Workload and procrastination: The roles of psychological detachment and fatigue.

Abstract

In the present study, the self-control and recovery/detachment research literatures are integrated to explore the connection between workload and procrastination. We tested a conceptual model that draws heavily from the stressor-detachment model (Sonnentag, 2011), and represents one of the first empirical tests of this model. We hypothesized that psychological detachment would both mediate and moderate the relationship between workload and fatigue and that fatigue would mediate the relationship between psychological detachment and procrastination. We tested the hypothesized model by surveying 547 working adults at 3 points in time over a 2-month period. Psychological detachment fully mediated the relationship between workload and fatigue; psychological detachment did not moderate this relationship. Fatigue partially mediated the relationship between psychological detachment and procrastination. Further, workload was indirectly related to procrastination 2 months later through relationships with psychological detachment and fatigue. These findings suggest that occupational stressors are related to procrastination and that this relationship can be partially explained by psychological detachment and fatigue.