The Shape of Recovery Activities: A Person-Centered Study of Evening Recovery Activity Profiles, their Work Antecedents, and Outcomes

Evening off-job activities play a crucial role in recovery from work. Although previous research has provided valuable insights into the role of recovery activities, little is known about the complex interplay of multiple characteristics of recovery activities and how this relates to well-being and work outcomes. Building on a dimensional approach to differentiate key characteristics of recovery activities (physical, social, creative, mental, spiritual, virtual, and outdoor), we adopt a person-centered perspective to identify distinct recovery activity profiles that capture the various ways these characteristics co-occur in daily life. We further investigate the extent to which these profiles shape recovery experiences, well-being, and work outcomes. Using data from two 10-day daily diary studies, Study 1 (N = 345, 1,907 observations) identified daily profiles and demonstrated their associations with recovery experiences, emotional exhaustion, and next-morning vigor. In Study 2 (N = 321, 1,780 observations), we assessed to what extent these profiles replicated in an independent sample and extended the investigation by including work-related antecedents and next-day work outcomes. Results indicated that daily recovery activities cluster together into identifiable profiles that largely replicated across samples. The identified profiles exhibited unique relationships with recovery experiences, well-being, and work outcomes. Our findings add to the recovery literature by illustrating the merits of considering profiles of recovery activities and their characteristics rather than studying recovery activities in isolation.