The recovery paradox: Portraying the complex interplay between job stressors, lack of recovery, and poor well-being

Konjarski M., Murray G., Lee V.V., Jackson M.L.

An intimate relationship exists between sleep and affective states. Disturbances in sleep are common across a spectrum of psychopathologies, and are recognised as precipitating or prodromal factors for mood disorders. Conversely, affective states can impact sleep quality and ability to fall asleep. However, one of the main limitations of this literature is that studies have typically assessed sleep and mood at one time point and studies are often laboratory-based, where measurement of both sleep and mood has dubious ecological validity. The aim of the current review was to systematically examine the evidence for associations between day-to-day fluctuations in sleep and mood in naturalistic studies using ambulatory diary techniques. Electronic databases (EMBASE, PsycINFO, PubMed, and SCOPUS) were searched for studies using experience sampling methodology to investigate daily associations between sleep and mood in naturalistic environments in healthy and clinical samples. Findings of the included studies supported the notion of a reciprocal relationship between subjective sleep variables (sleep quality, sleep duration and sleep latency) and daytime affective states over the short term, and highlight the potential clinical importance of daily sleep disturbance in the prediction and prevention of the development of psychopathology in the future.

Van Laethem M., van Vianen A.E., Derks D.

Today’s work environment is shaped by the electronic age. Smartphones are important tools that allow employees to work anywhere and anytime. The aim of this diary study was to examine daily smartphone use after and during work and their association with psychological detachment (in the home domain) and work engagement (in the work domain), respectively. We explored whether workplace telepressure, which is a strong urge to respond to work-related messages and a preoccupation with quick response times, promotes smartphone use. Furthermore, we hypothesized that employees experiencing high workplace telepressure would have more trouble letting go of the workday during the evening and feel less engaged during their workday to the extent that they use their smartphone more intensively across domains. A total of 116 employees using their smartphones for work-related purposes completed diary questionnaires on five workdays (N = 476 data points) assessing their work-related smartphone use, psychological detachment after work, and engagement during work. Workplace telepressure was measured as a between-individual variable and only assessed at the beginning of the study, as well as relevant control variables such as participants’ workload and segmentation preference (a preference for work and home domains to be as segmented as possible). Multilevel path analyses revealed that work-related smartphone use after work was negatively related to psychological detachment irrespective of employees’ experienced workplace telepressure, and daily smartphone use during work was unrelated to work engagement. Supporting our hypothesis, employees who reported high telepressure experienced less work engagement on days that they used their smartphone more intensively during work. Altogether, intensive smartphone use after work hampers employees’ psychological detachment, whereas intensive smartphone use during work undermines their work engagement only when employees experience high workplace telepressure as well. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Cho S., Park Y.

This study examines the short-term recovery benefits of weekend physical activity on reduced negative affective state (NA) on Monday morning, using a weekly diary method from 70 employees across four weekends (repeated pre- and post-weekend measures). The first hypothesis tests the within-person relationship between weekend physical activity and post-weekend NA. The results of multilevel path analysis show that the main effect of weekend physical activity on reduced Monday NA is not significant. In addition, the study tests weekend recovery experiences (i.e., psychological detachment, relaxation, mastery, and control) and sleep hours as possible moderators. The findings support the moderating effects of psychological detachment and sleep hours. Specifically, weekend physical activity is related to lower Monday NA only if workers achieve high psychological detachment from work during the weekend. If not, their weekend physical activity is associated with higher NA. Also, the benefit of weekend physical activity occurs only when workers sleep longer on the weekend nights. The findings suggest that physical activity has important boundary conditions-psychological detachment and sleep duration-that influence its recovery effects on NA. The complex relationship between exercise and recovery is discussed, along with the implications of the findings for future research.

Gadeyne N., Verbruggen M., Delanoeije J., De Cooman R.

