Work-related rumination and its “double-edged sword” effect

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1042.2020.00358

Abstract

Abstract:

Work-related rumination (WRR) refers to conscious, recurring work-related thoughts that occur without being asked to do so. WRR is divided into two dimensions: work-related affective rumination and work-related problem-solving pondering. The influence of WRR on individual health, work and happiness is a double-edged sword. Perseverative cognition theory, cognitive activation theory of stress and cognitive resource perspective theory provide explanations for the internal mechanism of positive and negative effects of WRR. Researchers should analyze boundary conditions affecting the double-edged sword effect, seek the route of reducing its negative effects and increasing the positive effect, in the future. Besides, researchers should also expand the analytical perspective of psychological mechanism of the double-edged sword effect, as well as the functional level of the effect.

Key words: work-related rumination (WRR), “double-edged sword” effect, perseverative cognition theory, cognitive activation theory of stress, cognitive resource perspective theory

CLC Number:

B849:C93

ZHANG Jing, LI Weihe, SHI Yanwei, ZHANG Nan, MA Hongyu. Work-related rumination and its “double-edged sword” effect[J]. Advances in Psychological Science, 2020, 28(2): 358-367.

References 65

[1]	马红宇, 谢菊兰, 唐汉瑛, 申传刚, 张晓翔 . ( 2016). 工作性通信工具使用与双职工夫妻的幸福感: 基于溢出-交叉效应的分析. 心理学报, 48( 1), 48-58.
[2]	邢强, 孙海龙, 占丹玲, 胡婧, 刘凯 . ( 2017). 执行功能对言语顿悟问题解决的影响: 基于行为与ERPs的研究. 心理学报, 49( 7), 909-919.
[3]	曾庆巍, 刘爱书, 钟继超 . ( 2016). 沉浸反刍和反思反刍在大学生儿童期心理虐待与特质抑郁间的中介作用. 中国临床心理学杂志, 24( 2), 310-313, 258.
[4]	张之沧 . ( 2013). 中国竞技体育中的女性智慧和品性. 体育与科学, 34( 3), 37-40, 17.
[5]	周雅 . ( 2013). 情绪唤起对执行功能的作用. 心理科学进展, 21( 7), 1186-1199.
[6]	Baranik, L. E., Wang, M., Gong, Y., & Shi, J . ( 2014). Customer mistreatment, employee health, and job performance: Cognitive rumination and social sharing as mediating mechanisms. Journal of Management, 43( 4), 1261-1282.
[7]	Bastin, M., Mezulis, A. H., Ahles, J., Raes, F., & Bijttebier, P . ( 2015). Moderating effects of brooding and co-rumination on the relationship between stress and depressive symptoms in early adolescence: A multi-wave study. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 43( 4), 607-618.
[8]	Bennett, A. A., Gabriel, A. S., Calderwood, C., Dahling, J. J., & Trougakos, J. P . ( 2016). Better together? Examining profiles of employee recovery experiences. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101( 12), 1635-1654.
[9]	Berset, M., Elfering, A., Stefan, Lüthy, Simon, Lüthi, & Semmer, N. K . ( 2011). Work stressors and impaired sleep: Rumination as a mediator. Stress and Health, 27( 2), e71-e82.
[10]	Binnewies, C., Sonnentag, S., & Mojza, E. J . ( 2009). Feeling recovered and thinking about the good sides of one’s work. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 14( 3), 243-256.
[11]	Bono, J. E., Glomb, T. M., Shen, W., Kim, E., & Koch, A. J . ( 2013). Building positive resources: Effects of positive events and positive reflection on work stress and health. Academy of Management Journal, 56( 6), 1601-1627.
[12]	Brosschot, J. F., Gerin, W., & Thayer, J. F . ( 2006). The perseverative cognition hypothesis: A review of worry, prolonged stress-related physiological activation, and health. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 60( 2), 113-124.
[13]	Castro, M. C., Martínez, M. A., & Abarca, X. F . ( 2019). Deliberate rumination and positive reappraisal as serial mediators between life impact and posttraumatic growth in victims of state terrorism in Chile (1973-1990). Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 34( 3), 545-561.
