ABSTRACT

Work interruptions are contemporary job stressors that occur frequently in the workplace. Theories on work interruptions and the stressor–strain relationship over time suggest that work interruptions should have a lagged negative effect on well-being. However, we argue that continued changes in work interruptions may also be important for employees’ well-being. We investigated the mid- and long-term effects of work interruptions on employee job satisfaction and psychosomatic complaints across two studies (Study 1: N = 415, four waves over five years; Study 2: N = 663, five waves over eight months). Using latent growth modelling, we predicted job satisfaction and psychosomatic complaints with respect to the level of, and changes in, interruptions. Controlling for initial well-being, we found that the mean levels (intercepts) of work interruptions had negative effects on later well-being in Study 1, but not in Study 2. However, increases in interruptions over time (slopes) predicted later well-being consistently. An analysis on reversed effects revealed that only the initial level of psychosomatic complaints positively predicted work interruptions. The studies underscore not only the importance of interruptions for well-being over time in general, but also the particular importance of exposure to increases in interruptions.

摘要

工作中断是当代工作压力源，经常在工作场所发生。关于工作中断以及随着时间的推移应力与应变关系的理论表明，工作中断应对幸福感产生滞后的负面影响。但是，我们认为工作中断的持续变化对于员工的幸福感也可能很重要。我们在两项研究中调查了工作中断对员工工作满意度和心身不适的中长期影响（研究1：N  = 415，五年内进行了四次调查；研究2：N = 663，八个月中有五次浪潮）。使用潜在的增长模型，我们就中断的程度和变化预测了工作满意度和心身不适。控制最初的幸福感，我们发现工作中断的平均水平（截距）在研究1中对以后的幸福感具有负面影响，但在研究2中却没有。但是，随着时间的推移（中断）的增加会预测以后的良好状态。 -始终如一。对逆向影响的分析表明，只有心身不适的初始水平可以积极预测工作中断。这些研究不仅着重强调了打扰对于长期幸福的重要性，而且强调了打扰的可能性越来越大。