Prior research has shown that work-related ICT-use outside work hours is generally related with more work-to-home conflict, but that this effect can be mitigated or even reversed when people have an integration preference. In this study, we posit that the moderating role of integration preference in itself depends on the work environment because the context can alter people's sense of control and autonomy and may therefore affect the influence of a preference-behavior alignment. To test this, we examine three-way interactions between two types of work-related ICT-use outside work hours (i.e., smartphone use and PC/laptop use), integration preference and two characteristics of the work environment (i.e., organizational integration norms and work demands) on time- and strain-based work-to-home conflict. Analyses are performed on a survey sample of 467 working parents in Belgium. Findings indicate that only work-related PC/laptop use – and not smartphone use – outside work hours is positively related to work-to-home conflict. This effect is buffered for people who have a preference to integrate work and personal life, but only when their work environment is characterized by low organizational integration norms and/or low work demands. This indicates that for employees with integration preferences, work-related ICT-use outside work hours may not complicate – and could even facilitate – finding work-home compatibility; yet, this effect depends on organizational factors as well. The results of this study may help organizations to better understand the impact of expectations regarding staying connected to work while being at home.

Pindek S., Demircioğlu E., Howard D.J., Eatough E.M., Spector P.E.

Illegitimate tasks are tasks that violate norms for what the employee should do as part of the job, and have been found to harm employees’ well-being. The current research uses a mixed methods desi...

Park Y., Kim S.

Customer mistreatment is becoming an important topic for work stress researchers and practitioners given the rise of service industry. Taking stressor-emotion-control perspectives, the authors examine day-level relationships between call center workers' customer mistreatment experiences and their impaired recovery outcomes mediated by end-of-work negative affect. Furthermore, control concepts in the job and personal domains are tested as cross-level moderators. Specifically, job control and recovery self-efficacy are identified to reduce the within-person process of customer mistreatment affecting recovery outcomes. Seventy-one call center employees completed a registration survey and then two daily surveys over 2 consecutive weeks, yielding 481 time-lagged day-level observations. Multilevel path analyses show that customer mistreatment is positively associated with increased negative affect, which, in turn, predicts poor sleep quality at night and poor recovery state the next morning. Job control attenuates the day-level effect of customer mistreatment on negative affect, and recovery self-efficacy alleviates the day-level effects of negative affect on sleep quality and next-morning recovery state. The findings shed light on the recovery-impairing effects of customer mistreatment and its important boundary conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Meier L.L., Cho E.

With the mounting evidence that employees' work experiences spill over into the family domain and cross over to family members, it is important to understand the underlying mechanism through which work experiences affect the family domain and what factors may alleviate the adverse impact of work stress. Expanding previous research that mainly focused on the affect-based mechanism (negative affect), the present research investigated a resource-based mechanism (psychological detachment from work) in the relationship linking two work stressors (high workload and workplace incivility) with social undermining toward the partner at home. We also explored the relative strength of the mediating effects of the two mechanisms. In addition, we tested whether relationship satisfaction moderates the proposed effect of detachment on partner undermining. We tested these research questions using two studies with differing designs: a five-wave longitudinal study (N = 470) and a multisource study (N = 131). The results suggest that stressful work experiences affect the family domain via lack of detachment as well as negative affect, that the two pathways have comparable strength, and that high relationship satisfaction mitigates the negative effect of lack of detachment on partner undermining. In sum, this research extends the spillover-crossover model by establishing that poor psychological detachment from work during leisure time is an additional mechanism that links work and family. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Jiang L., Lavaysse L.M.

