UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Getting Outdoors After the Workday: The Affective and Cognitive Effects of Evening Nature Contact

Klotz, Anthony C; McClean, Shawn T; Yim, Junhyok; Koopman, Joel; Tang, Pok Man; (2022) Getting Outdoors After the Workday: The Affective and Cognitive Effects of Evening Nature Contact. Journal of Management 10.1177/01492063221106430. (In press). Green open access

[thumbnail of Klotz_McClean Yim Koopman Tang 2022 JOM.pdf]
Preview
Text
Klotz_McClean Yim Koopman Tang 2022 JOM.pdf

Download (980kB) | Preview

Abstract

A growing body of research indicates that contact with nature at work has beneficial effects on employee well-being. However, employees often spend most of their workdays indoors, largely separate from natural elements. For these employees, the bulk of their contact with nature occurs outside of work, after the workday. The extent to which this contact with nature during nonwork time helps employees recover from the workday and affects them at work the next day, if at all, is not clear, leaving an incomplete picture of the potential for employees to access the work-related benefits of nature in their personal time. In this paper, we draw from stress recovery theory and attention restoration theory to examine the effects of evening nature contact on work effort the following day via two paths: increased positive affect and reduced depletion. Our results, based on three studies employing different methodologies (i.e., an experience sampling study, an experiment, and a recall study), indicate that evening nature contact positively relates to beginning of workday positive affect and subsequent work effort. However, this effect emerged only for employees with high levels of nature connectedness—an individual difference reflecting individuals’ innate connection to the natural world. Concerning the depletion-based link between evening nature contact and employee effort at work the next day, our results offered only limited support for this path. These findings extend our understanding of the effects of contact with nature on employees, particularly across work and home boundaries.

Type: Article
Title: Getting Outdoors After the Workday: The Affective and Cognitive Effects of Evening Nature Contact
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1177/01492063221106430
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1177/01492063221106430
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: contact with nature, positive affect, depletion, work effort
UCL classification: UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > UCL School of Management
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10153108
Downloads since deposit
769Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item