The non-sleepy neurotic: the role of a good night’s sleep for daily self-regulatory resources and vitality at work
International Journal of Organizational Analysis
ISSN: 1934-8835
Article publication date: 26 December 2023
Issue publication date: 7 November 2024
Abstract
Purpose
Relying on the effort-recovery model, this study aimed to test how and when a good night’s sleep increases in daily physical health. The authors hypothesized that when individuals have a good night’s sleep, it helps them to recover their self-regulatory resources, and, in turn, these cognitive resources improve their physical health experienced at work. Furthermore, the authors argue that this will be different depending on the individuals’ levels of neuroticism; that is, the indirect relationship between sleep duration and physical health through self-regulatory resources will be stronger for individuals who score lower on neuroticism, and in contrast, the relationship will be buffered for those who score higher on neuroticism.
Design/methodology/approach
To test the hypothesized model, the authors conducted a three-wave longitudinal study with working adults (N = 262). The authors used multilevel modelling to test if neuroticism moderated the indirect relationship between sleep duration and physical health through self-regulatory resources, at both between and within-person levels.
Findings
The multilevel results showed that a good night’s sleep recovered self-regulatory resources needed to promote physical health; however, this indirect relationship was buffered for those who scored higher on neuroticism (versus lower levels of neuroticism).
Practical implications
Hence, the role of neuroticism as a potentially harming condition for employees’ physical health is pointed out.
Originality/value
The findings highlight the relevance of sleep as a recovery activity for both cognitive and physical resources experienced during the working day. However, this appears to be attenuated for employees with higher levels of neuroticism.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Funding: This work was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, grant UIDB/00315/2020.
Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Compliance of ethical standard statement: All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants involved in the study.
Data availability: The data is available only upon reasonable request to the authors.
Citation
Junça Silva, A., Mosteo, L. and Rueff, R. (2024), "The non-sleepy neurotic: the role of a good night’s sleep for daily self-regulatory resources and vitality at work", International Journal of Organizational Analysis, Vol. 32 No. 9, pp. 2052-2066. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOA-07-2023-3832
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited