Psychological Detachment Research Articles

Telecommuting and job performance during the COVID-19 pandemic: The mediating role of psychological detachment from work

This study examined the mediating role of psychological detachment from work and the moderating influence of perceived organisational telework task support in the relationship between the extent of telecommuting and the job performance of employees. Using a time-lag study design, we collected data from a sample of 435 employees from several companies in China during the COVID-19 pandemic (female = 67.8%; 31–40 years old = 51.7%; mean telecommuting hours = 8.29 hours per week; SD = 11.86). Following the mediating analyses, our results showed psychological detachment from work significantly mediated this relationship between the extent of telecommuting and the job performance of employees, so that employee job performance was lower. Furthermore, perceived organisational telework task support did not moderate the relationship between the extent of telecommuting and job performance. These findings suggest a need for work managers to provide telecommute support as part of work organisation COVID-19 mitigation.

Is Overwork Culture a New Normal? Rethinking from Psychological Detachment Perspective.

Previous studies have shown and proven that employees need temporary detachment from their work to recharge and re-energize for the next day to work with similar enthusiasm. But work pressures and overwork culture have become a buzzword every corporate follows, and employees are bound to face it. This study investigates the impact of overwork culture (OWC) on employee longevity (EL). Further, it examines the mediating role of employee psychological detachment (EPD) on the linkage between OWC and EL. It aims to develop a relationship between psychological detachment and employee longevity, which can be referred to further to show how important the former's role is for the organization's welfare. The survey data was collected from 116 IT professionals from India, and the proposed relationship was analyzed through the SMART – PLS structural equation modeling tool. This study found a significant impact of Overwork Culture on EPD, but at the same time, the impact of OWC on EL is much less. This gives a scope to rethink the causes behind accepting this new norm. Also, our study fails to give the considerable impact of EPD on EL, and the mediating role of EPD can decrease up to 13% of the impact of OWC on EL. The originality of the research stems from the scarcity of research on EPD and almost no study on the mediating role of EPD on EL. This is one of the earliest studies to investigate the mediating role of EPD on EL with another independent variable. This proves the novelty of this study as it has a huge difference after Covid-era, where psychological detachment has less effect on employee longevity.

Understanding the positive and negative outcomes of developmental challenges on the social psychology of female executives in top management teams

AbstractDrawing on social identity theory, this conceptual article proposes how working in a male‐dominated top management team (TMT) leads to changes in the social psychology of female executives over time. Further, it simultaneously incorporates the role of various factors to develop a comprehensive understanding of positive as well as negative change experiences of female executives. Based on thorough review and integration of the relevant literature from the domains of organizational behaviour, gender management, and psychology, key themes have been extracted and a conceptual model has been proposed. It is suggested that female executives are likely to face epistemological shock after becoming a part of male‐dominated TMTs; however, proactive interactions and development of their cultural toolkit is expected to polish leadership capabilities and improve leader identity in them. Conversely, challenges in developing their cultural toolkit may lead to experiences of emotional exhaustion and the eventual psychological detachment of female executives from their teams and work environment. Unlike the focus of existing literature on general social and cultural challenges faced by female workers, this research offers a unique theoretical direction regarding the essence of extensive psychological changes and their long‐term prospects for females in male‐dominated TMTs. Finally, it also offers practical implications for highlighting various ways to encourage proactivity and social support for creating diversity and inclusion‐based leadership in organizations.

