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An employee who was not there: a study of job boredom in white-collar work

Lotta K. Harju (Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland)
Jari J. Hakanen (Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland)

Personnel Review

ISSN: 0048-3486

Article publication date: 7 March 2016

Issue publication date: 7 March 2016

2707

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

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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