Job insecurity is one of the most common stressors in contemporary working life. Although research indicates that the job insecurity construct has cognitive (i.e., the perceived negative change to one’s job) and affective (i.e., the emotional reactions to the potential change to one’s job) components, scholars rarely apply this distinction between cognitive and affective job insecurity in their conceptualization and theory development. On the basis of 535 independent samples, a meta-analysis in Study 1 found that (1) job insecurity was significantly related to 51 out of 56 outcomes and correlates; (2) affective job insecurity had stronger relations with the majority of outcomes and correlates than did cognitive job insecurity as well as explained valid, unique variance in outcomes and correlates above and beyond cognitive job insecurity; and (3) in most cases, affective job insecurity mediated the relationships between cognitive job insecurity and its outcomes. Furthermore, Study 2 examines a moderator that may explain why individuals with the same level of cognitive job insecurity may display different levels of affective job insecurity. Specifically, we found a stronger relationship between cognitive job insecurity and affective job insecurity among individuals with high work centrality with two samples. Overall, results demonstrate that it is empirically meaningful to treat cognitive job insecurity and affective job insecurity as two separate constructs and that affective job insecurity is more closely related to employee outcomes than is cognitive job insecurity. Future research could further assess affective job insecurity and continue to explore moderators and mediators in the cognitive job insecurity–affective job insecurity relationship.

Demsky C.A., Fritz C., Hammer L.B., Black A.E.

This study examines the role of negative work rumination and recovery experiences in explaining the association between workplace incivility and employee insomnia symptoms. Drawing on the perseverative cognition model of stress and the effort-recovery model, we hypothesize a moderated mediation model in which workplace incivility is associated with insomnia symptoms via negative work rumination. This indirect effect is proposed to be conditional on employees' reported level of recovery experiences (i.e., psychological detachment from work and relaxation during nonwork time). In examining this model, we further establish a link between workplace incivility and sleep and identify one pathway to explain this relationship, as well as resources that may be used to halt the negative spillover of workplace incivility on sleep. Based on a sample of 699 U.S. Forest Service employees, we find support for a moderated mediation model in which the association between workplace incivility and increased insomnia symptoms via increased negative work rumination was weakest for employees reporting high levels of recovery experiences during nonwork time. Findings from the current study contribute to our understanding of why workplace incivility is associated with nonwork outcomes, as well as point to implications for interventions aimed at promoting employees' recovery from work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Carden L., Wood W.

This review highlights emerging findings and new directions in research on habit formation and change. We first identify the cognitive, attentional mechanisms that contribute to habit formation. Then we show how habit is transforming the way researchers think about self-control, and how changing habits involves environmental pressures as much as intrapsychic forces. Finally, we describe big data and new technologies that offer novel methods to study habits outside the lab by capturing repeated actions in the natural environments in which they occur.

Epel E.S., Crosswell A.D., Mayer S.E., Prather A.A., Slavich G.M., Puterman E., Mendes W.B.

Stress can influence health throughout the lifespan, yet there is little agreement about what types and aspects of stress matter most for human health and disease. This is in part because "stress" is not a monolithic concept but rather, an emergent process that involves interactions between individual and environmental factors, historical and current events, allostatic states, and psychological and physiological reactivity. Many of these processes alone have been labeled as "stress." Stress science would be further advanced if researchers adopted a common conceptual model that incorporates epidemiological, affective, and psychophysiological perspectives, with more precise language for describing stress measures. We articulate an integrative working model, highlighting how stressor exposures across the life course influence habitual responding and stress reactivity, and how health behaviors interact with stress. We offer a Stress Typology articulating timescales for stress measurement - acute, event-based, daily, and chronic - and more precise language for dimensions of stress measurement.

Friese M., Loschelder D.D., Gieseler K., Frankenbach J., Inzlicht M.

An influential line of research suggests that initial bouts of self-control increase the susceptibility to self-control failure (ego depletion effect). Despite seemingly abundant evidence, some researchers have suggested that evidence for ego depletion was the sole result of publication bias and p-hacking, with the true effect being indistinguishable from zero. Here, we examine (a) whether the evidence brought forward against ego depletion will convince a proponent that ego depletion does not exist and (b) whether arguments that could be brought forward in defense of ego depletion will convince a skeptic that ego depletion does exist. We conclude that despite several hundred published studies, the available evidence is inconclusive. Both additional empirical and theoretical works are needed to make a compelling case for either side of the debate. We discuss necessary steps for future work toward this aim.

Isoard-Gautheur S., Scotto-di-Luzio S., Ginoux C., Sarrazin P.