Time matters: The role of recovery for daily mood trajectories at work

AbstractTaking a temporal perspective, we examined how employees' mood (i.e., wakefulness‐tiredness, calmness‐tenseness, and pleasantness‐unpleasantness) develops during the workday and tested employees' daily recovery from work as a predictor of these mood trajectories. Specifically, we analysed a serial mediation model with evening recovery experiences (i.e., psychological detachment, relaxation, mastery experiences, and control) being indirectly related to the development of next‐day mood (i.e., linear slopes) via sleep quality and start‐of‐work mood. We collected data from 124 employees who completed up to 5 daily surveys over two workweeks. Multilevel growth curve models showed that, in general, wakefulness followed a negative quadratic, calmness a positive quadratic, and pleasantness no systematic trajectory during the workday. At the day level, path analyses showed that psychological detachment indirectly and relaxation directly predicted the three start‐of‐work mood states. Moreover, mastery experiences and control directly predicted start‐of‐work calmness. Additionally, psychological detachment and relaxation indirectly predicted the development of wakefulness and psychological detachment, relaxation, and mastery experiences indirectly predicted the development of calmness. Results suggest that some benefits of daily psychological detachment, relaxation (i.e., high start‐of‐work wakefulness and calmness), and mastery experiences (i.e., high start‐of‐work calmness) tend to subside during the workday.

Facilitating detachment from work: A systematic review, evidence-based recommendations, and guide for future research.

Contemporary work environments are characterized by increasing job demands, extensive use of communication technologies, blurred boundaries between work and private lives, and growing uncertainty. Under these stressful conditions, employee health and well-being are among the central topics studied by organizational researchers. Extant research has shown that psychological detachment from work is a key recovery experience that is essential for employees' health, well-being, and work performance. This systematic qualitative review aims to advance our understanding of what facilitates or inhibits detachment. We review 159 empirical studies and evaluate the accumulated knowledge on predictors of detachment. Further, we offer actionable recommendations for organizational practitioners on how to facilitate this vital recovery experience in their organizations and highlight important avenues for future research aimed at improving our understanding of employee detachment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

The role of therapist support on the efficacy of an internet-delivered stress recovery intervention for healthcare workers: a randomized control trial

ABSTRACT Internet-delivered CBT interventions effectively improve different aspects of mental health, although the therapist’s role remains unclear. The aim of this trial was to evaluate the efficacy of a therapist-supported 6-week internet-delivered intervention in improving stress recovery among healthcare workers compared to a group with optional therapist support. A total of 196 participants were recruited and randomly allocated to regular therapists’ support or optional therapists’ support groups. The primary outcome measure was the Recovery Experiences Questionnaire (REQ), developed to assess four components of stress recovery: psychological detachment, relaxation, mastery, and control. Secondary outcomes measured perceived stress (PSS-10), anxiety (GAD-7), depression (PHQ-9), and psychological well-being (WHO-5). All four stress recovery skills improved significantly after participating in the intervention at a 3-month follow-up, with small to medium effects (0.27–0.65) in both groups. At follow-up, we also found a significant reduction in perceived stress, depression, and anxiety in both groups, as well as an improvement in psychological well-being. The results indicate that ICBT can be effective in improving stress recovery skills among healthcare workers with optional support from the therapist, provided at the participants’ request. This RCT suggests that optional therapist support could meet participants’ needs and reduce resources needed in routine care.

Lose at sunrise, but gain at sunset: Linking social cyberloafing to psychological detachment, personal life enhancement of work, and mental health.

Previous research has demonstrated that the personal use of social media, i.e., social cyberloafing, is associated with employee mental health. However, the underlying mechanism through which social cyberloafing is related to mental health has received limited attention. Drawing on conservation of resource theory and work/nonwork enhancement literatures, we developed and tested a model that examines health effect of social cyberloafing. As such, employees' social cyberloafing is posited as positively related to psychological detachment and personal life enhancement of work, which in turn would act as mediators that explain why social cyberloafing improves mental health. Data from 375 Chinese employees were analyzed to test research hypotheses using the structural equation modeling and bias-corrected bootstrap method with Mplus 7.4. The results found that social cyberloafing is positively related to psychological detachment, but not with personal life enhancement of work. Social cyberloafing was positively related to employees' mental health through both psychological detachment and through psychological detachment and personal life enhancement of work serially. Psychological detachment alone and alongside personal life enhancement of work form part of the mechanisms explaining how and why engaging in social cyberloafing is positively associated with employees' mental health. These mechanisms offer insights to organizations into how the mental health of employees can be improved in the digital workplace.

