On the basis of self-regulation theories, the authors develop an affective shift model of work engagement according to which work engagement emerges from the dynamic interplay of positive and negative affect. The affective shift model posits that negative affect is positively related to work engagement if negative affect is followed by positive affect. The authors applied experience sampling methodology to test the model. Data on affective events, mood, and work engagement was collected twice a day over 9 working days among 55 software developers. In support of the affective shift model, negative mood and negative events experienced in the morning of a working day were positively related to work engagement in the afternoon if positive mood in the time interval between morning and afternoon was high. Individual differences in positive affectivity moderated within-person relationships. The authors discuss how work engagement can be fostered through affect regulation.

This diary study adds to research on the Job Demands-Resources model. We test main propositions of this model on the level of daily processes, namely, additive and interaction effects of day-specific job demands and day-specific job and personal resources on dayspecific work engagement. One hundred and fourteen employees completed electronic questionnaires three times a day over the course of one working week. Hierarchical linear models indicated that day-specific resources (psychological climate, job control, and being recovered in the morning) promoted work engagement. As predicted, dayspecific job control qualified the relationship between day-specific time pressure and work engagement: on days with higher job control, time pressure was beneficial for work engagement. On days with lower job control, time pressure was detrimental for work engagement. We discuss our findings and contextualize them in the current literature on dynamic and emergent job characteristics.

SummaryThis study adds to research on the beneficial effects of vacation to employees' well-being and on the fade-out of these effects. One hundred and thirty-one teachers completed questionnaires one time before and three times after vacationing. Results indicated that teachers' work engagement significantly increased and teachers' burnout significantly decreased after vacation. However, these beneficial effects faded out within one month. Applying hierarchical regression analyses, we investigated the fade-out of vacation effects in detail. In line with the Job Demands-Resources model, job demands after vacation sped up the fade-out of beneficial effects. Additionally, leisure time relaxation experiences after vacation delayed the fade-out of beneficial effects. We conclude that reducing job demands and ensuring leisure time relaxation can prolong relief from vacation.

SummaryThis study investigates antecedents of procrastination, the tendency to delay the initiation or completion of work activities. We examine this phenomenon from a self-regulation perspective and argue that depleted self-regulatory resources are an important pathway to explain why and when employees procrastinate. The restoration of self-regulatory resources during episodes of non-work is a prerequisite for the ability to initiate action at work. As sleep offers the opportunity to replenish self-regulatory resources, employees should procrastinate more after nights with low-quality sleep and shorter sleep duration. We further propose that people's social sleep lag amplifies this relationship. Social sleep lag arises if individuals' preference for sleep and wake times, known as their chronotype, is misaligned with their work schedule. Over five consecutive workdays, 154 participants completed a diary study comprising online questionnaires. Multilevel analyses showed that employees procrastinated less on days when they had slept better. The more employees suffered from social sleep lag, the more they procrastinated when sleep quality was low. Day-specific sleep duration, by contrast, was not related to procrastination. We discuss the role of sleep for procrastination in the short run and relate our findings to research highlighting the role of sleep for well-being in the long run.

Research has shown that recovery processes in general and psychological detachment in particular are important for work engagement. We argue that work engagement additionally benefits from reattachment to work in the morning (i.e., mentally reconnecting to work before actually starting to work) and that the gains derived from psychological detachment and reattachment are stronger in the morning than in the afternoon. We tested our hypotheses in a daily diary study with a sample of 167 employees who completed 2 surveys per day over the period of 2 workweeks. Hierarchical linear modeling showed that work engagement was higher in the morning than in the afternoon. Evening psychological detachment and morning reattachment positively predicted work engagement throughout the day. The association between reattachment and work engagement was stronger in the morning than in the afternoon. This study demonstrates that not only psychological detachment from work during leisure time, but also reattachment to work when coming back to work are crucial for daily engagement at work. (PsycINFO Database Record

This study extends research on work engagement by examining how a short respite and general job involvement contribute to work engagement. We gathered questionnaire data from 156 nurses before and after a short respite. Results indicated an increase of work engagement after the respite. Structural equation modelling showed that nurses who experienced psychological detachment from work during the respite showed a higher increase of work engagement. Moreover, nurses who indicated higher job involvement also showed a higher increase of work engagement. Contradictory to this direct positive effect job involvement had on change in work engagement, job involvement exerted a negative indirect effect on change in work engagement by impaired psychological detachment during the respite. Hence, job involvement acted as a double-edged sword for the increase of work engagement. Practical implications for the organization of short respites and suggestions for future research on recovery processes are discussed.

I n 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.

Reattachment to work (i.e., rebuilding a mental connection to work) before actually starting work is important for work engagement during the day. Building on motivated action theory, this study examines anticipated task focus, positive affect, and job resources (job control and social support) as mediators that translate reattachment in the morning into work engagement during the day. We collected daily-survey data from 151 employees (total of 620 days) and analyzed these data with a multilevel path model. We found that day-level reattachment to work in the morning predicted anticipated task focus, positive affect, social support, and job control through goal activation and that anticipated task focus, positive affect, social support, and job control predicted work engagement during the day. This study points to the important role of reattachment to work in employee experiences and behaviors throughout the workday and specifically highlights the benefits of such initial mental boundary crossing between life domains for employee engagement at work.