TY - JOUR
T1 - Investigating the nature of psychological reattachment to work in the morning
T2 - A qualitative study
AU - Schleupner, Ricarda
AU - Kühnel, Jana
AU - Melchers, Klaus G.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2024/3/5
Y1 - 2024/3/5
N2 - Psychological reattachment to work means mentally reconnecting with one’s work before or upon returning to work in the morning. Recent studies revealed its potential to boost daily work engagement, demonstrating its relevance to research and practice. Despite this, no studies have explored the components of psychological reattachment and why and how employees reattach to their work. Yet, to expand the theoretical understanding of psychological reattachment and to apply its potential in practice, it is crucial to dive deeper into the details around this process. Therefore, this study employs a qualitative approach to test existing theoretical assumptions on psychological reattachment, uncover additional manifestations of psychological reattachment, examine its unfolding process, and identify potential predictors, benefits, and drawbacks. Our methodological procedure comprises the multi-coding of qualitative material from 35 employees with diverse backgrounds. One of our main findings is that when anticipating upcoming demands during the workday, employees also anticipate how to meet those demands. Furthermore, the more demands are expected, the longer it takes employees to mentally reattach to their work. This hints at how psychological reattachment might resemble a preventive coping mechanism for job demands during the day.
AB - Psychological reattachment to work means mentally reconnecting with one’s work before or upon returning to work in the morning. Recent studies revealed its potential to boost daily work engagement, demonstrating its relevance to research and practice. Despite this, no studies have explored the components of psychological reattachment and why and how employees reattach to their work. Yet, to expand the theoretical understanding of psychological reattachment and to apply its potential in practice, it is crucial to dive deeper into the details around this process. Therefore, this study employs a qualitative approach to test existing theoretical assumptions on psychological reattachment, uncover additional manifestations of psychological reattachment, examine its unfolding process, and identify potential predictors, benefits, and drawbacks. Our methodological procedure comprises the multi-coding of qualitative material from 35 employees with diverse backgrounds. One of our main findings is that when anticipating upcoming demands during the workday, employees also anticipate how to meet those demands. Furthermore, the more demands are expected, the longer it takes employees to mentally reattach to their work. This hints at how psychological reattachment might resemble a preventive coping mechanism for job demands during the day.
KW - boundary management
KW - Psychological reattachment
KW - qualitative research
KW - role transitions
KW - work–nonwork interface
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85187111489&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/1359432X.2024.2319908
DO - 10.1080/1359432X.2024.2319908
M3 - Article
SN - 1359-432X
VL - 33
SP - 446
EP - 461
JO - European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology
JF - European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology
IS - 4
ER -