Staying connected and feeling less exhausted: The autonomy benefits of after-hour connectivity

Abstract

This study investigates the longitudinal relationship between after-hour connectivity, autonomy and exhaustion. In doing so, we seek to illuminate the role of individuals' connectivity to work in relation to their autonomy and well-being. We juxtapose different effective directions of the relationship between connectivity and autonomy to shed light on whether and how connectivity and autonomy are related to employees' well-being. This is important because research has both often problematized after-hour connectivity and suggested that connectivity is an inherent feature of contemporary workplaces that may benefit employees. In this study, we hypothesize that after-hour connectivity increases autonomy and that the autonomy to work anywhere and anytime leads to working everywhere all the time, thus increasing after-hour connectivity. We further shed light on whether this behaviour has negative consequences for employees' well-being or not. The three-wave survey study (N = 192) demonstrates that after-hour connectivity may operate as a resource that potentially empowers employees (increases autonomy). The freedom to work anytime, anywhere, does not itself increase after-hour connectivity. Notably, we demonstrate that connectivity is negatively related to emotional exhaustion, through increased autonomy.