Purpose of the study The main objective of the present study was to examine the reciprocal relationships between off-job moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and vigor at work. Method 128 workers (60% females) from different companies, with a mean age of 39.40 years old, comprising lower supervisory and technical employees, intermediate occupations and professional and managerial workers, completed a questionnaire twice with an interval of two months, comprising measures of vigor at work (Shirom-Melamed Vigor Measure; Shirom, 2004), and self-rated levels of off-job MVPA (International Physical Activity Questionnaire; Craig et al., 2003). Results Structural equation modeling revealed that the level of vigor at T1 predicted the level of off-job MVPA at T2 (β = 0.22, p Conclusion The findings suggest that high vigor at work has the potential to prompt individuals to engage in off-job MVPA. Conversely, in the present study high levels of off-job MVPA were not linked to enhanced vigor at work. As a result, strategies designed to enhance vigor at work may result in higher levels of off-job MVPA and in the long term to the adoption of a healthy lifestyle beneficial for physical and mental health.

Slavish D.C., Sliwinski M.J., Smyth J.M., Almeida D.M., Lipton R.B., Katz M.J., Graham-Engeland J.E.

Neuroticism is strongly implicated in the development of sleep impairment and sleep disorders such as insomnia. However, it is unclear if neuroticism is a direct predictor of sleep, and/or if it moderates associations between related psychological processes (e.g., rumination and negative affect, or NA) and sleep in daily life. We investigated: 1) neuroticism as a between-person predictor of reported sleep, 2) daily fluctuations in rumination and NA as predictors of reported sleep, and 3) neuroticism as a between-person moderator of the relationships in aim 2. A sample of racially and ethnically diverse adults (N = 242; 62% African-American, 24% Hispanic/Latina/o) completed a baseline assessment of neuroticism and then completed two weeks of daily reports, including bedtime assessments of daily rumination and NA and waking assessments of prior night's sleep. Individuals with higher neuroticism reported more impaired average sleep, but this relationship became non-significant after accounting for daily rumination and NA. Days with greater NA than one's individual average predicted more impaired sleep, regardless of average levels of NA, daily rumination, and neuroticism. Results suggest the importance of investigating both between- and within-person associations linking neuroticism, rumination, NA, and sleep and may help inform more targeted intervention efforts for improving sleep.

Sianoja M., Kinnunen U., Mäkikangas A., Tolvanen A.

ABSTRACTTo test the direct and moderator effects of the stressor–detachment model from a long-term perspective, we investigated whether workload and detachment are related to changes in exhaustion and sleep difficulties over one year. We also examined whether detachment attenuates the relationship between high workload and these outcomes both cross-sectionally and over time. Questionnaire data with 1722 respondents at Time 1 and 1182 respondents at Time 2 were collected. We used a latent change score approach to analyse the data in order to identify intra-individual change among the studied constructs. Our results showed that high workload and low detachment at baseline were related to an increase in exhaustion over one year. Additionally, an increase in workload and a decrease in detachment were related to a simultaneous increase in exhaustion over time. Low detachment, but not high workload, was related to an increase in sleep difficulties over time, and a decrease in detachment across one year was rela...

Edvinsson J., Hartig T., Mathiassen S.E., Pagard S., Jahncke H., Hallman D.M.

Objective: Psychological detachment facilitates recovery from work, but detachment is sometimes difficult in flexible work arrangements (FWAs). This study examined the effects of a co-created two-step workplace intervention that introduced new work strategies to facilitate psychological detachment and promote recovery in office workers with FWAs. The intervention comprised an individual-level course on digital tools and work strategies, followed by a workgroup-level workshop to develop common rules and routines in FWAs. Methods: Office workers with FWAs in a Swedish governmental agency (intervention group, n = 97; control group, n = 70) completed a web-based questionnaire on three occasions between 2018 and 2020: at baseline 3 months before the intervention; after the individual-level course 6 months after baseline, and after the workgroup-level workshop 12 months after baseline. Effects of the intervention on need for recovery (NFR) as mediated by psychological detachment, and moderation of these effects by baseline NFR, were estimated with adjustment for covariates. Results: At the 6- and 12-month follow-ups, we found no unmoderated statistically significant changes in NFR mediated by psychological detachment. However, the intervention appeared more beneficial for employees with high baseline NFR compared to those with low NFR, with moderated mediation by detachment at the 12-month follow-up. Conclusions: Introducing new work strategies and common rules and routines for flexible work may be an effective intervention to facilitate detachment and reduce the need for recovery among office workers with particularly high needs.

