Employees can have difficulty mentally distancing themselves from work during off-job time due to increasing use of communication technologies (e.g., e-mail, cell phone, etc.). However, psychological detachment from work during nonwork time is important for employee recovery and health. This study examined several antecedents of psychological detachment: work-home segmentation preference, perceived segmentation norm, and the use of communication technology at home. Results indicate that segmentation preference and segmentation norm were positively associated with psychological detachment. Further, technology use at home partially mediated these relationships. Findings indicate that segmenting work and nonwork roles can help employees detach and recover from work demands. In addition, findings show that the segmentation norm within a work group is associated with employee experiences outside of work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved).

SummaryRecovery literature has focused predominantly on recovery processes outside the workplace during nonwork times. Considering a lack of research on momentary recovery at work, we examined four categories of microbreak activities-relaxation, nutrition-intake, social, and cognitive activities-as possible recovery mechanisms in the workplace. Using effort recovery and conservation of resources theories, we hypothesized that micro-break activities attenuate the common stressor-strain relationship between work demands and negative affect. For 10 consecutive workdays, 86 South Korean office workers (842 data points) reported their specific daily work demands right after their lunch hour (Time 1) and then reported their engagement in micro-break activities during the afternoon and negative affective state at the end of the workday (Time 2). As expected, relaxation and social activities reduced the effects of work demands on end-of-workday negative affect. Nutrition intake of beverages and snacks did not have a significant moderating effect. Post hoc analyses, however, revealed that only caffeinated beverages reduced work demands effects on negative affect. Unexpectedly, cognitive activities aggravated the effects of work demands on negative affect. The findings indicate not only the importance of taking micro-breaks but also which types of break activities are beneficial for recovery. Implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed.

Despite the growing research on work recovery and its well-being outcomes, surprisingly little attention has been paid to at-work recovery and its job performance outcomes. The current study extends the work recovery literature by examining day-level relationships between prototypical microbreaks and job performance as mediated by state positive affect. Furthermore, general work engagement is tested as a cross-level moderator weakening the indirect effects of microbreaks on job performance via positive affect. Using multisource experience sampling method, the authors collected two daily surveys from 71 call center employees and obtained objective records of daily sales performance for two consecutive weeks (n = 632). Multilevel path analysis results showed that relaxation, socialization, and cognitive microbreaks were related to increased positive affect at work which, in turn, predicted greater sales performance. However, breaks for nutrition-intake (having snacks and drinks) did not show significant effects. Importantly, microbreaks had significant indirect effects on job performance via positive affect only for workers who had lower general work engagement, whereas the indirect effects did not exist for workers who had higher general work engagement. Furthermore, Bayesian multilevel analyses confirmed the results. Theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Given that many employees use e-mail for work communication on a daily basis, this study examined within-person relationships between day-level incivility via work e-mail (cyber incivility) and employee outcomes. Using resource-based theories, we examined two resources (i.e., job control, psychological detachment from work) that may alleviate the effects of cyber incivility on distress. Daily survey data collected over 4 consecutive workdays from 96 employees were analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling. Results showed that on days when employees experienced cyber incivility, they reported higher affective and physical distress at the end of the workday that, in turn, was associated with higher distress the next morning. Job control attenuated the concurrent relationships between cyber incivility and both types of distress at work, while psychological detachment from work in the evening weakened the lagged relationships between end-of-workday distress and distress the following morning. These findings shed light on cyber incivility as a daily stressor and on the importance of resources in both the work and home domains that can help reduce the incivility-related stress process. Theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed. Acknowledgments: We thank Sabine Sonnentag for her friendly review of an earlier version of this manuscript as well as Caitlin Demsky and Allison Ellis for their assistance with proofreading and editing. We also thank two anonymous reviewers and Action Editor Michelle Duffy for their helpful comments and suggestions.

SummaryInformation communication technologies (ICTs; e.g., smartphones) enable employees to work anywhere and anytime, blurring work and family boundaries. Building on this trend, this study draws from work–family border/boundary theory to examine antecedents and consequences of employees' weekly experiences of ICT demands (i.e., being accessible and contacted for work after hours via ICTs). A sample of 546 elementary teachers completed a registration survey and a weekly diary for 5 weeks. Multilevel modeling results suggest that ICT demands as a form of work intrusion in the home can constitute a source of significant weekly strain (i.e., negative rumination, negative affect, and insomnia). As border crossers, teachers' adoption of a technological boundary tactic (i.e., keeping work email alerts turned off on mobile phones) was related to lower weekly ICT demands. As important border keepers at work, school principals' work–family support was related to teachers' lower weekly ICT demands, whereas parents' after‐hours boundary expectations were related to teachers' higher weekly ICT demands. Moreover, teachers' boundary control was found as a mediating mechanism by which the two border keepers influenced teachers' ICT demands−negative rumination link. That is, teachers who received fewer boundary expectations and/or more work–family support had greater boundary control, which in turn buffered the ICT demands–negative rumination relationship.