Pet your cat, walk your dog: The spillover effects of morning quality time with pets on outcomes during and after the workday

Abstract

For decades, psychologists have explored dynamics within the realm of human‐animal interaction. Organizational psychologists are no different; research has found that exchanges with pets and other animals have the potential to influence important work outcomes, such as performance, well‐being, and satisfaction. Relatively little is understood, however, regarding the potential spillover effects of human‐animal interaction from the non‐work to work context. To address this gap in the literature, the present research—synthesising Broaden and Build Theory and Conservation of Resources Theory—explores the daily spillover effects of morning quality time with pets on affective, behavioural, and cognitive outcomes for employees, both during and after the workday. It is also suggested that openness to experience may act as a cross‐level moderator for these daily relationships. An occupationally heterogenous daily diary sample of employed pet owners from the United Kingdom (NLevel 1 = 405, NLevel 2 = 81) was used to test these relationships. Using a mixed effects modelling approach, it was revealed that morning quality time with pets was associated with reduced Negative Affect (NA) during the workday, and reduced incivility and withdrawal upon returning home from work. Moreover, higher levels of trait openness to experience strengthened the negative relationships between daily morning quality time with pets and daily workday NA and afterwork incivility. Implications for research and practice are discussed.