Li J., Ma X., Pan W., Ke H., Xiao Z.

Abstract Background Heavy work requirements can lead to significant increases in depression anxiety and stress among hospital staff. However, there is limited research considering the role of work recovery (WR) and rumination in this relationship, particularly how poor WR can create a vicious cycle of negative psychological outcomes for medical staff. Objective In this cross-sectional observational study, the aim is to explore high-risk WR classes among hospital staff. By constructing chain mediation models according to the WR classes, the study seeks to identify which class of medical staff is most affected by work requirements in terms of mental distress, and to examine the chain mediation effects of rumination and WR classes. Methods The cross-sectional observational study utilized Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to investigate the relationships among various constructs. It employed the Work Requirements Scale (WRS), the Recovery - Stress Questionnaire (RESTQ), the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS), and the Revised Emotion Control Questionnaire (RECQ) to survey a sample of 889 hospital staff at a tertiary hospital. Results The findings revealed three distinct WR classes among hospital staff. Significant associations were found between work requirements and mental distress among medical staff in the low and moderate WR classes. Additionally, in these two classes, there were significant relationships in which rumination and WR classes had a chain-mediated nature about work requirements and mental distress. This suggests that future intervention studies should focus on these two classes and develop psychological health interventions for hospital staff according to different WR classes.

Kim M., Beehr T.A., Brough P., Troth A.C.

De Witte H., Schaufeli W.

Bresett M., Emanuel D.C., Gambino A.

Purpose: Recent research suggests that personality traits may be associated with occupational stress for audiologists, but this relationship had not been examined prior to this study. Method: The Audiologist Occupational Stress Questionnaire (AOSQ; Severn et al., 2012), informal stress ratings, the Core Self-Evaluations Scale (CSES; Judge et al., 2003), and demographic questions were administered via Qualtrics to 307 U.S. audiologists. Results: There was a significant inverse relationship between AOSQ and CSES scores indicating that positive personality traits were associated with lower occupational stress scores. Occupational stress was related to certain demographics, including years of experience, level of business involvement, and percent of time spent in direct patient care. Informal ratings indicated participants who reported high stress level for an “average day” reported high stress levels also for their “worst day.” AOSQ scores were significantly correlated with informal ratings, suggesting informal questions could provide a quick indicator of stress level to monitor audiologists' stress. Stress themes that emerged from qualitative analyses were Workload, Lack of Support, Patients, Administration, Financials, and Changes to Audiology. Conclusions: Personality traits were related to occupational stress, suggesting an assessment of personality traits, plus certain work-related demographics, may provide an early indicator of audiologists at risk for high levels of occupational stress. Stress themes and current strategies used by audiologists that were identified in this study provide an indication of areas in which individuals, the profession, and employers could focus efforts toward improving audiologists' well-being. Supplemental Material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.28318973

Vilhunen E., Kiuru N., Mäkikangas A., Vasalampi K., Kastarinen P., Rantanen J.

