Protect Your Sleep When Work is Calling: How Work-Related Smartphone Use During Non-Work Time and Sleep Quality Impact Next-Day Self-Control Processes at Work

Lilian Gombert, Anne-Kathrin Konze, Wladislaw Rivkin and Klaus-Helmut Schmidt
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Lilian Gombert: Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors at the Technical University Dortmund, 44139 Dortmund, Germany
Anne-Kathrin Konze: Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors at the Technical University Dortmund, 44139 Dortmund, Germany
Wladislaw Rivkin: Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors at the Technical University Dortmund, 44139 Dortmund, Germany
Klaus-Helmut Schmidt: Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors at the Technical University Dortmund, 44139 Dortmund, Germany

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 8, 1-15

Abstract: In view of the rapid development of information and communication technologies, the present study sheds light on how work-related smartphone use during non-work time affects employees’ subsequent working day. Specifically, we examine work-related smartphone use and sleep quality as moderators of next-day self-control processes at work. Theorizing that work-related smartphone use and self-control demands deplete a common limited regulatory resource, we suggest a strengthening two-way interaction between work-related smartphone use during non-work time and next-day self-control demands at work in predicting employees’ ego depletion at work. Moreover, in a three-way interaction, we analyze whether this interaction depends on employees’ sleep quality, assuming that when intensive work-related smartphone use is followed by high-quality sleep, the taxed regulatory resource can replenish overnight. Results from our diary study covering 10 working days ( n = 63) indicate that after evenings with high work-related smartphone use, employees experience disproportionate levels of ego depletion when dealing with self-control demands at work. Sleep quality, however, attenuates this interaction. In cases of high sleep quality, next-day self-control processes at work are no longer affected by work-related smartphone use. Based on these findings, we discuss implications for employees and employers regarding work-related smartphone use and the relevance of sleep in replenishing drained resources.

Keywords: daily diary study; ego depletion; self-control; sleep; spillover; three-way interaction; work-related smartphone use (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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