Recovery during the weekend and fluctuations in weekly job performance : a week-level study examining intra-individual relationships

Abstract

For most employees, the weekend offers the opportunity to recover and unwind from demands faced during the working week. In this study, first, we examined which factors contribute to employees successful recovery during the weekend. Second, we investigated if being highly recovered after the weekend benefits different dimensions of job performance during the week. Using a within-person design we conducted a weeklevel study with 133 employees over four working weeks. Participants responded to weekly web-based surveys at the beginning and at the end of the working week. Hierarchical linear modelling showed that psychological detachment, relaxation, and mastery experiences during the weekend predicted the state of being recovered at the beginning of the working week. The state of being recovered in turn predicted fluctuations in weekly task performance, personal initiative, organizational citizenship behaviour, and low perceived effort. Our results stress the importance of recovery during the weekend for both the individual and for organizations.