Abstract The present study introduces a circumplex model of study well-being as an application of occupational well-being research to a higher education context. Accordingly, the first aim was to identify what kind of study well-being profiles (SWP), representing different levels and combinations of study engagement, burnout, satisfaction, holism, and boredom; there are among university students and how stable the SWPs are during the academic school year. The second aim was to investigate how the identified SWPs are related to students’ recovery strategies and perceived academic performance. A total of 812 Finnish university students filled in an e-survey at the end of the fall semester (T1) and 316 of them did it again at the end of the spring semester (T2). Latent transition analysis revealed altogether four SWPs (at T1/T2): Moderate (44/42%), Engaged-Satisfied (26/25%), Engaged-Holists (17/17%) and Bored-Burned out (13/16%). Latent transition analysis showed that the detected SWPs were highly stable: 86% of the participants remained in their SWP across the academic year. However, where transitions occurred from one profile to another, they were mainly from better to worse. Furthermore, the results showed that students from Moderate or Engaged-Satisfied profiles reported more beneficial recovery strategies and experienced better academic performance than students from Engaged-Holists or Bored-Burned out profiles. In conclusion, this study highlights that study engagement and holism can co-exist, particularly in performance-oriented, success-tracking, and evaluative environments such as academia, without necessarily advancing academic performance and posing a threat to recovery from study-related stress.

Sayre G., Chi N., Grandey A.

ABSTRACTIn service work, emotional labor is primarily performed by surface acting (modifying expressions) and deep acting (modifying moods). Deep acting is clearly more effective for performance and less costly to health, raising the question—why do employees use the less effective strategy of surface acting? Conservation of resources theory suggests that when employees lack sufficient energy resources, they are more likely to conserve resources and rely on less effective surface acting, which creates future resource loss (i.e., a loss spiral). We test this spiral prediction, while also integrating the effort‐recovery model to propose after‐work activities as a means of slowing resource loss spirals. Across two experience sampling studies of full‐time service workers, we find support for a resource loss spiral through surface acting in Study 1 and partial support in Study 2. Further, low‐effort activities like relaxing after work allowed employees to slow the loss spirals from surface acting in both studies. We conclude that the “poor get poorer” (maintaining surface acting) over time, whereas recovery after work effectively breaks the loss spiral of surface acting. Our study expands theoretical understanding of the resource‐based view of emotional labor and practical advice for how to replenish workers' resources over time.

Kyei-Poku I., Orozco Quijano E.P.

PurposeThis study investigates the influence of supervisor incivility on two important employee health-related outcomes–somatic complaints and emotional exhaustion. Similarly, the study examines the role of affective rumination as a mediator between the supervisor incivility–somatic complaints and emotional exhaustion relationship.Design/methodology/approachWe collected data in three phases, separated by an interval of four weeks. The final sample comprised 154 employees from diverse occupations and professions. Partial least squares–structural equation modelling was used to examine the research model.FindingsEmployees’ perceptions of supervisor incivility increased somatic complaints and emotional exhaustion experiences. Moreover, drawing on the conservation of resources and the effort-recovery theories, we found support for the mediating role of affective rumination for somatic complaints but not for emotional exhaustion.Practical implicationsTo help protect organizations from financial and productivity losses related to supervisor incivility, we encouraged organizations to be aware of supervisors’ uncivil behaviours and provide training on how to deal with such behaviours. We further advise organizations to coach supervisors on uncivil prevention and the importance of modelling proper behaviours.Originality/valueThis study expands the limited knowledge of supervisor incivility and health outcomes. Specifically, using a time-lagged design, the findings show that affective rumination is an essential mechanism for understanding the impact of supervisor incivility on health outcomes. Moreover, understanding how supervisor incivility impacts employee health outcomes is vital for advancing theory and designing interventions to mitigate adverse effects.

ten Brummelhuis L., Calderwood C., Rosen C., Gabriel A.

ABSTRACTUnderlying the “ideal worker” image that pervades many organizational cultures is the assumption that working longer hours equates to higher performance, despite recovery research that suggests that long work hours might actually impair future work performance. In an effort to reconcile these differences in how long work hours are thought to relate to job performance, we develop and test a conceptual model in which daily boosts in same‐day performance associated with working longer hours could be offset by lower next‐day performance. More specifically, we examine if working a longer day than usual reduces sleep, which has the potential to diminish physical (i.e., physical energy) and psychological (i.e., resilience) resources the next morning, consequently impairing next‐day work performance. In a 5‐day experience sampling study of 67 employee–coworker dyads (276 days), using sleep data from a wearable device (i.e., Fitbit) in combination with daily self‐report surveys and coworker performance ratings, results indicated that daily work hours were positively related to same‐day work performance. Our results further indicated that work hours were negatively related to next‐day work performance through reduced sleep duration and morning resilience, but not through diminished physical energy. Together, our findings indicate that although employees may experience same‐day performance gains related to working long hours, they also may pay a price the following day, as longer workdays prevent employees from recovering overnight.

