Not detaching from work during leisure time: A control-theory perspective on job-related cognitions

Abstract

Lack of psychological detachment from work during leisure time is related to unfavorable affective states and poor well-being but little is known about the processes that drive this relationship. We propose that lack of detachment from work translates into next-day negative and positive affect by specific thought processes. Building on a control-theory approach to repetitive thought and rumination, we introduce a refined conceptualization of job-related cognitions during leisure time that integrates a valence perspective (referring to negative versus positive events) with a temporal-direction perspective (backward-oriented vs. forward-oriented). Using daily-survey data collected from 243 employees over two workweeks, multilevel path analysis revealed that lack of detachment from negative events predicted backward-oriented negative rumination and forward-oriented solution seeking. Lack of detachment from positive events predicted backward-oriented positive rumination and forward-oriented goal generation. Only backward-oriented negative rumination, in turn, predicted next-day negative affect. Neuroticism and extraversion moderated the relationships between lack of detachment and job-related cognitions, resulting in a particularly strong serial indirect effect between lack of detachment from negative events and next-day negative affect for persons high in neuroticism. Our study helps to understand why and for whom lack of psychological detachment from work during leisure time is particularly adverse.