Recovery opportunities, work – home interference, and well-being among managers

Abstract

The present study addressed the associations among various indicators of effort expenditure at work and recovery opportunities (perceived job demands and job control, hours worked overtime, hours worked according to one's contract), work – home interference, and well-being (exhaustion and enjoyment) in a cross-sectional study among 117 male and 82 female managers. Drawing on effort-recovery theory, we expected that high job demands, low job control, a high number of hours worked overtime, and a full-time appointment would be associated with high levels of work – home interference, low levels of enjoyment, and high levels of exhaustion. Stepwise regression analysis largely supported the hypothesis that high job demands and low job control are associated with adverse work outcomes. However, the effects of the number of hours worked overtime and according to one's contract were usually weak and insignificant, suggesting that high effort expenditure does not necessarily have adverse health consequences.