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PREPARING FOR THE WORKDAY: THE EFFECTS OF PRE-WORK STRATEGIES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL ENGAGEMENT AND WELL-BEING A Dissertation Presented to The Graduate Faculty of the University of Akron In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy August, 2019 PREPARING FOR THE WORKDAY: THE EFFECTS OF PRE-WORK STRATEGIES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL ENGAGEMENT AND WELL-BEING Megan Nolan Dissertation Approved: Accepted: Adviser Department Chair Dr. James Diefendorff Dr. Paul Levy Committee Member Interim Dean of the College Dr. Dennis Doverspike Dr. Linda Subich Committee Member Dean of the Graduate School Dr. Paul Levy Dr. Chand Midha Committee Member Date Dr. Erin Makarius Committee Member Dr. Amanda Thayer ABSTRACT Recent research on reattachment (i.e., rebuilding a mental connection to work before starting work) has begun to provide evidence that individuals use specific strategies to facilitate the reconnection between life domains. The current study argues that reattachment is just one of several “pre-work” strategies that individuals can adopt to ease the transition between home and work domains and enhance their daily experiences. Pre-work is defined as active daily preparation for a given workday in which individuals bring their attention back to work, mobilize their energy, and/or reflect on the reasons they work. In addition to reattachment, individuals may use energy mobilization strategies to increase their sense of feeling energized and positive about work or positive reflection strategies to increase their sense of feeling autonomously motivated and emotionally connected with their work. The current study developed a psychometrically sound pre-work scale to accurately and reliably assess three distinct pre-work strategies and found support for a three-factor structure. In a second study, experience sampling methods were employed to examine how cognitive, physical, and emotional engagement translate pre-work strategies into satisfaction and emotional exhaustion during the day. Additionally, two variables—employee resilience and perceived supervisor support— were examined as cross‐level moderators of these relations. Daily-survey data was collected from 114 employees (total of 936 days) and analyzed with multilevel path analysis. Results suggest that day-level cognitive reattachment predicted cognitive and physical engagement, energy mobilization predicted cognitive engagement, and positive- reflection predicted emotional engagement. Cognitive engagement, in turn, predicted emotional exhaustion, and emotional engagement predicted both job satisfaction and iii emotional exhaustion. Furthermore, the relation between positive reflection and emotional engagement was strengthened at high levels of perceived supervisor support. The current study highlights the important role of a variety of pre-work strategies that employees can adopt to ease the transition between life domains and enhance their daily experiences. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I’d like to acknowledge the individuals who have played a critical role in my academic achievement. To my adviser, Jim Diefendorff, I cannot thank you enough for your continued guidance and mentorship. I respect and admire your expertise, work ethic, and kindness, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to learn from you. Thank you to each of my committee members for your helpful comments and feedback. Thank you to my colleagues in Jim’s lab for assisting on this project and to Allison Gabriel for providing statistical guidance. Thank you also to Alicia Grandey for sparking my interest in I-O psychology and encouraging me to pursue a graduate degree. To my Team, thank you for making our graduate experience collaborative and fun. Thank you to my friends both inside and outside of Akron (I am lucky that there are too many of you to name individually) for keeping me smiling. Thank you to Mike Leider for your support, love, and friendship. It’s comforting to know I can always rely on you, and I look forward to sharing many more “de-stress” walks, cups of coffee, and laughs together. Finally, I would like to acknowledge with gratitude the unwavering support and love of my parents, Tim and Terri Nolan, and siblings, Tim and Shannon. Thank you for instilling in me the importance of family, friendship, hard work, and fun. Without you, none of this would have been possible. v TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... ix List of Figures .................................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER I. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM ................................................................................1 II. LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................................................11 Engagement................................................................................................11 Recovery as an Antecedent of Engagement ...............................................14 Recovery During Work ..................................................................16 Recovery After Work .....................................................................18 Review of ‘Resource Building Strategies’ .................................................25 Coping ............................................................................................25 Emotion Regulation .......................................................................32 Meaning Making ............................................................................34 Summary of Resource Building Strategies ....................................38 Mentally Preparing for Work: A Pre-Work Framework ............................39 Cognitive Reattachment .................................................................44 Energy Mobilization ......................................................................46 Positive Reflection .........................................................................47 Well-Being: Job Satisfaction and Emotional Exhaustion ..........................49 Moderating Variables.....................................................................52 Supplemental Predictions...............................................................55 III. METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................................57 STUDY 1: MEASURE DEVELOPMENT ...............................................57 vi Information Gathering ...................................................................57 Item Generation .............................................................................58 Sample and Procedure....................................................................60 Measures ........................................................................................61 Results ............................................................................................63 STUDY 2: MAIN STUDY ........................................................................74 Participants and Procedure .............................................................74 Person-Level Measures ..................................................................79 ESM Measures ...............................................................................80 ESM Control Variables ..................................................................82 Preliminary Analyses. ....................................................................83 Confirmatory Factor Analyses. ......................................................85 Analytic Strategy ...........................................................................89 IV. RESULTS ....................................................................................................................90 Partitioning of Variance Components ............................................90 Analytic Approach A: Separation of Measures .............................97 Analytic Approach B: Engagement throughout the Day .............107 V. DISCUSSION .............................................................................................................114 Methodological Contributions .....................................................114 Theoretical Contributions ............................................................115 Limitations and Future Directions ...............................................124 Practical Implications...................................................................128 Conclusion ...................................................................................129 vii REFERENCES ................................................................................................................130 APPENDICIES Appendix A Pre-Work Factor Analytic Study .................................................................163 Appendix B Main Study: Person-Level Survey...............................................................167 Appendix C Main Study: Event-Level Surveys ...............................................................169 Appendix D Call Center Sample: Informed Consent Form .............................................173 Appendix E Call Center Sample: Participant Communications ......................................175 Appendix F Social Media Sample: Informed Consent Form...........................................182 Appendix G Social Media Sample: Participant Communications ...................................183