Pardon the Interruption: A Study of the Dark- and Bright-Side Effects of Daily Work Intrusions

Abstract

Work intrusions—unexpected encounters initiated by other people that interrupt ongoing work and bring it to a temporary halt (Jett & George, 2003)—are common in today’s dynamic workplaces. Prior research has focused on the task-based aspect of intrusions and cast them as negative events that harm employee wellbeing in general, and job satisfaction in particular (e.g., Keller, Meier, Elfering, & Semmer, 2019; Pachler et al., 2018). However, we suggest that apart from their task-based aspect, intrusions also involve a social component of interaction with the interrupter that can have beneficial effects for the interrupted employee. Using theory on self-regulation (e.g., Baumeister & Vohs, 2016), we hypothesize that while an intrusion’s self-regulatory demands of switching tasks, addressing the intrusion, and resuming the original task can deplete self-regulatory resources, the interaction with the interrupter can simultaneously lead to high levels of belongingness. Self-regulatory resource depletion and belongingness will, in turn, mediate the negative and positive effects of work intrusions on job satisfaction, with belongingness further hypothesized to buffer the negative effect of self-regulatory depletion on job satisfaction. Results of our 3-week experience sampling study supported these hypotheses at the within individual level. Overall, by extending focus onto the social component of work intrusions, unpacking the bright side of daily intrusions, and explaining the psychological mechanisms that transmit the dark- and bright-side effects of intrusions onto job satisfaction, we extend the current work intrusion literature by providing a more comprehensive and balanced view of work intrusions