Being mindful at work and at home: Buffering effects in the stressor–detachment model

Abstract

In this daily diary study, we examined the moderating role of employee domain‐specific mindfulness within the stressor–detachment model (Sonnentag & Fritz, , Journal of Organizational Behavior, 36, 72). According to the stressor–detachment model, emotional and quantitative demands should be associated with decreased psychological detachment after work, which in turn is associated with decreased well‐being (i.e., low positive affect and high negative affect) at bedtime. Moreover, we proposed that both mindfulness at work and home should buffer the relations between job demands and psychological detachment and between psychological detachment and well‐being. Sixty‐five employees completed two daily surveys (i.e., after work and before going to bed) over five workdays. Results of multilevel analyses revealed that job demands did not predict psychological detachment, which in turn did not predict well‐being at bedtime. However, the relation between emotional demands and psychological detachment was buffered by both mindfulness at work and at home while the relation between quantitative demands and psychological detachment was moderated by mindfulness at home only. Moreover, we found that mindfulness at home moderated the relation between psychological detachment and positive affect at bedtime. Our study demonstrates the buffering role of daily mindfulness within the stressor–detachment model and highlights the value of considering domain‐specific mindfulness.Practitioner points Being mindful at work and at home buffers the negative relationships between job demands and psychological detachment after work. Promoting mindfulness both in the work and home domain can help employees psychologically detach from work despite high job demands.