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First Round Interviews at Plymouth
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... Research into the impact of work-email appears to be organized around two key, but contradictory, conclusions, specifically relating to resource-building and depletion. On the one hand, work-email (particularly incoming work-email) has been found to deplete people's psychological resources -resulting in experiences of work overload, compulsive use, stress, and work-family imbalance (Barley et al., 2011;Charalampous et al., 2019;Mazmanian et al., 2005). From this perspective, incoming work-email can be seen as a stressor that people struggle to cope with when resources are required and directed elsewhere (Barley et al., 2011;Brumby et al., 2013;Czerwinski et al., 2000;Rosen et al., 2018;Speier et al., 2003). ...
Office-based work today involves dealing with email, despite being denigrated and lauded in almost equal measures. Using the Conservation of Resources theory we examine whether Extraversion (expressed through two facets) acts as a resource to explain the differential impact that work-email has on people’s energy resources (relating to fatigue and boredom). An experience-sampling study was undertaken, whereby 54 knowledge-workers completed records of their response (n = 589) to new work-email over the course of a typical working day. Results were analysed using hierarchical linear modelling (HLM). Participants who felt tired prior to dealing with email, reported that they felt more energized afterwards (but only if they were higher on Agentic extraversion). Work-email did not re-energize extraverts when they had been bored beforehand. By examining changes in energy resources, and by measuring different facets of Extraversion, we offer theoretical and methodological contributions to advancing understanding about the role of resources in dealing with work-email. Specifically, our results suggest that Extraversion may not constitutionally be a key resource within COR, because its value and contribution to resource building is contingent on context. Implications for practitioners concerned with how best to manage digital communications at work, are discussed.
... Workemail has multiple functional operations and is used frequently throughout a working day (Whittaker & Sidner, 1996). Actions that make full use of the functionality of a system, and are repeated frequently, are more likely to become automated (Limayem, Hirt & Cheung, 2007;Oullette & Wood, 1998), so there is a very high propensity for people's work-email actions to become habitual (Mazmanian et al., 2005;Middleton & Cukier, 2006;Turel et al., 2011). We apply the WhIM in a work-email context via a 12-month study, using an active and wait-list control group (see Method). ...
... For example, an intervention to stop people checking email notifications immediately is likely to have diverse effects because the habit has a differentially good or bad impact on work-relevant goals and well-being, depending on the context and the other people or systems at work that will be affected by this. To illustrate, automatically responding to email notification cues can provide timely and helpful replies to customers and coworkers (Mazmanian, Orlikowski & Yates, 2005). Equally however, such habits can lead to addictive behaviors that reduce work efficiency (Turel, Serenko & Bontis, 2011). ...
... For example, in dealing with work-email in the dial-up era, a worker probably logged in only a handful of times per day, so it made sense to deal with work-email at the point it was received (Whittaker & Sidner, 1996). But in today's environment, immediate response habits could now be considered maladaptive (Mazmanian et al., 2005), creating reactive, addictive, and high-stress emailing cultures (Turel et al., 2011). Therefore, providing a new, rationalized plan for responding to a work-email cue (e.g., turn off email notifications, or only check email at pre-defined times during the day) may allow individuals to recognize a new purpose to their activity (e.g., improving well-being, achieving task goals more effectively) and provide the cognitive switch that provokes an intention to change behavior and achieve one's goals (Fleig et al., 2013;Gollwitzer & Sheeran, 2006;Holland, Aarts & Langdendam, 2006). ...
We present a Work‐habit Intervention Model (WhIM) to explain and predict how to change work‐habits to be more effective. Habit change has primarily been researched within the health domain. The WhIM contributes a unique theoretical perspective by: (i) suggesting that work‐habit change requires a two‐stage process of exposure to regular rationalized plans and a stated intention to use these plans; and, (ii) defining effective work‐habit change in terms of improvements to both goal attainment and well‐being over time. Self‐regulatory resources are included as potential moderators of habit change. This approach implies that work‐habits (unlike health‐habits) are seldom constitutionally ‘good’ or ‘bad’, which means that change requires a clear rationale in terms of improving goal attainment and well‐being. The WhIM was evaluated in a 12‐month wait‐list intervention study designed to improve work‐email habits for workers in a UK organization ( N = 127 T1; N = 58 T3; N = 46 all data). Findings were that the two‐stage process changed work‐email habits for those with higher levels of self‐efficacy, which predicted well‐being in terms of reduced negative affect (via perceived goal attainment). We outline theoretical and practical implications and encourage future research to refine the WhIM across a range of other work contexts.