“Perfectionism is a debacle” how a perfectionist leader hinders in business processes? A multiple mediated model

PurposeThe current study highlights the dark side of a perfectionist leader hindering in business processes and also investigates its impact on procrastination through workplace incivility, psychological distress, and psychological detachment by using the tenet of conservation of resource theory. Positivism research philosophy was adopted, followed by a deductive approach.Design/methodology/approachThe survey technique was used to collect the quantitative data from the employees working in public sector organizations. 364 samples were collected and analyzed using SEM-Mplus techniques, where structured and measurement models were produced and interpreted accordingly.FindingsThe results suggested that perfectionist leaders become a source for their followers to involve in procrastination because of depletion of ego and psychological resources. The results supported the chain of mediation and both paths of perfectionist leaders, workplace incivility, psychological detachment, and procrastination and perfectionist leaders, workplace incivility, psychological distress, and procrastination.Originality/valueThe results and dynamics of the current study provided some meaningful managerial and theoretical implications and future research directions for the researchers. The study contributes significantly to the body of literature since it captures and analyzes the overlooked elements in the context of perfectionist leaders.

The Challenge of Maintaining Passion for Work over Time: A Daily Perspective on Passion and Emotional Exhaustion

Passion for work is highly coveted, but many employees report struggling to maintain their passion over time. In the current research, we explain the challenge of pursuing passion by conceptualizing passion as an attribute with temporal variation. Viewed through a daily lens, we argue that self-regulation plays a critical role in understanding the challenges underlying the daily maintenance of passion. More specifically, we hypothesize that—unless employees adequately regulate their passion on any given day—higher levels of passion will lead them to invest more time and energy into their work, decreasing their psychological detachment from work after the workday, and consequently resulting in higher levels of emotional exhaustion the next day. Higher levels of emotional exhaustion on a given day subsequently prompt a greater need for recovery, shifting employees’ focus away from devoting time and energy into work, thereby eroding their passion on the following day. Two daily-diary studies covering 30 and 10 consecutive working days provided support for our predictions (Ntotal= 798; ktotal= 15,702). Employees who felt more in charge of their passion on any given day engaged in self-regulation during their workday, increasing their psychological detachment from work and subsequently being less likely to suffer the detrimental consequences of higher daily passion. Our theory and findings demonstrate the daily interplay between passion and emotional exhaustion and specify why passion may be self-limiting unless employees adequately manage it, reflecting a challenge they need to navigate each day in pursuing their passion.Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2023.1673 .

Is Cyberloafing an Outcome of Supervisor Phubbing: Examining the Roles of Workplace Ostracism and Psychological Detachment

Supervisor phubbing (or phone snubbing) is the phenomenon where a supervisor snubs a subordinate by favoring his/her mobile phone above him/her when they are in a meeting. Subordinates who are phone snubbed by supervisors often feel neglected and turn to their own phones and virtual social circles for acceptance. The study aims to explore the impact of Supervisor Phubbing (SP) on Cyberloafing (CL), taking Workplace Ostracism (WO) as a mediator and Psychological Detachment (PD) as a moderator. Social Exchange Theory (SET) and Expectancy Violations Theory (EVT) are put forward as the underpinning theories to explain the underlying mechanism in the proposed relationships. Utilizing the time lagged method, data was collected from 267 employees working in varied industries in India. Statistical tools such as SPSS 21, AMOS 21, and PROCESS, were utilized to test the hypothesised model. The findings show that SP causes subordinates to feel ostracized which in turn, leads to CL. The study also examined how PD can act as a moderator and create an impeding effect on CL, WO, and PD emerged as significant mediator and moderator respectively. It is pertinent for organizations to understand that unfriendly practices such as SP can lead to organizational repercussions like WO and CL. Discussion on implications followed by limitations and future scope of research is included in the paper.