[14]	Connolly, S. L., Wagner, C. A., Shapero, B. G., Pendergast, L. L., Abramson, L. Y., & Alloy, L. B . ( 2014). Rumination prospectively predicts executive functioning impairments in adolescents. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 45( 1), 46-56.
[15]	Cropley, M., & Millward, P. L . ( 2003). Job strain and rumination about work issues during leisure time: A diary study. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 12( 3), 195-207.
[16]	Cropley, M., & Zijlstra, F. R. H . ( 2011). Work and rumination. In J. Langan-Fox, & C. L. Cooper (Eds.), Handbook of Stress in the Occupations (pp. 487-503). Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.
[17]	Cropley, M., Dijk, D. J., & Stanley, N . ( 2006). Job strain, work rumination, and sleep in school teachers. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 15( 2), 181-196.
[18]	Cropley, M., Michalianou, G., Pravettoni, G., & Millward, L. J . ( 2012). The relation of post-work ruminative thinking with eating behaviour. Stress and Health, 28( 1), 23-30.
[19]	Cropley, M., Plans, D., Morelli, D., Sütterlin, S., Inceoglu, L., Thomas, G., & Chu, C . ( 2017). The association between work-related rumination and heart rate variability: A field study. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 11, 1-6.
[20]	Cropley, M., Rydstedt, L. W., Devereux, J. J., & Middleton, B . ( 2015). The relationship between work-related rumination and evening and morning salivary cortisol secretion. Stress and Health, 31( 2), 150-157.
[21]	Cropley, M., Zijlstra, F. R. H., Querstret, D., & Beck, S . ( 2016). Is work-related rumination associated with deficits in executive functioning?. Frontiers in Psychology, 7(e94222).
[22]	Demsky, C. A., Fritz, C., Hammer, L. B., & Black, A. E . ( 2019). Workplace incivility and employee sleep: The role of rumination and recovery experiences. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 24( 2), 228-240.
[23]	Deselms, J. L . ( 2016). 911, What's my emergency? Emotional labor, work-related rumination, and strain outcomes in emergency medical dispatchers (Unpublished master’s thesis). Minnesota State University Mankato.
[24]	Elizur, D., Borg, I., Hunt, R., & Beck, I. M . ( 1991). The structure of work values: A cross cultural comparison. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 12( 1), 21-38.
[25]	Felstead, A., Gallie, D., & Green, F . ( 2002). Work skills in Britain 1986-2001. Nottingham: DfES Publications.
[26]	Firoozabadi, A., Uitdewilligen, S., & Zijlstra, F. R . ( 2018). Should you switch off or stay engaged? The consequences of thinking about work on the trajectory of psychological well-being over time. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 23( 2), 278-288.
[27]	Flaxman, P. E., Julie, M., Bond, F. W., & Kinman, G . ( 2012). Academics’ experiences of a respite from work: Effects of self-critical perfectionism and perseverative cognition on postrespite well-being. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97( 4), 854-865.
[28]	Flaxman, P. E., Stride, C. B., SöDerberg, M., Lloyd, J., Guenole, N., & Bond, F. W . ( 2018). Relationships between two dimensions of employee perfectionism, postwork cognitive processing, and work day functioning. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 27( 1), 56-69.
[29]	Fresco, D. M., Frankel, A. N., Mennin, D. S., Turk, C. L., & Heimberg, R. G . ( 2002). Distinct and overlapping features of rumination and worry: The relationship of cognitive production to negative affective states. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 26( 2), 179-188.
[30]	Frone, M. R . ( 2015). Relations of negative and positive work experiences to employee alcohol use: Testing the intervening role of negative and positive work rumination. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 20( 2), 148-160.
[31]	Gallie, D., White, M., Cheng, Y., & Tomlinson, M . ( 1998). Restructuring the employment relationship. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
