Staying connected and feeling less exhausted: The autonomy benefits of after‐hour connectivity

Abstract This study investigates the longitudinal relationship between after‐hour connectivity, autonomy and exhaustion. In doing so, we seek to illuminate the role of individuals' connectivity to work in relation to their autonomy and well‐being. We juxtapose different effective directions of the relationship between connectivity and autonomy to shed light on whether and how connectivity and autonomy are related to employees' well‐being. This is important because research has both often problematized after‐hour connectivity and suggested that connectivity is an inherent feature of contemporary workplaces that may benefit employees. In this study, we hypothesize that after‐hour connectivity increases autonomy and that the autonomy to work anywhere and anytime leads to working everywhere all the time, thus increasing after‐hour connectivity. We further shed light on whether this behaviour has negative consequences for employees' well‐being or not. The three‐wave survey study ( N = 192) demonstrates that after‐hour connectivity may operate as a resource that potentially empowers employees (increases autonomy). The freedom to work anytime, anywhere, does not itself increase after‐hour connectivity. Notably, we demonstrate that connectivity is negatively related to emotional exhaustion, through increased autonomy.