The Invisible Leash: The Impact of Organizational Expectations for Email Monitoring After-Hours on Employee Resources, Well-Being, and Turnover Intentions

Abstract

Emerging research demonstrates detrimental effects of work-related email use after-hours on employee emotions and well-being. This article extends existing literature by examining organizational expectations for email monitoring (OEEM) during nonwork hours as an antecedent of employee low work detachment, emotional exhaustion, diminished work–life balance, and increased turnover intentions. Adapting the conservation of resources perspective, we theorize that OEEM leads to negative individual and organizational outcomes via two different paths: lack of work detachment, and emotional depletion. The findings of a study with time-separated data collected from a large sample of 570 working adults support our predictions that OEEM decreases employee work–life balance through both low work detachment and emotional exhaustion, while the indirect effect of OEEM on employee turnover intentions is mediated by employee emotional exhaustion, and by work detachment through emotional exhaustion. We also find that decrease in work–life balance is negatively correlated with employee intentions to leave the company, but that this direct effect is not significant in the full model. Finally, we demonstrate that the time employees spend on work-related emails after-hours is not the main driver of negative outcomes. Taken together, our findings highlight deleterious implications of OEEM on employee resources and subsequent organization-related outcomes.