Too depleted to work? A daily study on how work-related ICT use after hours influences employee next-day work procrastination behaviour

Abstract

ABSTRACT Although studies have shown that work-related information communication technology (WICT) use after hours may result in adverse effects within workdays, little is known about whether and how it affects employees’ next-day work behaviours. Based on ego depletion theory, we examined the effect of WICT use after hours on next-day work procrastination behaviour and investigated its underlying mechanism and boundary conditions. To examine the hypotheses, we conducted a daily survey of 105 Master of Public Administration (MPA) enrolees over 10 workdays. The results showed that WICT use after hours increased next-day work procrastination behaviour through next-morning self-control depletion. Moreover, conscientiousness moderated the relationship between morning self-control depletion and work procrastination behaviour, such that morning self-control depletion was positively associated with work procrastination behaviour only for employees with low levels of conscientiousness. Theoretical contributions and managerial implications are further discussed.