Reattachment to work in the morning and day-level leader outcomes

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Highlights

  • Mentally reconnecting with work in the morning provides positive affect and focus.

  • Positive affect and focus foster well-being and job performance.

  • Organizations can help leaders and employees reconnect with work.

Abstract

Successfully reattaching to work (i.e., mentally reconnecting) after a nonwork period can set the tone for the workday. This study examines anticipated task focus and activated positive affect as mechanisms linking leaders’ reattachment to work in the morning to leader experiences and behaviors throughout the workday. Based on daily-survey data from 416 leaders (2646 total morning/evening survey completions), we conducted multilevel structural equation modeling to test our hypotheses. Results indicate that day-level reattachment to work in the morning was associated with anticipated task focus and activated positive affect, which in turn were both associated with leader workplace vitality and transformational leadership behavior. Hypotheses regarding leader task accomplishment were not supported. Supplementary analyses indicated that reattachment was indirectly related to perceived task accomplishment through a two-stage mediation – i.e., via anticipated task focus in the morning and actual task focus throughout the workday. Findings point to the important role of reattachment to work in leader experiences and behaviors throughout the workday. Results also indicate the relevance of reattachment to work as an experience and potential strategy that helps leaders successfully move from nonwork to work domains creating positive outcomes for themselves and their followers throughout the workday.

Introduction

Considering that it is important for employees to be “tuned into” work during work hours, it is important to understand how employees transition back into “work mode” after a phase of psychological detachment (i.e., mentally disconnecting) from work during nonwork time. Reattachment to work can include thinking about which tasks to accomplish and how to do so, or anticipating which opportunities or challenges one will be faced with that day and how they can impact how the day unfolds (Rothbard & Wilk, 2011). Employees can intentionally reattach to work at the beginning of the workday thereby facilitating the transition from the nonwork to the work role (Hall & Richter, 1988). Thus, employees can implement reattachment to work as a self-regulatory behavior to create positive work outcomes during the day (Breevaart, Bakker, & Demerouti, 2014a). Accordingly, initial research indicates that actively reattaching to work in the morning is associated with higher work engagement throughout the workday (Sonnentag, Eck, Fritz, & Kühnel, 2020; Sonnentag & Kühnel, 2016). In this study, we focus on reattachment in leaders. Leaders have complex and sometimes competing demands at work and their behaviors not only impact their own work experiences and performance but also those of their followers. Reattachment to work may be associated with positive leader experiences at the beginning of the workday that can “set the tone” for the upcoming workday. Therefore, successfully reattaching to work at the beginning of the workday may facilitate leader as well as employee outcomes during the workday. Specifically, we propose that reattachment to work allows leaders to mentally reconnect to work, thereby facilitating the states of anticipated task focus and activated positive affect in the morning of the workday. We hypothesize that leaders’ reattachment to work in the morning will be indirectly associated within increased transformational leadership behavior, task accomplishment, and workplace vitality throughout the workday via anticipated task focus and positive activated affect in the morning.

Our study contributes to past research in multiple ways. First, our study adds to the literature on leadership, particularly to research on day-level leader experiences and behaviors, which is still in its infancy (McClean, Barnes, Courtright, & Johnson, 2019). We focus on transient behaviors (reattachment) and transient positive states (positive affect and anticipated task focus) as antecedents of day-level leader experiences (workplace vitality) and behaviors (transformational leadership behavior and task accomplishment) thereby adding to the so far limited research on relationships between transient leader states and day-level leader outcomes. Research so far indicates that about half of the variance in leader behaviors is due to within-person variability (Johnson, Lanaj, & Barnes, 2014; Johnson, Venus, Lanaj, Mao, & Chang, 2012; Liao, Yam, Johnson, Liu, & Song, 2018; Rosen et al., 2019). Given the potential impact of daily fluctuations in leadership behavior on employee well-being (Winkler, Busch, Clasen, & Vowinkel, 2015) it is important to understand the potential drivers of these fluctuations.

Second, our study contributes to the literature on transitions between work and nonwork domains (Allen, Cho, & Meier, 2014) by examining reattachment to work as an activity that helps leaders transition from the nonwork to the work domain (Ashforth, Kreiner, & Fugate, 2000). Given that research examining the links between leader nonwork experiences and their experiences at work as well as the work experiences of their followers is still limited (for an exception, see Barnes, Guarana, Nauman, & Kong, 2016), it is crucial to understand which experiences help leaders reconnect to work in the morning and create positive outcomes for themselves and their employees. We suggest that the transition to the work domain in the morning can impact the unfolding of a leader's workday with regard to a variety of leader experiences and outcomes.

