A matter of time? Challenging and hindering effects of time pressure on work engagement

ABSTRACT

The aim of our research was to test time-exposure effects of time pressure as a stressor typically considered to be a challenge, rather than a hindrance stressor. We examined the within- and between-person effects of time pressure on work engagement in two diary/panel studies with employees using intervals of five days and three weeks, respectively (Study 1, n = 350, and n = 357, respectively) and six to eight weeks (Study 2, n = 238). We assumed that it is a matter of time whether time pressure acts as a challenge (under short-term exposure) or as a hindrance stressor (under long-term exposure). We found significant positive within-person effects of time pressure on work engagement when controlling for strain in the daily and weekly diary assessment (Study 1), but a significant negative within-person effect in the six to eight weeks’ assessment (Study 2). The between-person effects were significant and negative in all studies. Although a short-term increase can be beneficial for a certain time, stable and long-time exposure of time pressure does rather reduce work engagement. Thus, employers should not keep time pressure permanently high to motivate their employees. However, short-term increases of time pressure (e.g. before a deadline) may serve as a motivating factor.

KEYWORDS:

• Time pressure
• challenge and hindrance stressors
• work engagement
• diary study
• time

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Only sex proved to be a significant predictor of work engagement in the day- and week-level analysis, when time pressure was also added to the equation. It was therefore kept in the model as a control variable. Please note that the between-person effect of time pressure on work engagement in the day-level analysis (Model 1, Table 2) is only marginally significant if sex is not controlled for. All other effects, however, are the same when control variables are excluded from the equation.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported in parts (Study 2) by grants from the Federal Ministry of Research and Education (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung; Grant-ID: 01FH09083).