Differential efficacy of physical exercise and mindfulness during lunch breaks as internal work recovery strategies: a daily study

ABSTRACT This study aims to identify whether daily activities during the lunch break, performed before eating, are associated with improvements in several indicators related to recovery from work stress. No existing studies examine the daily effects of sitting mindfulness meditation and aerobic physical exercise practiced during lunch break as daily internal work recovery activities. This three-armed randomized controlled trial was carried out over 22 working days with service sector workers (n = 94, age mean, 46.8) The RCT was registered in ClinicalTrials.gov, Identifier: NCT03728062. The mindfulness group received a mindfulness-based intervention (sitting meditation), while the physical exercise group practiced an aerobic exercise program with the same time intervals as the mindfulness group (15–30 minutes); the third group was the control group. We measured daily effects on fatigue, psychological detachment, sleep quality, stress symptoms, and attention problems. Measurements of daily variables were collected through an ad hoc App. Growth curve analysis reveals that mindfulness and physical exercise can effectively reduce fatigue, stress boschphysicalBosch physical exercise significantly improved sleep quality.

From a restless pillow to a ruffled mind: testing a moderated mediation model of off-the-job antecedents of abusive supervision

PurposeAlthough work-related antecedents of abusive supervision are well-known, knowledge on the cross-domain antecedents of this destructive leadership behavior is scarce. Accordingly, this study aims to investigate off-the-job supervisors’ after-work experiences that may influence their work behavior. The authors explore how and when a supervisor’s poor recovery experiences lead to abusive supervisory behaviors through a negative start-of-workday mood for high vs low supervisor sleep quality.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a single-source, three-phase field study (N= 422) to test the proposed moderated mediation model for participants from a large telecommunications company located in Anhui province, People’s Republic of China.FindingsPoor recovery experiences in the supervisor’s personal life can spill over to their work domain and provoke abusive supervisory behavior through the mediating effect of a negative start-of-workday mood. Moreover, a supervisor’s good night’s sleep (i.e. first-stage moderator) serves as a key mitigating factor to diminish the negative start-of-workday mood resulting from a lack of relaxation, mastery experiences and control experiences (except for the lack of psychological detachment from work) and lessens abusive supervision.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature examining off-the-job events to understand the antecedents of abusive supervision that are beyond organizations’ control but significantly influence workplace behaviors, showing that not all antecedents of abusive supervision exist in the workplace; some are transferred from the home domain through nonvisible moods. Finally, the inclusion of sleep quality as a first-stage moderator provides insights on preventing abusive supervision caused by nonwork-related events. This adds a unique dimension to the abusive supervision literature by highlighting factors in the home domain that can prevent negative spillovers to the work domain. The authors conclude with some theoretical and practical implications for researchers and practitioners.

Practicum in teacher education: the role of psychological detachment and supervisors’ feedback and reflection in student teachers’ well-being

ABSTRACT Practicums allow student teachers to gain teaching experience, yet little research exists assessing the impact of recovery and supervisors’ feedback and reflection on students’ well-being during this phase. Based on the Job-Demands-Resources-Recovery model, this study investigated the mediating role of recovery in terms of psychological detachment in the relationship between workload and emotional exhaustion in student teachers during their practicum. Additionally, the impact of supervisors’ feedback and reflexion on psychological detachment was assessed. A structural equation modelling analysis with the data of 276 student teachers revealed that workload was positively related to emotional exhaustion and this relationship was mediated by psychological detachment. Feedback and reflection were negatively related to psychological detachment and, through this path, negatively affected emotional exhaustion. Hence, experiencing psychological detachment might be crucial in preventing early dropouts due to reduced mental health among student teachers. Methodological perspectives to consider the content of thinking about work are discussed.

