Double-edged effects of work-related technology use after hours on employee well-being and recovery: The role of appraisal and its determinants

Research suggests that work-related use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) after hours involves both harms and benefits for employee well-being. Yet, these findings are mainly based on examining the extent of ICT use as the focal construct of interest. Based on cognitive appraisal theories of stress, we argue that research needs to include individuals’ evaluation of their work-related ICT use after hours as well as the conditions shaping this appraisal to explain double-edged effects of ICT use on well-being. Thus, we investigate (1) how situational and personal factors influence whether work-related ICT use after hours is evaluated as positive or negative, and (2) how these factors and ICT use appraisal relate to employee well-being and recovery, beyond the extent of ICT use. We collected data in a daily diary study over five consecutive days. Multilevel path analyses with data from 51 employees and 151 daily observations indicated that goal progress and autonomous motivation for ICT use were positively related to positive ICT use appraisal. Besides, goal progress predicted less and overload predicted more negative ICT use appraisal. In turn, ICT use appraisal was associated with employees’ affective states and psychological detachment in the evening, beyond the extent of ICT use. Additionally, we found several indirect effects of goal progress and overload on employee well-being and recovery via ICT use appraisal. Our findings emphasize the need to investigate ICT usage experiences to explain the double-edged consequences of work-related ICT use after hours on employee well-being.