When do you procrastinate? Sleep quality and social sleep lag jointly predict self-regulatory failure at work

Autor(en)
Jana Kühnel, Ronald Bledow, Nicolas Feuerhahn
Abstrakt

This study investigates antecedents of procrastination, the tendency to delay the initiation or completion of work activities. We examine this phenomenon from a self-regulation perspective and argue that depleted self-regulatory resources are an important pathway to explain why and when employees procrastinate. The restoration of self-regulatory resources during episodes of non-work is a prerequisite for the ability to initiate action at work. As sleep offers the opportunity to replenish self-regulatory resources, employees should procrastinate more after nights with low-quality sleep and shorter sleep duration. We further propose that people's social sleep lag amplifies this relationship. Social sleep lag arises if individuals' preference for sleep and wake times, known as their chronotype, is misaligned with their work schedule. Over five consecutive workdays, 154 participants completed a diary study comprising online questionnaires. Multilevel analyses showed that employees procrastinated less on days when they had slept better. The more employees suffered from social sleep lag, the more they procrastinated when sleep quality was low. Day-specific sleep duration, by contrast, was not related to procrastination. We discuss the role of sleep for procrastination in the short run and relate our findings to research highlighting the role of sleep for well-being in the long run.

Organisation(en)
Externe Organisation(en)
Universität Ulm, Singapore Management University, Verwaltungs-Berufsgenossenschaft
Journal
Journal of Organizational Behavior
Band
37
Seiten
983-1002
Anzahl der Seiten
20
ISSN
0894-3796
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2084
Publikationsdatum
10-2016
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
501002 Angewandte Psychologie
Schlagwörter
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
Psychology(all), Applied Psychology, Sociology and Political Science, Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/when-do-you-procrastinate-sleep-quality-and-social-sleep-lag-jointly-predict-selfregulatory-failure-at-work(e4577c49-f41a-411f-810c-cbb3c0ecec7c).html