Recently the usage of electronic devices for work connectivity after working hours has become a common phenomenon across organizations. With the increase in frequency and workload of after-hour tasks, employees may find it difficult to meet their pers...
Recently the usage of electronic devices for work connectivity after working hours has become a common phenomenon across organizations. With the increase in frequency and workload of after-hour tasks, employees may find it difficult to meet their personal needs. This not only causes conflicts between work and personal growth, but also leads to employees’ intentions to quit the organization. Therefore, an increasing number of researchers have become interested in after-hour work connectivity. However, previous studies have mainly focused on specific aspects or general concepts, overlooking the various characteristics of task-related communication. In light of this issue, this study aims to classify the characteristics of job-related tasks after working hours into not only frequency and workload, but also significance and urgency of after-hours work, and furthermore to explore their interaction effects.
This study examines the effects of after-hours work connectivity on work-growth conflict and turnover intention based on resource conservation theory and the moderating effects of work significance and urgency on the relationship between after-hours work connectivity and work-growth conflict on the basis of job demands-resources model (JD-R theory).
To verify the hypotheses, we conducted a survey among office workers in Korea and China. We collected a total of 491 questionnaires, including 162 from Korea and 329 from China. After removing invalid responses, the final number of questionnaires used in the analysis was 409: 149 from Korea and 260 from China.
The results of the empirical analysis are as follows. First, workload of after-hours work connectivity has a positive effect on turnover intention. Second, both the frequency and workload of after-hours work connectivity have a positive effect on work-growth conflict. Third, work-growth conflict has a positive effect on turnover intention. Fourth, work-growth conflict partially mediated the relationship between frequency and workload of after-hours work connectivity and turnover intention. Fifth, work urgency positively moderates the relationship between the frequency of after-hours work connectivity and work-growth conflict.
These results suggest several important theoretical and practical implications. First, this study is significant in that it identifies the various characteristics of after-hours work connectivity, and examines their impacts on the work-growth conflict and turnover intention. Second, this study is important in that it contributes to a better understanding of the after-hours work connectivity phenomena by comparing the national similarities and differences between Korea and China. Third, this study enriches the research on work-growth conflict by verifying that the frequency and workload of after-hours work connectivity trigger employees' work-growth conflict and that work-growth conflict in turn increases employees' turnover intention based on the resource conservation theory. Fifth, organizations should design reasonable work systems to enable employees to complete relevant work during working hours as much as possible. Finally, when designing and managing HR systems an organization should pay close attention to the management of working hours so that employees can devote to the personal growth and maintain work-life balance.