The Role of Recovery for Morning Cognitive Appraisal of Work Demands: A Diary Study

We examined the role of daily recovery for morning cognitive appraisal of work demands in a daily diary study. We predicted that psychological detachment from work during the evening would be associated with changes in cognitive appraisal from afternoon to the next morning. Additionally, we predicted that these associations are mediated by state of being recovered in the morning. We collected data from 183 employees with 3 daily measurement occasions over 2 consecutive workweeks. We analyzed the data using multilevel path modeling with latent variance decomposition into within- and between-person variance parts. Results showed that psychological detachment predicted a decrease in hindrance and threat appraisal but no change in challenge appraisal from afternoon to morning. State of being recovered mediated the relationship between psychological detachment and threat appraisal but not hindrance appraisal. Psychological detachment was indirectly related to an increase in challenge appraisal via state of being recovered in the morning. Our results provide insights on predictors of cognitive appraisal and the role of recovery for cognitive processes in the stress process.