Practitioner points
Workers need to regularly engage with rationalized plans of action and state their intention to use these, in order to change work‐email habits.
Organizations should consider training workers to enhance their self‐efficacy prior to implementing a work‐email habit change intervention.
Providing regular feedback about the impact of work‐email habit change on well‐being and goal attainment is likely to make the change sustainable in the long‐term.
... Scholarship on the role of collaboration technologies in organizations has demonstrated that although they provide opportunities for continuous connectivity, they are utilized by workers to manage and regulate when and how they connect to work (Gibbs et al., 2013). When this work takes place in an interdependent team environment, workers may feel obligated to respond to communication from other team members, and these obligations may erode some of the control individuals have over work behaviors (Mazmanian et al., 2005). Because collaboration technologies make communication visible to other employees in ways that are different than other ICTs offering connectivity (i.e., email and phone) they may create different pressures regarding supplemental work (Leonardi & Vaast, 2017). ...
Supported by various collaboration technologies that allow communication from any place or time, employees increasingly engage in technology‐assisted supplemental work (TASW). Challenges associated with managing work and non‐work time have been further complicated by a global pandemic that has altered traditional work patterns and locations. To date studies applying a TASW framework have focused mainly on individual uses of technology or connectivity behaviors, and not considered the potential team and social pressures underlying these processes. This study provides clarity on the differences between technology use and TASW and sheds light on the drivers of TASW in a work environment characterized by high connectivity and diverse team structures. Specifically, we demonstrate how individual, social, and material pressures concomitantly impact individual work practices in a team context. Drawing on multi‐source and multi‐level data provided by 443 employees nested in 122 teams, this study shows that individual collaboration technology use and team‐level response expectations are independently contributing to TASW. Though the persistence of communication afforded by collaboration technologies mitigates the impact of collaboration technology use on TASW, this persistence is not found to impact the relationship between team‐level response expectations and TASW. We discuss how these findings inform our understanding of TASW.
... Changes to work brought about by digitalization -especially portable communication devices -can reflect perverse consequences for working time, particularly where middle managers are already under significant time pressure. Use of such technology can blur locational boundaries of where work takes place and when it starts and stops (Ashforth et al., 2000;Golden and Fromen, 2011;Mazmanian et al., 2005;Wajcman et al., 2008). This poses additional questions in situations reflecting the confluence of new organizational forms and innovative control practices, signally in relation to digital technologies facilitating new ways of working. ...
... It is claimed that there is often pressure to shift the locus of work control from employer to employee, as witnessed in implicit demands for those working contractually from home to 'prove themselves' . It has been argued, additionally, that managers in such situations can be drawn increasingly into the all-embracing 'gaze' of these technologies (Mazmanian et al., 2005). ...
How has the experience of managerial work changed in the digital age? This two-phase (2002-2006; 2015-2019) study addresses this question by examining how middle managers perceive the spatio-temporal boundaries of their work to have shifted. Typically, such managers report change occurring in two directions: (i) the contractual employment boundary becoming stretched as hours completed inside the workplace increase, and (ii) this boundary becoming breached as managers conduct additional work voluntarily from locations outside corporate premises. While such trends can be explained deterministically – the former stemming from corporate acceptance of consultancy-influenced organizational prescriptions (business process reengineering, lean management, agile management, etc.); the latter from widespread adoption of digital communication innovations (BlackBerry, email, WhatsApp, etc.) – we argue to achieve a more rounded appreciation of such work ‘extensification’ attention must also be paid to agentic forces of strategic and political choice. Developing this argument, and acknowledging paradox when theorising spatio-temporal change, we suggest future research on managerial employment must entail documenting not only factors influencing the stretching and breaching of work boundaries, but also – given incipient political regulations and innovative surveillance technologies – others serving to strengthen and protect them; notably those directed at improving work-life balance and physical/psychological health.
... Conversely, knowledge work entering private contexts via mobile technology blurs the boundary between work and leisure time (e.g. Mazmanian, Orlikowski, & Yates, 2005, Prasopoulou, Pouloudi, & Panteli, 2006. Junglas and Watson (2006) further show how portability generates localization, the ability to establish the location of a portable device, and identification, the capacity to associate such a device uniquely with one person (see also Nickerson, 2008). ...
