Purpose: Procrastination has become a pervasive phenomenon in the workplace, yet knowledge of its antecedents remains limited. Therefore, this study explains when and why employees procrastinate. As procrastination is an individual intentional behavior to escape potential resource loss by taking actions to relax; this study regards procrastination as resource-protection behavior. Building on the conservation of resources (COR) theory, the purpose of the current study is to explore the direct impact of external situational factors (ie, stressor appraisals) and individual traits (ie, personality) and their interactive effect on workplace procrastination behavior.
Participants and Methods: The study adopts a quantitative approach and uses two-wave data. Data was collected through the randomized cluster sampling technique and a structured questionnaire survey. The sample consisted of civil servants in an organization located in the Shandong province of China. Received 347 valid questionnaires representing an overall response rate of 87%. The theoretical model was tested through confirmatory factor analysis and regression analyses using Mplus 7.2.
Results: The results show that hindrance stressor appraisal is positively related to procrastination, whereas challenge stressor appraisal is negatively related to procrastination. Neuroticism had a positive relationship with procrastination, while conscientiousness had a negative relationship with procrastination. Conscientiousness moderates the relationship between challenge stressor appraisal and procrastination such that the relationship is salient under high conscientiousness.
Conclusion: Overall, our study suggests that procrastination is affected by personal traits and workplace stressor appraisals. This study makes potential contributions to employees’ procrastination literature by and its understanding within the job procrastination knowledge base. Also, this study confirms the comprehensive reach and applicability of the COR theory developed by scholars such as Hobfoll (1989). In practically, the research benefits organizations by providing suggestions for managing employees’ procrastination behavior.
Keywords: procrastination, hindrance and challenge stressor appraisal, conscientiousness, neuroticism, conservation of resources