Examining the implications of work–nonwork demand congruence

Abstract

Examining the implications of excessive work demands on employee well-being is an important research area of occupational health psychology. Recovery during nonwork time has been emphasized as an important process for mitigating the negative implications of excessive work demands. However, this notion ignores the potential for nonwork activities to be comparably demanding to work activities. There has been a lack of attention paid to the potentially complex interrelationships between work and nonwork demands. Using the effort–recovery and challenge–hindrance stressor models, we developed a set of hypotheses for both the positive and negative implications of the interplay between employee work and nonwork cognitive demands. We collected information on cognitive workweek job demands (Friday) and nonwork cognitive weekend demands (Sunday) from a sample of workers (N = 146), and we used polynomial regression with response surface analysis to examine how different aspects of work–nonwork cognitive demand (in)congruence related to Monday work engagement. In general, higher cognitive workweek job demands promoted work engagement, even when nonwork cognitive demands were equally high. Cognitive demand incongruence that favoured higher cognitive work demands was also beneficial for employee work engagement. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, along with directions for future research in this area.