We report a surprising experience with mobile technology: the lead author found herself seeing and acting differently while running over part of her usual running track with the exercise‐tracking application ‘Strava’ on her phone, even without focal attention to the app. We apply the method of problematization to a detailed empirical account of this experience, in conjunction with a literature analysis of taken‐for‐granted assumptions underpinning research on ‘mobile technology use’. This reveals that, while the relationship of attention, perception, movement and technology was a key element of the surprise, these themes are not well accounted for in current IS literature. In response, we employ William Gibson's ecological theory of visual perception to reinterpret the empirical account and thereby build a new understanding of the human plus mobile technology that we term moving‐with‐technology. We introduce to IS: moving‐with‐technology as a new analytical perspective; the new phenomena of digital sub‐species, digital‐niches and asynchronous co‐location; and stimulus for new ecologically oriented ‘mobile methods’. Moving‐with‐technology also has practical implications for urban planners who are using data from digital trace‐making tools such as Strava in their decision‐making, thereby generating what we call ecological feedback loops.
... Some authors have argued that WCBA has the potential to be triggered by a habit without much conscious thought (Ďuranová and Ohly 2016;Schlachter et al. 2018). Indeed, some qualitative studies have expressed the habitual character of WCBA to some extent (Matusik and Mickel 2011;Mazmanian et al. 2005). Therefore, it may be possible that WCBA occurs on a habitual level. ...
Modern information and communication technologies (ICT) help to overcome the traditional temporal and spatial boundaries of work. However, the same ICT enable employees to engage in work-related activities during non-work time. Given the huge amount of evidence regarding the negative consequences, paired with the political will to limit this behavior, it is surprising that research on its antecedents has remained scarce. Drawing on an extended theory of planned behavior the study addresses this gap. The results indicate that intention is the main driver, even when the behavior partly occurs on a habitual level. Intention, in turn, is determined by individuals' attitude toward the behavior, perceptions of control and subjective norms. The proposed model remains robust regardless of gender and organizational distribution of ICT. The study contributes to a growing research stream that examines work connectivity behavior during non-work time.
... Later, scholars focused on the Blackberry™ as a technology that affords a new quality of connectivity because users would be able to access their email accounts remotely. Subsequently, the market-entry of the iPhone marks the transition from the so-called "CrackBerry" (Mazmanian et al. 2006) to a kind of smartphone which allows for an even more engaged mobile experience. Despite these changes, we observe that constant connectivity as a concept for research has not been discussed broadly in the literature. ...
... In academic research, the notion of being "always on" after adopting mobile technology dates from the era of handheld cell phones. The definition evolved from being available via one's cell phone to answer a question or deal with a work problem (Jarratt and Coates 1990), to responding to email messages via one's Blackberry (Mazmanian et al. 2006), and finally to a much broader set of behaviors and a much more intense notion of being connected with the introduction and widespread use of today's smartphones (Reinecke et al. 2018). Contemporary books and articles on the topic illustrate the current notion of constant connectivity in the figurative language of their titles (e.g., "Digital Burnout" [Markowetz 2015]; "Sleeping with your smartphone" [Perlow 2012]; "The Power of Off" [Colier 2016]). ...
... The striving for normative conformity, thus the need to be accepted, leads to (1) behaving in a way that we perceive is expected by others; and at the same time, (2) shapes our expectations of suitable behavior of others (Cialdini and Goldstein 2004). Translated to the digital workplace, this means that being always available and responsive is a result of the expectations individuals think others have about their communication behavior (Mazmanian, Orlikowski and Yates 2006;Perlow 2012). If individuals believe that others expect immediate responses to messages, they would be more likely to display an "always-on"-attitude through high attentiveness, frequency and responsiveness. ...
Mobile technologies like the smartphone allow for checking and responding to requests almost instantaneously. The public and academic discourse is replete with critical assessments of potentially unhealthy behaviors that can result from this "constant connectivity". This pilot study explores the notion of constant connectivity and investigates why people continue to engage in such behaviors by using a student sample. We propose to conceptualize constant connectivity as a three-tiered phenomenon and study work ethic, social expectations and emotional reward as its antecedents. In contrast to our expectations, our findings do not support that work ethic serves as a good predictor for constant connectivity. However, a perceived reward for using the smartphone and beliefs regarding the expected timing between receiving and responding to a message both positively affected behaviors of constant connectivity. Our study thus suggests that individuals have an emotional connection to their smartphone rather than seeing it as a tool to conduct work with.