Third, our study expands the emerging literature on reattachment to work by focusing reattachment in leaders and by examining a wider range of day-level outcomes of reattachment. Specifically, by examining day-level transformational leadership behavior, workplace vitality, and task accomplishment, we capture affective as well as behavioral leader outcomes. We thereby expand the criterion domain for reattachment and follow Sonnentag et al.’s (2020) call for the examination of additional outcomes of day-level reattachment. Furthermore, by proposing and empirically testing pathways that link reattachment to work in the morning to leader outcomes throughout the workday, our study provides a more comprehensive understanding of the processes included in reattachment to work. Our mediators cover affective as well as cognitive aspects of the reattachment process. Thus, both mediators provide a better understanding of the extent to which mentally reconnecting to work can foster a state of mind that translates into higher well-being and performance-related outcomes for leaders and potentially their followers.

Reattachment to work refers to rebuilding a mental connection with work after a nonwork period (e.g., a free evening or a weekend; Sonnentag & Kühnel, 2016) during which thoughts about work are being activated in preparation for the workday (Gilbert & Wilson, 2007). It helps employees “tune into” work, anticipate the upcoming workday, and mentally prepare for it. Reattachment can also be seen as a boundary crossing activity during which employees transition from the nonwork to the work domain (Ashforth et al., 2000; Clark, 2000; Hall & Richter, 1988). Thus, when reattaching to work in the morning before work, employees bring work into their attentional focus again – for example, through planning out the upcoming workday or mentally simulating events and experiences at work that day (Gollwitzer, Fujita, & Oettingen, 2004; Szpunar, 2010). Reattachment to work may occur while still at home (e.g., thinking about the upcoming day during breakfast), during the commute (e.g., anticipating events at work that day), or when arriving at work (e.g., mentally running through the day's to-do-list after parking the car at work). Thus, in the context of work-nonwork transitions, reattachment to work after a period of nonwork time entails one's enacted transition back to work – a process which can vary from day to day and which relates to experiences and behaviors in the morning and throughout the workday. When reattaching to work, work-related goals become more salient (while nonwork goals become less salient), which facilitate the development of action plans and direct attention to opportunities and/or means by which to facilitate goal accomplishment (Sonnentag et al., 2020). The anticipation and optimism related to the action plans can then translate into positive affective states in the morning as well as positive experiences and behaviors throughout the workday.

In this study, we examine reattachment to work in the context of Conservation of Resources (COR) theory (Halbesleben, Neveu, Paustian-Underdahl, & Westman, 2014; Hobfoll, 1989, Hobfoll, 2001; Hobfoll, Halbesleben, Neveu, & Westman, 2018). COR theory proposes that people aim to obtain, retain, and protect resources (i.e., objects, conditions, characteristics, or energies that they value). The potential or actual loss of resources is perceived as stressful. One key principle of COR theory is the resource investment principle, which suggests that to gain resources, initial resources need to be invested. Many resource investments can include gaining as well as spending resources (Halbesleben et al., 2014; Ng & Feldman, 2012). In the context of our study, the act of reattaching to work at the beginning of a workday may serve as an investment of resources to facilitate resource gain throughout the workday. COR theory suggests that people invest resources to protect against or recover from resource loss and to gain resources (Hobfoll, 2001). Thus, reattachment to work in the morning can be considered an investment of resources (e.g., time and cognitive effort) that helps generate resources at the beginning of the workday (i.e., positive cognitive and affective states) as well as throughout the workday (i.e., well-being and goal achievement). In addition, resources at the beginning of the workday in form of positive cognitive and affective allows leaders to invest these resources into positive leader behaviors (i.e., transformational leadership) that can create positive outcomes for leaders and their followers. For example, attending to followers’ needs and creating a positive vision for the future require effort, time, and skills, that likely benefit from reattachment to work and the associated positive states in the morning.

Reattachment to work may facilitate leader experiences that help “set the tone” for the upcoming workday. Sonnentag et al. (2020) found that reattachment was positively associated with the activation of work-related goals in the morning which in turn was related to activated positive affect and anticipated focus in the morning. In the context of COR theory, reattachment to work in the morning may indicate the investment of resources (time and mental effort) at the beginning of the day to create resources immediately. These resources may be cognitive (i.e., anticipated task focus) or affective (i.e., activated positive affect) in nature.