Identifying Restorative Environments for Employees’ Recovery: An Interdisciplinary Mixed Methods Approach

In this paper, we developed an environmental demands-resources (ED-R) model to explain which environments are restorative for employees during leisure based on the job demands-resources model. We used a mixed methods approach combining semi-structured interviews built upon the critical incident technique and psychometric questionnaires. In total, we gathered 100 different incidents in restorative and stressful environments from 29 participants. Following Mayring’s qualitative content analysis, we identified natural, residential, and attractive artificial environments as restorative. Logistic multilevel modeling and Fisher’s exact tests revealed that restorative environments contain fewer environmental demands (e.g., noise) and more environmental resources (e.g., water elements) than stressful environments. In addition, restorative environments were related to higher psychological detachment from work and relaxation compared to stressful environments. The results support our ED-R model and have practical implications for spatial design at the public, organizational, and individual level. Further theoretical extensions of our ED-R model were discussed.

Longitudinal Profiles of Recovery-Enhancing Processes: Job-Related Antecedents and Well-Being Outcomes.

The present study aimed to examine longitudinal recovery profiles based on three recovery-enhancing processes, i.e., psychological detachment from work, physical exercise, and sleep. In addition, we examined whether job-related demands and resources predict profile membership and whether profile membership predicts well-being outcomes. The participants were Finnish employees (N = 664) who filled in an electronic questionnaire in three successive years. Latent profile analysis (LPA) revealed five stable profiles of recovery-enhancing processes across time: (1) physically inactive, highly detaching (15%), (2) impaired recovery processes (19%), (3) enhanced recovery processes (25%), (4) physically active, poorly detaching and sleeping (19%), and (5) physically active (29%). In addition, job-related antecedents and well-being outcomes showed unique differences between the five profiles identified. Altogether, our study takes recovery research a step forward in helping to understand how recovery-enhancing processes function simultaneously over the long-term and suggests that, from the perspective of well-being, detachment from work and good sleep are more crucial recovery processes than physical activity.

Technology-assisted supplemental work: A meta-analysis

Due to the increasing digitalization and connectivity of work, more and more employees engage in technology-assisted supplemental work (TASW). TASW refers to the performance of work-related tasks after regular work hours with the aid of technological tools. Based on a conceptual model of TASW, we present a comprehensive meta-analysis of potential antecedents and outcomes of TASW (K = 89 independent samples, N = 39,085 employees). Results showed that TASW is associated with social normative work context characteristics, such as availability expectations after work (ρ¯ = 0.45), and work characteristics, such as job demands (ρ¯ = 0.32). Associations were also found between TASW and person characteristics, such as work identity (ρ¯ = 0.35) and segmentation preference (ρ¯ = −0.20). Moreover, TASW is related to important employee outcomes, including recovery-related outcomes, such as psychological detachment (ρ¯ = −0.38); well-being outcomes, such as job strain (ρ¯ = 0.12); nonwork-related outcomes, such as work nonwork conflict (ρ¯ = 0.32); as well as attitudinal and performance-related outcomes, such as organizational commitment (ρ¯ = 0.16) and work performance (ρ¯ = 0.27). We also found TASW to be related to certain demographic characteristics, such as male gender (ρ¯ = 0.11) and job-level (ρ¯ = 0.23). Exploratory moderator analyses further revealed that gender moderated the relationship between job demands and TASW, such that the relationship was stronger for samples with a higher percentage of females. We conclude by discussing potential directions for future research to advance the understanding of TASW.

Effective employee strategies for remote working: An online self-training intervention

This paper examines whether employees' strategies to recognize (through self-recognition) and regulate (through job crafting, work-family management, and recovery) their internal and external demands and resources help them retain their well-being and performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also examines whether an online self-training intervention can stimulate the use of these strategies. A randomized control trial with a waitlist control group and pre-post measure (N intervention group = 62, N control group = 77) was executed, consisting of four modules with videos, exercises, and three assignments. Participants of the intervention group reported improved self-recognition (noticing, self-focused emotional intelligence), job crafting (seeking resources and challenges), recovery (psychological detachment and relaxation), and reduced work-family conflict. Moreover, the intervention group reported reduced fatigue and increased happiness with life and task performance after the intervention. Improvements in self-focused emotional intelligence, relaxation, and reduced work-family conflict could explain the progress of these distal outcomes. This study reveals the strategies that can help employees to maintain high levels of well-being and performance while working from home and how to improve them using an evidence-based self-training intervention.