... Up to 63 percent of individuals check work-related email while at home more than once per day (Berkowsky, 2013), and 44 percent do so even while on vacation (American Psychological Association, 2013). These statistics represent the rise of an "always on, always connected" culture, a sweeping societal trend in which ICT has become ubiquitous in everyday life and results in the experience of always being electronically accessible to others (Mazmanian, Orlikowski, & Yates, 2005;Richardson & Benbunan-Fich, 2011). One critical implication of this phenomenon is the facilitation of conducting work outside the temporal and spatial confines of the workplace (Dettmers, 2017a;Middleton, 2007). ...
Recent changes in technology have brought about considerable changes in the way work is conducted and its psychological impact within and outside the work role. In this chapter, we examine research related to the impact of technology on the following areas: the rise of an “always on, always connected” work culture and its implications for work-family boundaries and employee well-being; identity management via social media; the impact of economic trends on
work-family management; and advances in biomedical technology. We devote a significant portion of the chapter to discussing correlates of information and communication technology (ICT) use and its relation to the work-family interface. We also provide suggestions for future
research, emphasizing the tactics individuals and organizations use to disconnect electronically, ICT and work-family enrichment, the role of family characteristics in predicting technology use, the association between social media and work-life conflict, and the changing nature of work.
... With smartphones comes unprecedented access to information, communication, and entertainment. These devices have also reconfigured social norms that frame what it is to live, work, and maintain relationships in the 'information age' [45,46]. It is no surprise that such changes have ushered in questions in a variety of research communities as well as the general public about the potential effects of smartphone use for individuals, relationships, and communities. ...
... Other work reporting that large numbers of people are addicted to phones used survey items, such as "using the mobile phone takes up a lot of my time" and "when I do not have my mobile phone I feel disconnected," that do not account for the context of phone use [50,61]. Smartphones have reconfigured our social norms around living, working, and maintaining relationships [45,46]. Thus, instead of being a symptom of addiction, considerable use might be a signal of being able to complete work, maintain relationships, or participate in society [37]. ...
In a mixed methods study of parents and teens (n=200), 87% (n=174) of participants used language consistent with smartphone addiction narratives when asked about their smartphone feelings and use. Mental health researchers and clinicians do not consistently agree about whether smartphone addiction exists nor what it would look like if it does. Our goal in this study was to explore the patterns of responses that people invoked when talking about the role of smartphones in their lives and the lives of those around them. Responses suggested that both parents and teens are aware of and potentially influenced by a narrative that smartphones are addictive and can lead to negative, though largely undefined, consequences. We examine potential origins of this narrative, including media coverage, and examine the critical need for a deeper examination in the CSCW community of how this narrative could be influencing well-being, sense of self, and sensemaking around smartphone use.
... Not surprisingly, most of the participants perceived that the use of a broad array of technologies (e.g., computers, smartphones, TV) interferes with their relationship with their partner. Moreover, in relation to work-to-family spillover, studies found that the use of cell phones blurs the boundaries between work and home, which leads to increased negative work-to-family spillover and lower satisfaction with family life (Chesley, 2005;Mazmanian, Orlikowski, & Yates, 2005). ...
The Marital Comparison Level Index (MCLI; Sabatelli, 1984), grounded in social exchange theory, was developed to measure marital complaints by asking respondents to contrast their marital experiences with their marital expectations. Translated versions of the MCLI have been used in non-Western cultures such as in Korea and China (e.g., Chan & Rudowicz, 2002; Yang, 2004). However, since each individual’s standards and expectations for evaluating relationships are culturally influenced, it follows that measures reflecting Western cultural values may not be reliably applied to different cultural settings. Therefore, the goal for this study was to revise the measure in a culturally relevant way to be used to study Asian couples, with a particular emphasis on Korean couples. Guided by an ecological/exchange framework (Sabatelli, Lee, & Ripoll-Núñez, 2018), the culture-specific aspects (e.g., intergenerational exchanges) of marital relationships were included along with contemporary aspects of marriages (e.g., technology use, work-to-relationship spillover) in the revisions of the MCLI. Using the sample of Korean and American married individuals (N=676), measurement invariance testing was conducted to assess whether the measure performs in the same way across two cultures. Results showed that there was a second-order factor, which is marital quality, that underlies the five first-order factors (i.e., emotional intimacy, sexual intimacy, marital conflicts, intergenerational relationships, and complaints about partner’s lifestyle). The identified second-order factor structure showed an adequate level of measurement invariance, indicating the potential for explaining cross-cultural relevance of the marital construct. Taken together, the present study serves as an impetus for international scholarship that could promote cultural and racial diversity in relationship research.