Building on Sonnentag et al.’s (2020) findings, we propose that leader's reattachment to work at the beginning of the workday will be positively associated with anticipated task focus. Anticipated task focus refers to the expectation that one will be able to focus attention on the tasks to be accomplished and has been associated with successful performance (Lee, Sheldon, & Turban, 2003). Task focus itself includes the maintenance of concentration in order to accomplish tasks (Brown, Westbrook, & Challagalla, 2005). In the context of COR theory, anticipated task focus can be described as a resource-rich state that encourages individuals to invest resources and to gain additional resources (Halbesleben et al., 2014; Hobfoll, 1998, Hobfoll, 2001).

While reattaching to work and thinking about the upcoming workday, employees mentally disconnect from nonwork topics and instead shift their attention to work (Sonnentag et al., 2020). Thus, reattaching to work in the morning fosters the expectation of being able to focus on work tasks during the workday and signals to employees that this investment of resources may be linked to the gain of resources throughout the workday.

We further suggest that reattachment to work in the morning will be positively related to activated positive affect at the beginning of the workday. Activated positive affect is characterized by positive valence (i.e., pleasantness) and high arousal (Yik, Russell, & Steiger, 2011). It includes feelings of enthusiasm, energy, and alertness (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988). Reattaching to work in the morning involves planning how to be involved at work that day, which fosters confidence and, by association, activated positive affect (Fisher, Minbashian, Beckmann, & Wood, 2013). Planning out which work tasks to accomplish that day and how to accomplish them can foster perceived goal progress thereby enhancing positive affective states (Scott, Colquitt, Paddock, & Judge, 2010; Zohar, Tzischinski, & Epstein, 2003). While not all work-related thoughts during reattachment to work may be positive, reattachment may be used to anticipate and prepare for potential negative events at work that day (Gross, 1998; Mauss, Bunge, & Gross, 2007; Taylor, Pham, Rivkin, & Armor, 1998), resulting in higher positive activated states such as increased feelings of energy (Rivkin & Taylor, 1999).

While reattachment may require investment of resources such as time and attention, it also facilitates the creation of personal resources at the day-level, namely positive affect and the confidence that one will be able to focus on work that day. The positive states in the morning are considered resources in that they can help facilitate additional resource gain throughout the workday. Thus, we hypothesize that reattachment to work in the morning will be associated with increased anticipated task focus and activated positive affect in the morning.

Hypothesis 1

Reattachment to work in the morning is positively associated with a) anticipated task focus and b) activated positive affect in the morning.

In this study, we will examine relationships between leaders’ psychological states in the morning (i.e., anticipated task focus, activated positive affect) and three leader outcomes during the workday: transformational leadership behavior, task accomplishment, and workplace vitality.

In this study, we focus on transformational leadership behavior because it is one of the most extensively studied leadership constructs and encompasses a wider range of leader behaviors than many other leadership constructs (e.g., ethical leadership, authentic leadership, etc.). Past research has generally indicated links with a variety of employee job attitudes, job performance, and well-being indicators (Arnold, 2017; Derue, Nahrgang, Wellman, & Humphrey, 2011; Dulebohn, Bommer, Liden, Brouer, & Ferris, 2012; Kelloway & Barling, 2010; Skakon, Nielsen, Borg, & Guzman, 2010; Wang, Oh, Courtright, & Colbert, 2011). Transformational leadership encompasses idealized influence (i.e. acting as a role model and in accordance with organizational values), inspirational motivation (i.e., communicating a clear vision for the future and maintaining high expectations for goal achievement), intellectual stimulation (i.e., openness to new ways of accomplishing goals and encouraging employees to apply creative solutions to problems), and individualized consideration (i.e., considering employees’ unique skills, goals, and needs; Barling, Christie, & Hoption, 2011; Bass, 1985). While research has long suggested that leadership varies dynamically within person and across situations (Day, Sin, & Chen, 2004; Druskat & Wheeler, 2003), to date, relatively few studies have focused on individuals’ day-to-day enactment of leadership including transformational leadership behavior (McClean et al., 2019). In the context of COR theory, day-level transformational leadership behavior can be seen as the leader's investment of resources (e.g., time, effort, skills) aimed at future resource gain (e.g., follower satisfaction and performance or positive performance appraisals of the leader).

Initial research in this area has focused mostly on day-level employee outcomes of transformational leadership, such as day-level follower well-being (Winkler et al., 2015), follower work engagement (Breevaart et al., 2014b; Breevaart & Bakker, 2018; Tims, Bakker, & Xanthopoulou, 2011), job crafting (i.e., increasing structural and social resources; Hetland, Hetland, Bakker, & Demerouti, 2018), and proactive behavior (i.e., personal initiative; Kuonath, Specht, Kühnel, Pachler, & Frey, 2017). With regard to day-level antecedents of transformational leadership, research is still wanting. Yet, growing research evidence points to the importance of transient psychological states and behaviors for fluctuations in leadership behavior from day to day. In their summary of literature on day-level leadership behavior (including transformational leadership), McClean et al. (2019) point to the role of transient situational factors at work (e.g., time pressure) and outside-of-work (e.g., sleep) as well as transient psychological states (e.g., self-regulatory resources or motives) as antecedents of daily enactment of leadership behaviors. Our study builds on this initial research by focusing on transient behavior and positive states as antecedents of day-level transformational leadership behavior.

We propose that anticipated task focus at work will facilitate leaders’ interactions with their employees and bring to mind their leadership role, including related tasks and goals. From a COR theory perspective, anticipated task focus can be considered a resource-rich state. According to COR theory, individuals with resources are in a better position to invest these resources and to gain additional resources (Halbesleben et al., 2014; Hobfoll, 1998, Hobfoll, 2001). Thus, anticipated task focus facilitates additional resource investment as well as resource gain becoming visible in leader behaviors throughout the workday. That is, when leaders direct their attention to their role as a leader, they become more attuned to their interactions with followers and are better able to support their followers’ goals and needs, as well as the goals and visions of their work group and organization. Thus, we hypothesize that leaders’ anticipated task focus in the morning will be positively associated with their transformational leadership behavior throughout the workday.

Leader task accomplishment refers to leaders’ perceptions of their success in dealing with job demands and fulfilling expectations connected to their work role (Jimmieson & Terry, 1997; Sonnentag, Reinecke, Mata, & Vorderer, 2017). At the day level, task accomplishment is thus an indicator of perceived goal progress or achievement. When aggregated across workdays, it stands to reason that daily task accomplishment contributes to overall job performance and career success.

In the context of COR theory, the state of anticipated task focus can be seen as a resource-rich state that encourages leaders to investment resources throughout the day to gain additional resources. As a result, leaders will be more likely to maintain focus on and attention to work tasks throughout the day (Beal, Weiss, Barros, & MacDermid, 2005). Such focus and attention to work tasks facilitate task absorption (Rothbard, 2001), which ultimately enhances task accomplishment throughout the workday. Thus, we hypothesize that leaders’ anticipated task focus in the morning will be associated with increased task accomplishment throughout the workday.

Workplace vitality is defined as feeling energetic and alive at work (Nix, Ryan, Manly, & Deci, 1999). As an affective experience, workplace vitality is a key ingredient of thriving at work (Porath, Spreitzer, Gibson, & Garnett, 2012; Spreitzer, Sutcliffe, Dutton, Sonenshein, & Grant, 2005), which in turn is positively associated with employee outcomes such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job performance (Porath et al., 2012). Feelings of energy and enthusiasm at work, referred to as vigor, are also a component of work engagement. Work engagement facilitates a variety of employee outcomes including job performance (Christian, Garza, & Slaughter, 2011), health, and well-being (Crawford, LePine, & Rich, 2010; Leijten et al., 2015).

We propose that leaders’ anticipated task focus provides a sense of energy and enthusiasm, facilitating the attainment of goals throughout the workday. A sense of focus, perceptions of goal progress, and the associated sense of accomplishment are likely associated with feeling of vitality throughout the workday (Niessen, Sonnentag, & Sach, 2012; Spreitzer, Sutcliffe, Dutton, Sonenshein, & Grant, 2005). In the context of COR theory, anticipated task focus facilitates additional resource investment and resource gain throughout the workday. The resulting resource gain then becomes visible in increased workplace vitality that day. Thus, we hypothesize that leaders’ anticipated task focus in the morning will be associated with increased workplace vitality throughout the workday.

