Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2021, Vol. 44 ›› Issue (2): 405-411.

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The relationship between work during non-working hours and employees' life satisfaction: the mediating role of psychological detachment and the moderating role of motivation for phone use

  

  • Received:2019-06-25 Revised:2020-02-20 Online:2021-03-20 Published:2021-03-20
  • Contact: Guoping Song

非工作时间使用手机工作与员工生活满意度:心理脱离的中介作用和动机的调节作用

王杨阳,杨婷婷,苗心萌,宋国萍   

  1. 陕西师范大学心理学院
  • 通讯作者: 宋国萍

Abstract: Nowadays, in the era of "Internet +", the popularity and convenience of mobile phones make the process of communication and the spread of communication information more rapid and effective. Convenient mobile communication makes employees be in the state of "on the go, ready to work" all the time, even after work, blurring the boundary of work and family. Using mobile phones to work during non-working hours becomes a common state, which has brought about a series of positive or negative effects on employees. Previous studies have found that using mobile phones to work after working has a negative impact on employees' positive emotions, and a positive impact on emotional exhaustion and work-family conflicts. In addition, it will also interfere with the employees' recovery process and significantly reduce employees' happiness. Therefore, how to correctly deal with the official usage of mobile phones during non-working hours has become a problem that management scholars and enterprise supervisor must attach great importance to. Based on the theory of Job Demands-Resources model and Effort-Recovery model, this paper uses the diary method to explore the spillover effect of official usage of mobile phones during non-working time on employees’ life satisfaction. Using the job satisfaction scale, mobile phone usage behavior scale, psychological disengagement scale, and motivation for phones use scale, 968 valid data were obtained through an online diary study of 88 employees for 5 consecutive days. First, common method biases were examined by Harman single factor method. Then correlation analysis and regression analysis were conducted to acquire the overall relationships between variables in the hypothesized model. The results indicated as follows: (1) Using phones to work during non-working hours had a significant negative impact on employees’ life satisfaction; (2)The relationship between official phones usage during non-working hours and employee life satisfaction was mediated by psychological detachment; (3) The relationship between official usage of mobile phones during non-working hours and employees’ psychological disengagement was moderated by the motivation of mobile phones’ official usage.. It is concluded that the official usage of mobile phones during non-working hours had a negative impact on the normal psychological detachment process of employees after work, and had a negative spillover effect on life satisfaction. The autonomous motivation of using mobile phones to work could effectively alleviate the negative effects of official phones usage to work during non-working on life satisfaction. The psychological detachment level of employees who have high autonomous motivation of the official usage of mobile phones increased with the increasing of working frequency and duration of the official usage of mobile phones during non-working time. The conclusions drawn in this study expand the application scope of Effort-Recovery theory. At the same time, on the individual level, it provides a certain theoretical basis for individuals to effectively manage their cross-domain behaviors and adjust their own state; on the organizational level, practical advice is provided for organizations to improve employees’ job satisfaction and to create an organizational atmosphere which is more conducive to employees' active working.

Key words: official using of mobile phones during non-working hours, life satisfaction, psychological detachment, motivation for phones use, diary method

摘要: 非工作时间使用手机工作普遍存在于员工的家庭生活中,带来了一系列积极或消极的影响。使用日记法对88个员工连续5天的日记调查发现:(1)非工作时间使用手机工作对员工生活满意度有显著负向影响;(2)心理脱离在非工作时间使用手机工作和员工生活满意度之间有中介作用;(3)使用手机的动机在非工作时间使用手机工作与员工心理脱离之间有调节作用。研究结果启示管理者可以提高员工的心理脱离水平和自主动机,从而降低非工作时间使用手机工作的消极影响。

关键词: 非工作时间使用手机工作, 生活满意度, 心理脱离, 使用手机的动机, 日记法

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