Understanding Effects of Idle Time on Employee Outcomes: The Role of Work Characteristics and Action Regulation Strategies
Final Report Abstract
Similar to preliminary research on idle time at work conducted in the United States, our studies suggest that idle time is a fairly common phenomenon in Germany with potentially important consequences for occupational wellbeing and performance. Nearly half of employees in our studies reported experiencing idle time at least several times a month, whereas only approximately a quarter of employees never experienced idle time in the last few months. The most significant scientific advancements and applications of this project include new insights on the antecedents, consequences, mechanisms, and boundary conditions of idle time at work using both experimental and longitudinal study designs. In two experimental studies with 445 and 597 employees as participants, we showed that the effects of action regulation problems on wellbeing and performance, namely speed and accuracy, were sequentially mediated by objective and subjective idle time. Objective idle time was associated with an increase in high arousal negative affect and speed and with a decrease in accuracy and task satisfaction, whereas subjective idle time was associated with slower speed. Moreover, in comparison to idle time during which nothing could be done, (1) no idle time, (2) idle time with control, and (3) idle time with relaxation had differential, but mostly positive effects on wellbeing, such as lower boredom, higher satisfaction, and more flow. Relaxation during idle time resulted in lower subjective performance compared to idle time when nothing could be done. Examining the mechanisms of the effects of idle time, we found that (a lack of) recovery experiences better explained the negative effects of idle time than attention residue (i.e., employees still being mentally occupied with their work). A third experiment with 338 employees as participants showed that objective idle time positively predicted subjective idle time, which was negatively related to affect, but not to task satisfaction. We found indirect effects of objective idle time on affect through subjective idle time. Boredom proneness was positively and age was negatively associated with subjective idle time. In two longitudinal studies with several hundred employed participants, we showed that idle time was associated with lower job satisfaction and with higher counterproductive work behavior six months later. The effect was mediated by boredom. We found a positive direct effect of idle time on job satisfaction and a negative direct effect on counterproductive work behavior, suggesting that idle time may be beneficial for employees when boredom is statistically controlled. We thereby show that not idle time per se is the reason for the experience of negative effect, but the affective experience of boredom that idle time is often associated with. Moreover, another study based on the same longitudinal data collection effort showed that idle time has a positive effect on exhaustion and a negative effect on work engagement. Thus, in general, idle time seems to represent a demand. However, we found that for employees with high job autonomy, the effect of idle time on work engagement is more negative. Moreover, for employees with high workload, the effect of idle time on work engagement was positive. With this study, we found that idle time is a demand for employees that may have beneficial effects under specific circumstances. Overall, our studies shed light on an important, but neglected phenomenon: Idle time, or a period at work during which tasks cannot be completed for reasons outside of individual employees’ control. We used several established theories from work and organizational theory, including action regulation theory, affective events theory, and job demands-resources theory to investigate the nomological net of idle time, including action regulation problems, occupational wellbeing and performance consequences, work characteristics, and action regulation strategies.
Publications
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What to do when there is nothing to do? Toward a better understanding of idle time at work. Current Psychology, 42(14), 11871-11890.
Schubert, Karoline; Zeschke, Martin & Zacher, Hannes
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Is it bad because it is boring? Effects of idle time on employee outcomes. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 32(6), 886-901.
Zeschke, Martin & Zacher, Hannes
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Effects of Idle Time on Well-Being: An Experimental Study. Zeitschrift für Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie A&O, 68(2), 93-106.
Zeschke, Martin; Schubert, Karoline & Zacher, Hannes
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Idle time and employee outcomes. Doctoral dissertation, Leipzig University
Zeschke, M.