[32]	Kahneman, D.L., & Treisman, A . ( 1984). Changing views of attention and automaticity. In R. Parasuraman, & D. R. Davies (Eds.), Varieties of attention (pp. 29-61). Orlando: Academic.
[33]	Kinman, G., Clements, A. J., & Hart, J . ( 2017). Working conditions, work-life conflict, and well-being in U.K. prison officers: The role of affective rumination and detachment. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 44( 2), 226-239.
[34]	Kinnunen, U., Feldt, T., & de Bloom, J . ( 2019). Testing cross-lagged relationships between work-related rumination and well-being at work in a three-wave longitudinal study across 1 and 2 years. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 92( 3), 645-670.
[35]	Kinnunen, U., Feldt, T., Sianoja, M., de Bloom, J., Korpela, K., & Geurts, S . ( 2017). Identifying long-term patterns of work-related rumination: Associations with job demands and well-being outcomes. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 26( 4), 514-526.
[36]	Locatelli, S. M., Kluwe, K., & Bryant, F. B . ( 2012). Facebook use and the tendency to ruminate among college students: Testing mediational hypotheses. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 46( 4), 377-394.
[37]	Martin, L. L., Shrira, I., & Startup, H. M . ( 2008). Rumination as a function of goal progress, stop rules, and cerebral lateralization. In C. Papageorgiou, & A. Wells (Eds.), Depressive Rumination: Nature, Theory and Treatment(pp.153-175).
[38]	Martin, L. L., & Tesser, A . ( 1996). Some ruminative thoughts. In R. Wyer Jr.(Ed.), Ruminative thoughts: Vol. 11. Advances in social cognition (pp. 1-47). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
[39]	Meurs, J. A., & Perrewe, P. L . ( 2011). Cognitive activation theory of stress: An integrative theoretical approach to work stress. Journal of Management, 37( 4), 1043-1068.
[40]	Michalianou, G. D . ( 2011). The reliability and validity of a new tripartite measure of work-related rumination and the impact of work-related rumination on physical and behavioural health (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Surrey.
[41]	Mohr, G., Müller, A., Rigotti, T., Aycan, Z., & Tschan, F . ( 2006). The assessment of psychological strain in work contexts: Concerning the structural equivalency of nine language adaptations of the irritation scale. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 22( 3), 198-206.
[42]	Nolen-Hoeksema, S . ( 1987). Sex differences in unipolar depression: Evidence and theory. Psychological Bulletin, 101( 2), 259-282.
[43]	Nolen-Hoeksema, S., Larson, J., & Grayson, C . ( 1999). Explaining the gender difference in depressive symptoms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77( 5), 1061-1072.
[44]	Nolen-Hoeksema, S., & Morrow, J . ( 1991). A prospective study of depression and posttraumatic stress symptoms after a natural disaster: The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61( 1), 115-121.
[45]	Perko, K., Kinnunen, U., & Feldt, T . ( 2017). Long-term profiles of work-related rumination associated with leadership, job demands, and exhaustion: A three-wave study. Work and Stress, 31( 4), 395-420.
[46]	Pravettoni, G., Cropley, M., Leotta, S. N., & Bagnara, S . ( 2007). The differential role of mental rumination among industrial and knowledge workers. Ergonomics, 50( 11), 1931-1940.
[47]	Querstret, D., & Cropley, M . ( 2012). Exploring the relationship between work-related rumination, sleep quality, and work-related fatigue. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 17( 3), 341-353.
[48]	Querstret, D., Cropley, M., Kruger, P., & Heron, R . ( 2015). Assessing the effect of a cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT)-based workshop on work-related rumination, fatigue, and sleep. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 25( 1), 50-67.
