Borbala Csillag

Divorce is one of life’s most stressful events. By pairing two studies, using mixed-methods, and drawing on conservation of resources theory, we contribute new and previously unavailable information about three questions. How and to what extent does going through a divorce affect individuals at work? What factors differentiate a lower versus higher impact on work? Do work outcomes improve after a divorce has been completed? In Study 1, individuals currently in the process of divorcing report more negative mood at work, lower job performance, and lower health in comparison to employees recently divorced, divorced over five years ago, or never divorced. Qualitative findings illustrate first hand reports of intrusive negative affect and reduced focus at work. At the same time, nearly 39% of individuals reported that divorcing had a positive impact on their job, work, or career. Qualitative findings reveal that for some, divorcing frees up time and energy and amplifies motivation for work. Study 2 is a longitudinal survey study of individuals in the process of a divorce. Findings indicate that levels of divorce-related grief, quality of the dissolving marriage, the presence of children, and anticipated post-divorce financial stability differentiate between those with better and worse work outcomes. Individuals improve on work-related cognitive and physical engagement, job performance, and health after their divorces are completed. Our results extend empirical knowledge and theory with new insights about work outcomes associated with divorcing as well as the recovery of work outcomes over time.

The pace of work and implications of the global pandemic have heightened many employees’ awareness of the demands on their time, especially demands through interpersonal requests from coworkers. However, little research has examined how interactions involving requests for time—a scarce and valuable resource that influences the generation and consumption of economic and psychological resources—unfold and their implications for individuals and collective climates at work. We work toward a theory that expands and sharpens knowledge of interpersonal time requests—processes of generating, making, interpreting, and responding to requests for time. Integrating perspectives on status, interpersonal interaction, and diversity, we develop a multilevel theory for how status disparity shapes intrapersonal cognition and interpersonal interactions during time requests, and tax employees’ time and other resources regressively. Our theorizing advances understanding of how the joint form of achieved status (i.e., status derived from task-based expertise) and ascribed status (i.e., status derived from demographics) shapes interpersonal interactions between time request initiators and responders, thereby illuminating how and why episodic, dyadic, and collective disparities can emerge in ways that can be costly and dysfunctional to organizations. We conclude by outlining how our theorizing can enable future research and inform practice.