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Recharged and ready: a week-level diary study exploring an integrated model of weekend recovery, incorporating circadian and boundary perspectives, and their relationship with weekly performance

The ability to effectively recover from work-related stressors during weekends is increasingly recognised as vital for the well-being and performance of employees. Given their theoretical alignment with recovery, this study extends an integrated model of weekend recovery by incorporating a boundary...

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Main Author: Schroeder, Callum
Other Authors: Bagraim, Jeffrey
Format: Thesis
Language:English
English
Published: Organisational Psychology 2026
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access_status_str Open Access
author Schroeder, Callum
author2 Bagraim, Jeffrey
author_browse Bagraim, Jeffrey
Schroeder, Callum
author_facet Bagraim, Jeffrey
Schroeder, Callum
author_sort Schroeder, Callum
collection Thesis
description The ability to effectively recover from work-related stressors during weekends is increasingly recognised as vital for the well-being and performance of employees. Given their theoretical alignment with recovery, this study extends an integrated model of weekend recovery by incorporating a boundary perspective (i.e., psychological reattachment to work) and a circadian perspective (i.e., sleep characteristics), offering a more comprehensive understanding of how these components interact with employees' recovery and ultimately influence their weekly job performance. In addition, positioning the weekend as the recovery context provided the opportunity to examine the impact of culture, religion, and spirituality on recovery, particularly as they relate to activities performed during leisure time. Using a longitudinal research design with repeated measures, quantitative data was collected from employees (N = 88) across various companies in South Africa over the course of three weeks before and after weekends. Multilevel model results, primarily at the person level (n = 57), indicated that low-duty activities positively predicted weekend recovery experiences (including psychological detachment, relaxation, and mastery experiences), with physical activities and cultural activities being the most conducive to the recovery experiences. Conversely, high-duty activities were not found to be significant negative predictors of weekend recovery experiences. It was also found that religious and spiritual activities, while not conducive to overall recovery experiences, were positively predictive of psychological detachment from work. Interestingly, inspection of the results for sleep quality and weekend catch-up sleep revealed that sleep quality positively predicted weekend recovery experiences only when high-duty and low-duty activities were removed from the model. Weekend catch-up sleep was not found to be a significant predictor of weekend recovery experiences among the current sample. Week-level findings (n = 102) indicated that weekend recovery experiences positively predicted the state of being recovered on Monday; however, they did not promote psychological reattachment. Nevertheless, it was found that psychological reattachment to work on Monday was found to be the most beneficial recovery-related outcome for optimal weekly job performance (i.e., task performance and work engagement), as opposed to the state of being recovered, which solely promoted employees' task performance for the remainder of the workweek. Ultimately, the relevant implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research are presented.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/42706
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language English
eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:37:51.304Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2026
publishDateRange 2026
publishDateSort 2026
publisher Organisational Psychology
publisherStr Organisational Psychology
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/42706 Recharged and ready: a week-level diary study exploring an integrated model of weekend recovery, incorporating circadian and boundary perspectives, and their relationship with weekly performance Schroeder, Callum Bagraim, Jeffrey weekend recovery recovery experiences culture religion spirituality sleep the state of being recovered psychological reattachment task performance work engagement multilevel modelling The ability to effectively recover from work-related stressors during weekends is increasingly recognised as vital for the well-being and performance of employees. Given their theoretical alignment with recovery, this study extends an integrated model of weekend recovery by incorporating a boundary perspective (i.e., psychological reattachment to work) and a circadian perspective (i.e., sleep characteristics), offering a more comprehensive understanding of how these components interact with employees' recovery and ultimately influence their weekly job performance. In addition, positioning the weekend as the recovery context provided the opportunity to examine the impact of culture, religion, and spirituality on recovery, particularly as they relate to activities performed during leisure time. Using a longitudinal research design with repeated measures, quantitative data was collected from employees (N = 88) across various companies in South Africa over the course of three weeks before and after weekends. Multilevel model results, primarily at the person level (n = 57), indicated that low-duty activities positively predicted weekend recovery experiences (including psychological detachment, relaxation, and mastery experiences), with physical activities and cultural activities being the most conducive to the recovery experiences. Conversely, high-duty activities were not found to be significant negative predictors of weekend recovery experiences. It was also found that religious and spiritual activities, while not conducive to overall recovery experiences, were positively predictive of psychological detachment from work. Interestingly, inspection of the results for sleep quality and weekend catch-up sleep revealed that sleep quality positively predicted weekend recovery experiences only when high-duty and low-duty activities were removed from the model. Weekend catch-up sleep was not found to be a significant predictor of weekend recovery experiences among the current sample. Week-level findings (n = 102) indicated that weekend recovery experiences positively predicted the state of being recovered on Monday; however, they did not promote psychological reattachment. Nevertheless, it was found that psychological reattachment to work on Monday was found to be the most beneficial recovery-related outcome for optimal weekly job performance (i.e., task performance and work engagement), as opposed to the state of being recovered, which solely promoted employees' task performance for the remainder of the workweek. Ultimately, the relevant implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research are presented. 2026-01-27T13:33:18Z 2026-01-27T13:33:18Z 2025 2026-01-27T13:31:42Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters Masters http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42706 en eng application/pdf Organisational Psychology Faculty of Commerce University of Cape Town
spellingShingle weekend recovery
recovery experiences
culture
religion
spirituality
sleep
the state of being recovered
psychological reattachment
task performance
work engagement
multilevel modelling
Schroeder, Callum
Recharged and ready: a week-level diary study exploring an integrated model of weekend recovery, incorporating circadian and boundary perspectives, and their relationship with weekly performance
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Recharged and ready: a week-level diary study exploring an integrated model of weekend recovery, incorporating circadian and boundary perspectives, and their relationship with weekly performance
title_full Recharged and ready: a week-level diary study exploring an integrated model of weekend recovery, incorporating circadian and boundary perspectives, and their relationship with weekly performance
title_fullStr Recharged and ready: a week-level diary study exploring an integrated model of weekend recovery, incorporating circadian and boundary perspectives, and their relationship with weekly performance
title_full_unstemmed Recharged and ready: a week-level diary study exploring an integrated model of weekend recovery, incorporating circadian and boundary perspectives, and their relationship with weekly performance
title_short Recharged and ready: a week-level diary study exploring an integrated model of weekend recovery, incorporating circadian and boundary perspectives, and their relationship with weekly performance
title_sort recharged and ready a week level diary study exploring an integrated model of weekend recovery incorporating circadian and boundary perspectives and their relationship with weekly performance
topic weekend recovery
recovery experiences
culture
religion
spirituality
sleep
the state of being recovered
psychological reattachment
task performance
work engagement
multilevel modelling
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42706
work_keys_str_mv AT schroedercallum rechargedandreadyaweekleveldiarystudyexploringanintegratedmodelofweekendrecoveryincorporatingcircadianandboundaryperspectivesandtheirrelationshipwithweeklyperformance