[49]	Robinson, M. S., & Alloy, L. B . ( 2003). Negative cognitive styles and stress-reactive rumination interact to predict depression: A prospective study. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 27( 3), 275-291.
[50]	Seo, M. G., Barrett, L. F., & Bartunek, J. M . ( 2004). The role of affective experience in work motivation. The Academy of Management Review, 29, 423-439.
[51]	Sonnentag, S., & Fritz, C . ( 2015). Recovery from job stress: The stressor-detachment model as an integrative framework. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 36( S1), S72-S103.
[52]	Syrek, C. J., & Antoni, C. H . ( 2014). Unfinished tasks foster rumination and impair sleeping-particularly if leaders have high performance expectations. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 19( 4), 490-499.
[53]	Syrek, C. J., Weigelt, O., Peifer, C., & Antoni, C. H . ( 2017). Zeigarnik's sleepless nights: How unfinished tasks at the end of the week impair employee sleep on the weekend through rumination. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 22( 2), 225-238.
[54]	Ursin, H., & Eriksen, H. R . ( 2004). The cognitive activation theory of stress. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 29( 5), 567-592.
[55]	Vahle-Hinz, T., Bamberg, E., Dettmers, J., Friedrich, N., & Keller, M . ( 2014). Effects of work stress on work-related rumination, restful sleep, and nocturnal heart rate variability experienced on workdays and weekends. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 19( 2), 217-230.
[56]	Vahle-Hinz, T., Mauno, S., de Bloom, J., & Kinnunen, U . ( 2017). Rumination for innovation? Analysing the longitudinal effects of work-related rumination on creativity at work and off-job recovery. Work and Stress, 31( 4), 315-337.
[57]	Van Laethem, M., Beckers, D. G. J., de Bloom, J., Sianoja, M., & Kinnunen, U . ( 2018). Challenge and hindrance demands in relation to self-reported job performance and the role of restoration, sleep quality, and affective rumination. Journal of Occupational and Organizational, 92( 2), 225-254.
[58]	Vandevala, T., Pavey, L., Chelidoni, O., Chang, N. F., Creagh-Brown, B., & Cox, A . ( 2017). Psychological rumination and recovery from work in intensive care professionals: Associations with stress, burnout, depression and health. Journal of Intensive Care, 5( 1), 16.
[59]	Verhaeghen, P., Joormann, J., & Aikman, S. N . ( 2014). Creativity, mood, and the examined life: Self-reflective rumination boosts creativity, brooding breeds dysphoria. Psychology of Aesthetics Creativity and the Arts, 8( 2), 211-218.
[60]	Wang, M., Liu, S., Liao, H., Gong, Y., Kammeyermueller, J., & Shi, J . ( 2013). Can’t get it out of my mind: Employee rumination after customer mistreatment and negative mood in the next morning. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98( 6), 989-1004.
[61]	Watkins, E.R . ( 2008). Constructive and unconstructive repetitive thought. Psychological Bulletin, 134( 2), 163-206.
[62]	Weigelt, O., Syrek, C. J., Schmitt, A., & Urbach, T . ( 2019). Finding peace of mind when there still is so much left undone-a diary study on how job stress, competence need satisfaction, and proactive work behavior contribute to work-related rumination during the weekend. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 24( 3), 373-386.
[63]	Weinberger, E., Wach, D., Stephan, U., & Wegge, J . ( 2018). Having a creative day: Understanding entrepreneurs’ daily idea generation through a recovery lens. Journal of Business Venturing, 33( 1), 1-19.
[64]	Yuan, Z., Barnes, C. M., & Li, Y . ( 2018). Bad behavior keeps you up at night: Counterproductive work behaviors and insomnia. Journal of Applied Psychology, 103( 4), 383-398.
[65]	Yukawa, S . ( 2008). Relationship between diary-keeping and tendencies toward alexithymia and rumination. Psychological Reports, 103( 3), 771-778.