However, it is just as likely that ICT use may result from a lack of detachment, which dovetails with Sonnentag and Fritz’s ( 2015) proposition in the stressor-detachment model that impaired detachment can also induce dysfunctional behaviors such as continued work. Thus, we do not know if ICT use was the actual cause or rather the consequence of poor detachment. Instead, it needs to be investigated as a behavioral outcome that employees engage in when they cannot detach from work.ĭespite the fact that many previous studies have employed experience sampling methods, such as daily diaries, they have mostly examined cross-sectional relationships between detachment and ICT use (i.e., the study variables were assessed at the same time). Thus, our findings suggest that work-related ICT use should not be treated as a stressor in its own right in the stressor-detachment model. Furthermore, our results support the notion that unfinished work tasks precede ICT use and detachment. These results applied both to planned and unplanned ICT use.
We found no evidence for reversed lagged effects. Contrary to current research consensus but in line with our expectations, we found that low psychological detachment increased work-related ICT use and task progress. We also investigated the role of unfinished work tasks because we assumed, based on boundary theory, that they are a driving force leading to impaired detachment and work-related ICT use in the evening. In this 5-day diary study, we implemented a day-level longitudinal model to shed light on the causal relationships between work-related ICT use, detachment, and task progress ( N = 340 employees, N = 1289 day-level cases). However, since most of the studies to date have assessed cross-sectional relationships, little is known about the actual direction of effects. Based on the stressor-detachment model, previous research has assumed that work-related ICT use in the evening impairs psychological detachment.
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