Almén N., Svensson S., Ekroth M., Jansson B.

Dianita O., Higashimaki T., Abe R., Ueda K., Ishii H., Shimoda H., Obayashi F.

Hernandez I., Söderström M., Rudman A., Dahlgren A.

The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to increased pressure on healthcare systems. During periods when the demands exceed the capacity of healthcare organizations, adaptive strategies are used to meet these demands. During the COVID-19 pandemic, working hours for nursing staff were reorganized and extended. This has posed challenges for recovery, which may be a key factor for maintaining health and safety under such conditions.

Saud J., Rice J.

This study investigates the moderating effects of teamwork and employee wellbeing policies on the relationship between workplace stress and burnout within the Australian Public Service (APS). Using data from a large-scale cross-sectional survey conducted in 2022, we examine how both strong team support and organizational wellbeing policies buffer the negative impacts of increased work stress on burnout likelihood. The findings indicate that high levels of both teamwork and wellbeing significantly reduce the likelihood of burnout in high-stress environments. Conversely, the absence of either or both factors tends to relatively exacerbate burnout risk. In addition, employee age is found to negatively correlate with burnout, while role seniority is associated with higher burnout likelihood. Gender differences suggest female employees report slightly higher burnout rates. The results provide valuable insights into organizational strategies for reducing burnout likelihood. In a practical sense they highlight the importance of fostering supportive team environments while also implementing comprehensive wellbeing initiatives in high-stress work environments.

Blondel T., Alfes K., Lup D.

ABSTRACTResearch has shown that thriving at work leads to positive outcomes for both organizations and employees. A critical element of thriving is self‐regulation, which enables employees to effectively manage their emotions and behaviors in alignment with their long‐term goals. However, there is a limited understanding of how employees experience thriving when self‐regulation is impaired. In this article, we integrate thriving theory and one of its central elements, self‐regulation, with research on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) which has shown that the condition is associated with reduced and sometimes severely impaired self‐regulation. Empirically, we explore how employees with ADHD experience thriving at work using a qualitative study of working individuals. In contrast to previous findings, our study uncovers a dark side of thriving for employees with ADHD, with negative consequences for their wellbeing and growth opportunities, and ultimately an increased likelihood of voluntary quitting. In our analysis, we explain why, despite an initial positive boost in productivity, thriving ends up being a harmful process for employees with ADHD. We argue that low self‐regulation, together with low self‐esteem and fear of failure, drive them to work excessively and neglect caring for themselves and their families. We develop recommendations for employees with ADHD and their companies to stop this negative downward spiral.

Wach D., Schermuly C.C., Kirschbaum C., Wegge J.

This study advances research on the nexus of business insolvency and entrepreneurs’ well-being. We broadly build upon the Conservation of Resources Theory (COR) and explore the severity of the impact of firm insolvency on subjective well-being, stress hormones, and physiological recovery. To test our hypotheses, we compared entrepreneurs operating in 51 businesses affected by insolvency with 51 entrepreneurs in a control group. We conducted our study in Germany, where legal regulations surrounding insolvency are relatively unfavorable for those affected. Our findings indicate that entrepreneurs facing insolvency experience lower psychological well-being, greater vital exhaustion, higher stress hormone levels, and, as revealed by supplementary analyses, poorer risk adjustment. Our study complemented entrepreneurs’ self-reports with objective methods to examine entrepreneurial well-being in times of hardship from three perspectives: psychological, biological, and physiological. Although exploratory, our study provides relevant insights into potential repercussions of business failure. JEL CLASSIFICATION: I10; L26; G01