Hypothesis 2

Anticipated task focus in the morning will be positively associated with a) transformational leadership behavior, b) task accomplishment, and c) vitality throughout the workday.

Activated positive affect in the morning can help leaders approach work situations and tasks with a positive lens. According to the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions (Fredrickson, 1998, Fredrickson, 2001) positive affective experiences generate a broader cognitive-behavioral repertoire for people to choose from. For example, positive affect has been associated with a broader scope of attention, increased cognitive flexibility, and expanded processing of social information (Vacharkulksemsuk & Fredrickson, 2013). The experience of positive affect can also help build cognitive, social, psychological, or physical resources such as increased problem-solving skills, mindfulness, and prosocial behavior. In line with COR theory, positive affect in the morning can act as a resource that can be invested in positive behaviors throughout the workday. Therefore, we propose that positive activated affect in the morning will be associated with day-level leader outcomes.

We propose that activated positive affect in the morning can facilitate transformational leadership behaviors throughout the workday. In line with the broaden-and build theory of positive emotions, research indicates that positive affect is associated with increased attention to other people, reduced separation between one's self and others’, and strengthened existing interpersonal relationships (Vacharkulksemsuk & Fredrickson, 2013). Accordingly, leaders’ activated positive affect in the morning should facilitate more positive interactions with followers. Specifically, leaders’ enthusiasm and alertness should enhance their ability to communicate a positive vision for the future (i.e., inspirational motivation), their openness to followers’ novel ideas and approaches to goal attainment and to followers’ creative solutions to problems (i.e., intellectual stimulation), their ability to effectively share and implement work group and organizational goals, and their ability to consider employees’ goals and needs (i.e, individualized consideration). Accordingly, at the between-person level, prior research indicates links between leaders’ trait positive affect and greater enactment of transformational leadership behavior (Rubin, Munz, & Bommer, 2005). In the context of COR theory, positive activated affect in the morning signals a resource-rich state that encourages effort expenditure associated with displaying transformational leadership behavior throughout the workday thereby creating additional resources (e.g., employee satisfaction with leader's behavior, improved follower satisfaction and performance). Thus, we hypothesize that leaders’ activated positive affect in the morning will be positively associated with the enactment of transformational leadership behaviors throughout the workday.

Because activated positive affect enhances the pursuit of work goals (Ilies & Judge, 2005; Seo, Bartunek, & Barrett, 2010; Seo & Ilies, 2009) and thus the likelihood of goal progress and accomplishment, we expect activated positive affect in the morning to be positively associated with leaders’ daily task accomplishment. In the context of COR theory, activated positive affect indicates a state of high resources that fosters the investment of resources (e.g., time and effort) into the accomplishment of work tasks. Similarly, in line with the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, the experience of positive activated affect in the morning broadens leaders’ thought and action repertoire thereby facilitating problem-solving and tasks mastery which becomes visible in increased task accomplishment throughout the workday. Accordingly, past research points to the role of positive emotions in job performance (Losada & Heaphy, 2004). Thus, we hypothesize that positive activated affect will be positively associated with task accomplishment throughout the workday.

Past research suggests that day-level positive affect is associated with higher affective-motivational states (e.g., work engagement) becoming visible in an increased sense of energy, enthusiasm, and aliveness throughout the workday (Bledow, Schmitt, Frese, & Kühnel, 2011; McGrath, Cooper-Thomas, Garrosa, Sanz-Vergel, & Cheung, 2017; Sonnentag et al., 2020). Accordingly, we propose that experiencing a sense of energy, enthusiasm, and aliveness in the morning will facilitate feelings of vitality throughout the workday. In the context of the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions the experience of positive affect at the beginning of the workday facilitates the engagement in positive thoughts and actions throughout the workday that provide a sense of enthusiasm and feeling alive. Accordingly, research in the context of broaden-and-build theory points to the role of positive affect as antecedents of vitality in general (e.g., Ryan & Frederick, 1997). Similarly, in the context of COR theory, positive activated affect indicates a state of high personal resources that facilitates the maintenance of resources as well as the acquisition of new resources which becomes visible in form of vitality throughout the workday. Thus, we hypothesize that leaders’ activated positive affect in the morning will be positively associated with workplace vitality throughout the workday.

Hypothesis 3

Activated positive affect will be positively associated with a) transformational leadership behavior, b) task accomplishment, and c) workplace vitality.

