Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： Under the background of increasingly fierce market competition, employees are required to work longer hours under high-pressure management. However, there is little consistent evidence regarding the relations between work hours and job performance. To answer this question, based on the theory of limited self-control resources, we proposed a theoretical framework to explain the nonlinear relationship between work hours and job performance.In order to test theoretical hypotheses, we conducted a meta-analysis to examine the nonlinear relationship between work hours and job performance (task performance and contextual performance). A systematic review was conducted to synthesize empirical results about relationship between work hours and job performance. We collected articles relevant to work hours and job performance through CNKI, VIP, Web of Science, Wiley, ProQuest, EBSCO-Academic Search Premier and Science Direct (from inception to May 2022). Through literature retrieval and selection, in terms of the criteria for inclusion in the meta-analysis, 42 articles (64 effect sizes, 22843 subjects) were picked out as meta-analysis unit. After coding of data, meta-analysis was conducted with the metafor package in R (Version 4.2.0). The test for heterogeneity illustrated that there was significant heterogeneity, and also random effects model was an appropriate model for subsequent meta-analysis. Results of main effects showed that work hours had a significant inverted u-shaped correlation with task performance and contextual performance. Further, moderation analyses showed that the relationship between work hours and job performance were moderated by country context, industries types, age and gender. Specifically, compared with America and European countries, work hours had a stronger and significant inverted u-shaped relationship with task performance and contextual performance in China. Compared with labor-intensive and capital-intensive industries, in the knowledge-intensive industries, work hours had a stronger and significant inverted u-shaped relationship with task performance. Compared to older participants, work hours had a stronger and significant inverted u-shaped relationship with task performance in the younger participants. Compared to participants with a lower proportion of males, when the data came from participants with a higher proportion of males, work hours had a stronger and significant inverted u-shaped relationship with contextual performance.The research contributions are as follows. Firstly, existing studies have mainly conducted qualitative analysis to criticize the negative effect of long working hours system with regulative suggestions or used work hours as control variable to explore the linear correlation between work hours and job performance. Compared with existing studies, this study reveals and verifies the inverted U-shaped relationship between work hours and job performance (task performance and contextual performance) by meta-analysis. Secondly, previous studies have mainly explained the relationship and underlying mechanism from the perspective of physiological resources. Based on the theory of limited self-control resources, our study provides evidence that prolonged working hours, a specific aspect of work demands, which render individual psychological self-control resource loss and then make that work hours have a stronger and significant inverted u-shaped relationship with task performance and contextual performance. The findings broaden the theoretical mechanism underlie work hours and job performance. Thirdly, existing studies have rarely explored the moderating effect of the relationship between work hours and job performance, but this study explores the moderating effects of country context, industries types, age, gender and education level from macro, meso, and micro levels. Finally, this study finds that work hours have a significant inverted u-shaped correlation with task performance (the inverted U-shaped turning point was about 44.43 hours/week) and contextual performance (the inverted U-shaped turning point was about 47.88 hours), which can provid a scientific reference for standard hours stipulated by Labor Law in China (e.g. working hours should not exceed 44 hours/week) and warn that organizations should pay attention to the too-much-of-a-good-thing effect of work hours on job performance.
Subjects: Psychology >> Management Psychology submitted time 2022-08-31
Abstract：
This research used meta-analysis to explore the nonlinear relationship between work hours and job performance based on 42 articles covering 64 effect sizes and 22843 subjects. Results showed that: (1) Work hours had a significant inverted u-shaped correlation with task performance and contextual performance. (2) Compared with America and European countries, work hours had a stronger and significant inverted u-shaped relationship with task performance and contextual performance in China. (3) Compared with labor-intensive and capital-intensive industries, in the knowledge-intensive industries, work hours had a stronger and significant inverted u-shaped relationship with task performance; (4) Compared to older participants, work hours had a stronger and significant inverted u-shaped relationship with task performance in the younger participants; (5) Compared to participants with a lower proportion of the males, when the data came from participants with a higher proportion of the males, work hours had a stronger and significant inverted u-shaped relationship with contextual performance. These results clarify the inverted u-shaped relationship between work hours and performance. In addition, these findings could provide a reference for standard hours stipulated by Labor Law in China (e.g. working hours should not exceed 44 hours/week) and warn that organizations should pay attention to the too-much-of-a-good-thing effect of work hours on job performance.
Peer Review Status:
Awaiting Review
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