How the association of time pressure with work engagement and affect depends on workers’ sensation seeking: a daily diary study

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ABSTRACT Drawing upon the challenge-hindrance framework and activation theory, this study investigated the quadratic relationship of daily time pressure with daily work engagement and daily affect. Moreover, the moderating role of sensation seeking in these relationships was investigated. Over two consecutive work weeks (10 work days), participants answered questionnaires on their time pressure, work engagement, positive affect, and negative affect. Data of 133 workers were analysed using hierarchical linear modelling. Random slopes analyses revealed a linear main effect of time pressure on work engagement after controlling for other variables. A linear main effect was also identified for negative affect. For work engagement and negative affect, cross-level interactions of time pressure and sensation seeking were found. The relationship between time pressure and work engagement was positive for high sensation seekers, whereas no relationship was found for low sensation seekers. Moreover, the results revealed a positive linear relationship between time pressure and negative affect for low sensation seekers and a U-shaped relationship for high sensation seekers. The findings contribute to the ongoing discussion on the challenging and hindering effects of time pressure, highlighting that it may depend on employees’ sensation seeking disposition whether time pressure acts as a challenge or a hindrance demand.