Leader experiences and behaviors in the workplace are dynamic (McClean et al., 2019) and can be linked to a variety of important employee and organizational outcomes. It is therefore crucial to examine and understand antecedents of these experiences and behaviors in more depth. In this study we focus on better understanding how leaders transition between their work and nonwork roles - through reattachment to work in the morning – and potential links with leader outcomes throughout the workday. Emergent research on reattachment to work indicates that the direction of attention and energy are important goals of the reattachment experience (Sonnentag et al., 2020). In line with COR theory, reattachment to work in the morning includes the investment as well as the generation of resources which become visible in activated positive affect and anticipated task focus in the morning. We conceptualize anticipated task focus and activated positive affect as proximal consequences of reattachment, suggesting that reattachment is important for immediate employee experiences at the beginning of the workday.

COR theory suggests that when resources have been gained, it is easier to invest and gain additional resources creating a resource gain spiral. That means that initial resource gains facilitate future resource gains. Thus, reattachment to work as the investment of resources is positively associated with increased personal resources such as positive states in the morning, which in turn, are positively associated with resource gain throughout the workday becoming visible in leaders’ experiences and behaviors at work. Thus, anticipated task focus and activated positive affect indicate resources that facilitate leaders’ interactions with employees becoming visible in increased transformational leadership behavior throughout the workday. Given that transformational leadership behaviors can be driven by cognitive as well as affective processes, anticipated task focus as well as activated positive affect should be positively linked to these leader behaviors throughout the workday. Anticipated task focus and activated positive affect also act as individual resources that can foster the engagement in work task and support task mastery becoming apparent in increased task accomplishment throughout the workday. Finally, anticipated task focus and activated positive affect in the morning facilitate the engagement in behaviors and experiences that throughout the day that help build additional resources. This resource gain becomes visible in increased workplace vitality throughout the workday. In summary, reattachment to work in the morning allows leaders to activate work-related goals for the day and to allocate mental energy toward goal accomplishment and their role as a leader thereby enhancing positive leader outcomes throughout the workday. Therefore, we hypothesize that leaders’ reattachment to work in the morning will be indirectly associated with increased transformational leadership behavior, task accomplishment, and workplace vitality throughout the workday via anticipated task focus and positive activated affect in the morning.

Hypothesis 4

Reattachment to work in the morning shows an indirect, positive relationship with leader a) transformational leadership behavior, b) task accomplishment, and c) workplace vitality via anticipated task focus in the morning.

Hypothesis 5

Reattachment to work in the morning shows an indirect, positive relationship with leader a) transformational leadership behavior, b) task accomplishment, and c) workplace vitality via activated positive affect in the morning.

Section snippets

Procedure and sample

Participants were recruited using Qualtrics Panels. To be eligible, participants had to work currently as a supervisor for at least 20 h per week. Eligible individuals were invited to participate in one baseline survey, five daily morning surveys (6:30 am – 10:30 am in local time zone), and five daily evening surveys (3:30 pm – 7:30 pm in local time zone) within a single Monday-Friday workweek; those who completed the baseline survey were subsequently invited by Qualtrics Panels to participate

Results

Data were analyzed using Mplus Version 8.3 (Muthén & Muthén, 1998–2017) and full information maximum likelihood (FIML). FIML provides adjusted parameter estimates and standard errors to account for inferential uncertainty due to missing data. The measurement model was estimated using multilevel confirmatory factor analyses (MCFA), and the proposed model and associated hypotheses were tested using multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM), wherein the path and measurement models were tested

Discussion

Our study contributes to initial research that points to reattachment to work as a nonwork-to-work boundary crossing experience that can create positive outcomes at work. Focusing on leaders’ daily reattachment to work in the morning, our results indicate that on days on which leaders are better able to reattach to work in the morning, they experience higher anticipated task focus as well as higher activated positive affect in the morning. Higher anticipated task focus as well as higher

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Charlotte Fritz: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Project administration, Funding acquisition. Dana Auten: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing – review & editing. David Caughlin: Formal analysis, Data curation, Writing – review & editing.

Declaration of competing interest

We have no conflicts of interest to declare for this manuscript.

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    Mailing Address: Portland State University, Department of Psychology, P.O. Box 751, Portland, OR 97207-0751.

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    Mailing Address: Portland State University, The School of Business, P.O. Box 751, Portland, OR 97207-0751.

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