Always Online: Boundary Management and Well-being of Knowledge Workers in the Age of Information and Communication Technology Use

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) transform individuals’ ways of working and living fundamentally. This dissertation addresses two pivotal developments coming along with the increasing prevalence of ICTs that significantly influence individuals’ well-being: First, ICTs change human communication – at work and in their personal life as well as across the boundaries of these life domains. Second, in the age of cross-border availability ICTs have the power to alter how individuals manage the boundaries of their work and personal life. Preceding research on these topics suggests that ICTs are a double-edged sword: They bring benefits as well as harm for individuals’ well-being. As well-being is an important precursor of performance-related outcomes, organizations face new challenges in the light of these developments to maintain and foster their employees’ well-being. Hence, this thesis is concerned with the overarching question how potentially positive consequences coming along with the ubiquity of ICTs can be fostered and negative consequences can be avoided to maintain and increase individual well-being in the long run. To provide new insights on this question, two comprehensive empirical studies are conducted. Specifically, study 1 examines under which circumstances ICT-mediated communication has beneficial or detrimental effects on well-being from an event-based perspective, applying a mixed-methods research design. Based on an exploratory qualitative study with 50 knowledge workers, four features of ICT-mediated communication events are identified that determine users’ momentary affective states: valence, disturbance, need for action, and synchronicity. Then, in a quantitative experience sampling method study with data on 2,537 events and 1,355 daily measures, these features’ episodic effects on momentary affective states and their spillover effects on end-of-day well-being are tested. Hierarchical linear modeling results show that the four features exert episodic effects on momentary affective states. Analyses of spillover effects further suggest that the effects of valence, disturbance, and need for action on momentary affective states cumulate over the course of a day to affect individuals’ end-of-day well-being. Study 2 focuses on antecedents and effects of individuals’ boundary management of both their work and personal life in the age of cross-border availability. Results of structural equation modeling with data from 401 knowledge workers collected in two waves show that coworker availability expectations diminish work-life segmentation, while personal contact availability expectations reduce life-work segmentation. The study also shows that boundary management behavior has asymmetrical effects, depending on directionality: Work-life segmentation is associated with increased well-being, while life-work segmentation is associated with reduced well-being. Further, the relationship between work-life segmentation and well-being is moderated by individuals’ work-life segmentation preferences, underlining the relevance of boundary management preferences to our understanding of the conditions under which given boundary management behaviors are beneficial or detrimental to well-being. In sum, these comprehensive studies provide a more nuanced picture of the determinants that may influence when the consequences coming along with the ubiquity of ICTs are positive or negative for individuals’ well-being, thereby yielding several important contributions for research: Study 1 contributes to our understanding of the drivers of ICT-mediated communication’s double-edged nature as well as their dynamic relationship with well-being from an event-based perspective by identifying four affectively significant features of ICT-mediated communication events and unveiling both their episodic and spillover effects on individual well-being. Study 2 contributes to a comprehensive framework for investigating and understanding bidirectional boundary management in the age of cross-border availability by detecting distinct antecedents of work-life and life-work segmentation and their opposing effects on well-being. Together, their findings suggest three major factors which may determine when the consequences of the ubiquity of ICTs are beneficial or detrimental for individuals’ well-being – event-specific features, personal preferences, and life domain concerned. With these new insights based on theoretical underpinning, this dissertation contributes to a more differentiated empirical and theoretical understanding of individuals’ boundary management and well-being in the age of ICT use. Thereby, the thesis suggests valuable implications for future research and further provides employees as well as organizations with differentiated leverages to establish an environment in which ICTs are used in both healthy and productive ways.