Using leisure crafting to reduce emotional exhaustion at home during the COVID-19 pandemic through better sleep and not thinking about the pandemic.

Drawing on conservation of resources (COR) theory, we aimed to investigate whether leisure crafting reduces emotional exhaustion by improving sleep quality and strengthening psychological detachment from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We posited that sleep quality and psychological detachment from the COVID-19 pandemic mediate the negative relationship between leisure crafting and emotional exhaustion. We carried out a two-wave longitudinal study among a group of individuals (N=216) from Wuhan, China. We measured leisure crafting, sleep quality, and psychological detachment from the COVID-19 pandemic at Time 1 and emotional exhaustion two months later at Time 2. We discovered that leisure crafting reduced emotional exhaustion at home by improving sleep quality and increasing psychological detachment from the COVID-19 pandemic. At the end of this article, we discuss theoretical and practical implications, research limitations, and directions for future research.

Internet-based stress recovery intervention for adolescents: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

BackgroundResearch reveals a high prevalence of stressors in adolescence. Mental health in adolescence is highly related to life-stressors exposure and difficulties in adjusting to stressors. Therefore, interventions for recovery from stress are in high demand. The study aims to evaluate the efficacy of the Internet-based stress recovery intervention for adolescents.MethodsA two-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT) on the efficacy of the FOREST-A—an Internet-based stress recovery intervention for adolescents—will be conducted. The FOREST-A is an adapted version of stress recovery intervention initially developed for healthcare workers. FOREST-A is a third-wave cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness-based Internet-delivered 4-week psychosocial intervention, which comprises six modules: Introduction, Relaxation, Psychological detachment, Mastery, Control, and Summary. The intervention will be evaluated using the two-arm RCT with intervention and care as usual (CAU) condition at pre-test, post-test, and 3-month follow-up. The measured outcomes will be stress recovery, adjustment disorder, generalized anxiety and depression symptoms, psychological well-being, and perceived positive social support.DiscussionThe study will contribute to the development of Internet interventions—easily and broadly accessible tools—for the enhancement of adolescents’ stress recovery skills. Based on the study’s findings, further development of the FOREST-A, including upscaling and implementation, is foreseen.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT05688254. Registered on January 6, 2023.

Emergency medical service personnel' post-traumatic stress disorder and psychological detachment: The mediating role of presenteeism.

Emergency medical service personnel are subjected to various stressors, which makes them more likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms. Studies have shown that psychological detachment and presenteeism play a role at the level of post-traumatic stress disorder. There is no study to examine the relationship between psychological detachment, presenteeism, and post-traumatic stress disorder among emergency medical service personnel. The main objective of the study is to investigate the effects of presenteeism in explaining the relationship between psychological detachment and post-traumatic stress disorder among emergency medical service personnel. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 836 emergency medical service personnel in 51 counties and cities in Hunan Province, China. They were anonymously investigated by using the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), the Stanford Presenteeism scale-6 (SPS-6), and the Psychological Detachment Scale. Statistic description, univariate analysis, pearson correlation, and structural equation model were adopted to analyze the data. The mean score of IES-R, SPS-6, and the psychological detachment scale were 22.44 ± 16.70, 15.13 ± 4.20, and 11.30 ± 4.24. Post-traumatic stress disorder was positively relevant with presenteeism (r = 0.381, p< 0.01), but negatively correlated with psychological detachment (r = -0.220, p < 0.01). And presenteeism partially mediated the association between psychological detachment and post-traumatic stress disorder. The results show a high prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in EMS personnel, presenteeism can statistically significantly predict post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms. If hospital management can reduce the presenteeism of emergency medical service personnel, this will help them reduce post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms.