An employee who was not there: a study of job boredom in white-collar work
ISSN: 0048-3486
Article publication date: 7 March 2016
Issue publication date: 7 March 2016
Abstract
Purpose
Job boredom is an amotivational state at work, where employees lack interest in their work activities and have difficulties concentrating on them. Although recent research suggests that job boredom may concern a wide range of industries, studies investigating the experience and its emergence in white-collar work are scarce. Thereby the purpose of this paper is to contextualize job boredom by exploring the experience and its preconditions in white-collar work.
Design/methodology/approach
This inductive, exploratory study employed data from 13 focus group interviews (n=72) in four organizations to investigate the emergence and experience of job boredom.
Findings
Three types of job boredom was found. Each type involved distinct temporal experiences: inertia, acceleration and disrupted rhythm at work. The findings suggest that different types of job boredom involve specific conditions that hamper the activation of individual capabilities and disrupt temporal experience accordingly.
Research limitations/implications
Extending the conceptualization of job boredom may enable better understanding of the variety of consequences often associated with the phenomenon.
Practical implications
It is also important for organizations to recognize that there are different types and various preconditions of job boredom in white-collar work, as it may have a negative impact on employee well-being and performance.
Originality/value
The results indicate that job boredom is a more nuanced phenomenon than earlier believed. By identifying job boredom in white-collar work as an experience with various forms and respective preconditions, this study expands the understanding of the phenomenon and its emergence.
Keywords
Citation
Harju, L.K. and Hakanen, J.J. (2016), "An employee who was not there: a study of job boredom in white-collar work", Personnel Review, Vol. 45 No. 2, pp. 374-391. https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-05-2015-0125
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited