The Interactive Effects of Job Demands and Present Temporal Focus for Time Pressure and Strain

Time pressure is ubiquitous in peoples’ work lives and is associated with many negative consequences for employees’ well-being. In general, scholars have viewed time pressure as a characteristic intrinsic to the job which—in isolation or jointly with other job facets—relates to employees’ strain. This common operationalization of time pressure, however, is misaligned with time pressure’s core definition to constitute an outcome (not a dimension) of job demands. Combining a subjective time lens with job demands-resources theory, we propose that time pressure transfers the effects of quantitative job demands on employee strain. Furthermore, we add insights from temporal personality theory to this model to hypothesize that employees’ present temporal focus (i.e., the extent to which individuals pay attention to the present) strengthens this indirect relationship. We test this model in a three-wave, longitudinal study of 515 German employees. Cross-lagged panel analyses demonstrate that for moderately to highly present-focused employees (but not for less present-focused individuals), job demands relate to increased time pressure and, by extension, increased strain. These findings indicate that enriching the literature on job demands and time pressure with a subjective time lens provides critical insights into how and when time pressure emerges and decreases employee well-being.