “Continuing Work Tasks,” we will further refer to them as “Continuing Work Tasks (NEG)” (negative event) and “Continuing Work Tasks (POS)” (positive event).

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Acknowledgments

This work has been funded by the Social Link Project within the Loewe Program of Excellence in Research, Hessen, Germany. We thank Anne Schäfer, who helped us to analyze the qualitative data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Human Resources Department, University of Paderborn, Warburger Straße 100, 33098, Paderborn, Germany

    Johanna Braukmann

  2. Department of Work and Organizational Psychology, University of Bamberg, Bamberg, Germany

    Antje Schmitt

  3. Department of Business Psychology, University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany

    Antje Schmitt & Sandra Ohly

  4. Department of Business Psychology, FOM University of Applied Sciences, Frankfurt, Germany

    Lenka Ďuranová

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  1. Johanna Braukmann
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Correspondence to Johanna Braukmann.

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Braukmann, J., Schmitt, A., Ďuranová, L. et al. Identifying ICT-Related Affective Events Across Life Domains and Examining their Unique Relationships with Employee Recovery. J Bus Psychol 33, 529–544 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-017-9508-7

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