The Lingering Curvilinear Effect of Workload on Employee Rumination and Negative Emotions: A Diary Study

Details

• Personal Author:
  Kessler SR ; Krajcevska A ; Pindek S ; Spector PE ; Zhou ZE
• Description:
  A high workload has long been considered a harmful stressor that adversely affects employees. In the current study, we propose that work underload also has negative implications for employees, and that there is a curvilinear relationship between daily workload and rumination. These negative consequences can carry over to the next day. We collected data from a sample of 137 employees over the course of 9 days to examine how deviations from employees' average workload impacts their negative rumination at the conclusion of the workday and their negative emotions the following morning. Results of the multilevel analyses indicated that daily workload had a significant curvilinear, J-shaped association with subsequent evening negative rumination that carries over into the following day in the form of higher negative emotions. These effects were stronger for employees with high levels of trait negative affectivity. Our findings suggest that while the effect of upward deviation from the typical workload is worse for employee rumination and subsequent negative emotions than the effect of downward deviation, deviations in either direction have negative effects on employees, especially for individuals with high levels of trait negative affectivity. In conclusion, this study highlights the importance of examining daily fluctuation in workload. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Mental Health Occupational Health Safety Stress, Psychological Workplace
• Keywords:
  Activation Theory Author Keywords: Curvilinear Daily Diary Job Stress Negative Emotions Negative Rumination Occupational Psychology Psychological Effects Work Environment Work Experience Workload Work Organization

  More +
• ISSN:
  0267-8373
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Florida ; Georgia ; New York ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 4
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  292-311
• Volume:
  36
• Issue:
  3
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20067984
• Citation:
  Work Stress 2022 Jul; 36(3):292-311
• Contact Point Address:
  Shani Pindek, Department of Human Services, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
• Email:
  pshani@gmail.com
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2022
• Performing Organization:
  Sunshine Education and Research Center, University of South Florida
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Work and Stress
• End Date:
  20290630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:dcc0cb110bbcf0b3576e8408709d08ce9273a9a24daf80baef09907c822e6819db9018bacc943aa49baf3930b6b21bec9faf0f6e573fc8354613207fc375496f
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/230215/cdc_230215_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.82 MB ]