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The Association of Subordinate Perceptions of Supervisor Recovery with Subordinate Recovery Outcomes

Recent literature surrounding the process of recovery from work and work-related demands has included the supervisor as a key variable influencing how and if employees recover from work. Recovery represents the return of personal resources to their pre-work levels and is typically conceptualized as taking place during non-work time (e.g., at night after work, weekends, holidays). It is theorized to take place through four main recovery experiences: psychological detachment from work, relaxation, mastery experiences, and control over leisure time. This study extends the literature surrounding recovery experiences to include subordinate perceptions of supervisor recovery as a potential predictor of subordinate recovery and well-being. Participants (N=252) completed three time-lagged surveys and reported their perceptions of their supervisor’s recovery (Time 1), their own recovery (Time 2), and their feelings of vigor and fatigue (Time 3). Perceived supervisor recovery was empirically distinguishable from supervisor support for recovery and provided incremental validity in predicting subordinate recovery beyond this support perception. These results bolster the conclusion that supervisor recovery can spillover to directly influence subordinate recovery. / M.S. / Recent research has focused on how the supervisor may influence how and if subordinates are able to rest and recover from the demands they face at work. The process of recovery from work is usually thought to take place during time away from work (e.g., at night after work, weekends, holidays) and is thought to occur through four experiences: psychological detachment from work (cutting mental and physical ties with work), relaxation (positive mood and low effort), mastery experiences (building skills or hobbies), and control over leisure time (being able to decide how to spend one’s time). This thesis extends previous work to include subordinate perceptions of how his / her supervisor is recovering from work as a potential predictor of subordinate recovery and recovery related outcomes. Participants (N=252) completed three surveys over the course of four weeks and reported their perceptions of their supervisor’s recovery (Survey 1), their own recovery (Survey 2), and their feelings of vigor and fatigue (Survey 4). Subordinate perceptions of the mastery and control of their supervisor was related to subordinate mastery and control above and beyond existing measures of how the supervisor may influence subordinate recovery. These results suggest that the supervisor may be an important role model in how subordinates recover.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/96430
Date01 1900
CreatorsMinnen, Molly E.
ContributorsPsychology, Calderwood, Charles, Foti, Roseanne J., Axsom, Danny K.
PublisherVirginia Tech
Source SetsVirginia Tech Theses and Dissertation
Languageen_US
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
FormatETD, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf
RightsCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

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