Graduation Year

2013

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Ph.D.

Degree Granting Department

Psychology

Major Professor

Tammy D. Allen

Keywords

daily diary study, dual earner couples, job characteristics, off-job activities, psychological detachment, relaxation

Abstract

Acknowledging the critical role that occupational factors play in employee health, researchers have tried to understand ways to reduce the harmful effects of work on employee health. As the process by which individuals recharge resources that have been depleted, recovery has been recognized as important due to its potential to mitigate the negative effects of work on employee well-being. Although the recovery literature has continued to grow, many questions remain unanswered. The purpose of the present study was to expand our knowledge of recovery by examining situational (job characteristics) and individual (trait guilt) predictors of recovery and investigating psychological attributes of off-job activities. An experience sampling design was used to understand relationships among focal variables at day level. Hypotheses were tested using the data from 99 full-time employees living with a full-time working spouse and at least one dependent. The results suggest that daily job characteristics serve an important role in recovery such that they relate to recovery experiences of psychological detachment and relaxation. However, job characteristics did not have significant relationships with the choice of off-job activities. With regard to subjective experiences of off-job activities, findings demonstrated considerable variance across individuals. Further, psychological attributes of off-job activities were found to relate to recovery experiences although the results were not always consistent with expectation. Next, little support was found for the moderating role of trait guilt in the relationship between job characteristics and off-job activities. Finally, consistent with previous research, recovery experiences related to better well-being outcomes.

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