Abstract
Detachment from work has been proposed as an important non-work experience helping employees to recover from work demands. This meta-analysis (86 publications, k = 91 independent study samples, N = 38,124 employees) examined core antecedents and outcomes of detachment in employee samples. With regard to outcomes, results indicated average positive correlations between detachment and self-reported mental (i.e., less exhaustion, higher life satisfaction, more well-being, better sleep) and physical (i.e., lower physical discomfort) health, state well-being (i.e., less fatigue, higher positive affect, more intensive state of recovery), and task performance (small to medium sized effects). However, average relationships between detachment and physiological stress indicators and work motivation were not significant while associations with contextual performance and creativity were significant, but negative. Concerning work characteristics, as expected, job demands were negatively related and job resources were positively related to detachment (small sized effects). Further, analyses revealed that person characteristics such as negative affectivity/neuroticism (small sized effect) and heavy work investment (medium sized effect) were negatively related to detachment whereas detachment and demographic variables (i.e., age and gender) were not related. Moreover, we found a medium sized average negative relationship between engagement in work-related activities during non-work time and detachment. For most of the examined relationships heterogeneity of effect sizes was moderate to high. We identified study design, samples' gender distribution, and affective valence of work-related thoughts as moderators for some of these aforementioned relationships. The results of this meta-analysis point to detachment as a non-work (recovery) experience that is influenced by work-related and personal characteristics which in turn is relevant for a range of employee outcomes.
Highlights
Research on employee recovery from work indicates that stressful work characteristics can negatively affect physiological unwinding after work (Frankenhaeuser, 1981)
In our study, we investigate the associations between detachment and person characteristics such as demographic factors and psychological individual differences
Studies had to meet the following criteria to be included in our meta-analysis: (a) quantitative data reported, (b) employee sample, (c) assessment of absence or presence of work-related thoughts during non-work time after a work shift, (d) statistical association reported between detachment from work and variables measuring work characteristics, or physical and mental health, or state well-being, or work motivation, or work performance, or person characteristics, or time for daily work-related activities during non-work time, (e) publication in a scientific journal, and (f) article written in English
Summary
Research on employee recovery from work indicates that stressful work characteristics can negatively affect physiological unwinding after work (Frankenhaeuser, 1981). It was the study of Etzion et al (1998) that turned scholars interest to the specific role of psychological afterwork recovery processes by introducing the concept of detachment from work (Sonnentag and Fritz, 2007). While Sonnentag and Fritz (2015) focus on job stressors as antecedents and strain and well-being as outcomes, our meta-analysis will expand their work in several ways. We statistically examine the potential moderating role of various study-related, individual, and conceptual variables for the functional relationships of detachment from work
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