Daily workplace embitterment and work-related rumination during off-job time: Illegitimate tasks as antecedents and the buffering role of appreciation

This daily diary study aims to expand the understanding of workplace embitterment (i.e., an emotional response to unjust work experiences) by determining its daily antecedents and consequences. By drawing on the stress-as-offense-to-self theory and the recovery literature we hypothesise that daily illegitimate (i.e., unnecessary and unreasonable) tasks (ITs) relate positively to daily embitterment. We argue that this relationship weakens on days employees experience higher appreciation from colleagues and supervisors than usual. Further, we expect daily ITs to relate positively and indirectly with work-related rumination (i.e., affective rumination, problem-solving pondering) and negatively and indirectly to psychological detachment via enhanced embitterment particularly on days employees experience lower appreciation. Seventy-one employees completed a diary for up to five consecutive workdays twice daily: at the end of the workday and bedtime. Daily unreasonable tasks related positively to embitterment, while higher appreciation from colleagues was found to mitigate this positive relationship. Finally, unreasonable tasks related positively to affective rumination and negatively to detachment via increased embitterment but only on days appreciation from colleagues was lower than usual. This study expands the nomological network of workplace embitterment and highlights its relevance for understanding daily employee well-being.