Microbreaks are short, voluntary breaks taken during the workday that have been found to be beneficial in the recovery process as they are less structured and can be taken when an employee is feeling heightened levels of fatigue. Self-determination theory provides an important lens through which to study the possible association between microbreaks and work performance. Self-determination theory states that when an individual's needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness are satisfied the individual will have intrinsic motivation which will drive performance. In this experience sampling study, I recruited employees to respond to four surveys per day for five days. Based on the results of 100 participants, using unconflated multilevel modeling I found that higher work engagement covaried with higher personal initiative. Using multilevel structural equation modeling and focusing on between-person relationships, I found that autonomy need satisfaction during microbreaks covaried with increased intrinsic work motivation, while relatedness covaried with decreased intrinsic work motivation. Also, focusing on the between-person relationships, higher intrinsic work motivation covaried with higher work engagement, which then covaried with higher personal initiative. At the between-person level autonomy influenced personal initiative indirectly via enhancements in work engagement extending from intrinsic motivation. In this dissertation, I provided a comparative analysis of microbreak activities and implications of need satisfaction on various work-related constructs. / Doctor of Philosophy / Recent research surrounding recovery has focused on breaks after work, during the weekend, or vacations. Microbreaks are short, voluntary breaks that are beneficial in that they allow employees to relax. Microbreaks are less structured and can be taken when employees feel the greatest level of tiredness from their work. I hypothesized that when employees satisfy their needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness during microbreaks, they will experience greater intrinsic work motivation. I also hypothesized that this increase in intrinsic work motivation will correlate with increased work engagement, finally, correlating with increased personal initiative and helping behaviors. Results from 100 participants indicated that higher work engagement correlated with increased personal initiative. I also focused on relationships between people and found that individuals who experienced greater autonomy correlated with increased intrinsic work motivation, while individuals who experienced greater relatedness correlated with decreased intrinsic work motivation. Also, with the between-person relationships, individuals who had more intrinsic work motivation positively correlated with work engagement, which then positively correlated with personal initiative.

Completing tasks and reaching goals at work depletes employees’ energy, motivation, and attentional resources, resulting in negative stress and fatigue experiences. Taking microbreaks from work may help recover from work demands and replenish these resources by positively affecting employee well-being and performance. Therefore, this study seeks to understand the potential benefits of personal social media use as a specific microbreak activity that has become increasingly popular in recent years for employee recovery and productivity during working hours. More specifically, the engagement in social media microbreaks (SMMB) was hypothesized to positively predict both employees’ psychological detachment and perceived productivity. Cross-sectional survey data from 193 white-collar workers were collected and analyzed using linear regression. The results of this correlational study revealed that while engagement in SMMB activities positively predicted psychological detachment, perceived productivity was not found to be associated with SMMBs when holding employees’ general engagement in social media and socially desirable responding constant. Exploratory analyses showed that these relationships may be contingent on demographic, individual, and work (break) characteristics. These findings challenge the predominant negative connotation of using social media at work among employers and by contributing to a growing body of evidence suggesting the restorative nature of microbreaks. Yet, this research underlines the necessity for further research to elucidate the boundary conditions for effective (social media) microbreaks.

The present Master's thesis Development trends in Russian interpreting theory at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries is a theoretical study dedicated to the current situation in the interpreting theory in the Russian Federation. The aim of the thesis is firstly to analyze the information available on the development of the Russian interpreting theory within the international context, research being carried out by the current Russian authors, universities providing education in both conference consecutive and simultaneous interpreting, professional organizations associating highly-qualified translators and interpreters, professional journals, and the situation on the market in the field of interpreting, and secondly to draw a conclusion regarding the overall present situation, its probable reasons and assumed future development. Besides the introductory and conclusive chapters, the thesis is divided into four parts. The first part describes the research resources of the Russian interpreting theory in the international interpreting studies context. The second part is focused on the main research fields of interest of the Russian authors in the initial formation phase of the interpreting theory as an independent scientific discipline. The object of the third part is a comparison of several...