Technology-assisted supplemental work, psychological detachment, and employee well-being: A daily diary study

Abstract

Information and communication technologies facilitate connectivity to work-related matters after official working hours. Therefore, more and more employees engage in technology-assisted supplemental work (TASW) during recovery time. However, research on the association between TASW and well-being has shown mixed results. To shed further light on this relationship, we tested a moderated mediation model. Drawing upon the extended stressor-detachment model (Sonnentag and Fritz, 2015), we proposed that psychological detachment mediates the relationship between TASW and well-being (i.e. affect and vigor). Further, we expected appraisal to moderate the relationship between TASW and psychological detachment, as well as cognitive coping to moderate the relationship between psychological detachment and well-being. To test these hypotheses, we analyzed daily diary data from 100 employees. As hypothesized, daily psychological detachment after hours mediated the positive association between daily TASW and daily negative affect at bedtime. Contrary to expectations, daily TASW was not significantly related to daily positive affect at bedtime and daily vigor in the next morning. Additionally, we found no support for the moderating roles of appraisal and cognitive coping. These results suggest that TASW can be associated with negative well-being states via impaired recovery, but that further studies are needed to explore the ambiguous outcomes of TASW. We discuss practical implications and future research avenues regarding individual differences in the experience of TASW.