Abstract

Procrastination is a form of self-regulation failure characterized by the irrational delay of tasks despite potentially negative consequences. Previous research on procrastination was mainly conducted in academic settings, oftentimes combined with a focus on individual differences. As a consequence, scholarly knowledge about how situational factors affect procrastination in work settings is still scarce. Drawing on job stress literature, we assumed that work characteristics go along with cognitive appraisals of the work situation as a challenge and/or hindrance, that these cognitive appraisals affect employees' self-regulation effort to overcome inner resistances, and that self-regulation effort should in turn be related to workplace procrastination. In our study, we focused on three specific work characteristics that we expected to trigger both challenge and hindrance appraisal simultaneously: time pressure, problem solving, and planning and decision-making. We hypothesized serial indirect effects of these work characteristics on workplace procrastination via cognitive appraisal and self-regulation processes that unfold within individuals over short periods of time. Consequently, we conducted a diary study with three measurement occasions per workday over a period of 12 days. Overall, 762 day-level datasets from 110 employees were included in Bayesian multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM; controlled for sleep quality and occupational self-efficacy). Our results revealed negative serial indirect effects of all three work characteristics on workplace procrastination via increased challenge appraisal and subsequently reduced self-regulation effort. Further, our results showed a positive serial indirect effect of time pressure (but not of problem solving or planning and decision making) on workplace procrastination via increased hindrance appraisal and subsequently increased self-regulation effort. Overall, our study showed that work characteristics are linked to workplace procrastination via within-person processes of cognitive appraisal and self-regulation. Because not all work characteristics triggered hindrance appraisal, we argue that it may make sense to further differentiate challenge stressors in the future. Moreover, cognitive appraisals affected self-regulation effort only on the within-person level. On the between-person level self-regulation effort was strongly negatively related with occupational self-efficacy. Thus, we conclude that depending the perspective on procrastination (e.g., differential psychology perspective vs. situational perspective) different variables will be considered relevant to explain the emergence of procrastination.

Highlights

  • Procrastination is a form of self-regulation failure that is characterized by the needless delay of things one intends to do despite the expectation of negative consequences (Steel, 2007; cf. Klingsieck, 2013)

  • As our study focused on within-person processes that link work characteristics to workplace procrastination, we decided to recruit employees to participate in a diary study (Ohly et al, 2010; Fisher and To, 2012)

  • On the between-person level, the pattern of significance of results in the additional analysis was again identical to the main analysis with three exceptions: Time pressure was no longer significantly related to challenge appraisal, planning and decision-making became a predictor of hindrance appraisal, and the intercept of self-regulation effort became significant in the additional analysis

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Summary

Introduction

Procrastination is a form of self-regulation failure that is characterized by the needless delay of things one intends to do despite the expectation of negative consequences (Steel, 2007; cf. Klingsieck, 2013). It has been estimated that the majority of college students engage in procrastination and consider themselves procrastinators, and that about one in five adults are chronically affected by procrastination (cf Steel, 2007). Chronic procrastinators perform more poorly overall and feel more miserable in the long term (Steel, 2007). It has been reported that employees spend about 90– 180 min per workday on personal activities (potentially including procrastination) during their working hours (Paulsen, 2015). The annual loss per employee due to personal activities during working hours is estimated at $8,875 (D’Abate and Eddy, 2007)

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