Effects of Daily Affective Experiences on Boundary Management Preferences – A Daily Diary Study

Boundary management theory addresses whether people prefer to separate or integrate their work and nonwork roles. While the outcomes of boundary management are well understood, there is little to no answer to what motivates people to prefer segmentation or integration. Drawing on affective events and broaden-and-build theory, we examine the influence of daily affective experiences (i.e., affective events and mood) at work and in nonwork life on boundary management preferences. We hypothesize that negative (positive) affective experiences lead to a segmentation (integration) preference. Moreover, we consider work and nonwork role involvement as moderators and differentiate between work-to-nonwork and nonwork-to-work segmentation preferences. We target a net sample of N = 300 employees working full-time. We deploy a daily diary study over one workweek with two measurement points a day. Participants will rate affective events, mood, and boundary management preferences each day during the morning at work and during the evening at home.