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Commuting as Role Transitions: How Trait Self-Control and Work-related Prospection Offset Negative Effects of Lengthy Commutes Jon M. Jachimowicz Bradley R. Staats Francesca Gino
Julia J. Lee Jochen I. Menges
Working Paper 16-077
Working Paper 16-077
Copyright © 2016, 2017 by Jon M. Jachimowicz, Julia J. Lee, Bradley R. Staats, Jochen I. Menges, and Francesca Gino
Working papers are in draft form. This working paper is distributed for purposes of comment and discussion only. It may not be reproduced without permission of the copyright holder. Copies of working papers are available from the author.
Commuting as Role Transitions: How Trait Self-Control and Work-related Prospection Offset Negative Effects of Lengthy Commutes
Jon M. Jachimowicz Columbia Business School
Bradley R. Staats University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Francesca Gino Harvard Business School
Julia J. Lee Ross School of Business, University of Michigan
Jochen I. Menges WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management
Commuting as Role Transitions 1
Running Head: COMMUTING AS ROLE TRANSITIONS
Commuting as Role Transitions: How Trait Self-Control and Work-related Prospection Offset Negative Effects of Lengthy Commutes
*Jon M. JachimowiczColumbia Business School
*Julia J. LeeRoss School of Business, University of Michigan
Bradley R. StaatsUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Jochen I. MengesWHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management
University of Cambridge, Judge Business [email protected]
Francesca Gino
Harvard Business [email protected]
* denotes equal authorshipCorresponding Author:Jon M. JachimowiczUris Hall, Office 7-IColumbia Business School3022 BroadwayNew York City, NY 10027Phone: 646-647-5341ACKNOWLEDGMENTSWe thank John Monks for his generous help in setting up the first study, Andreas Wihler for helpful comments, and Ceylan Oymak, Lauren Tassone, and Greg Gozzo for excellent research assistance. This research was in part funded by a Cambridge Judge Business School small grant awarded to the first author, Harvard Business School, and The Wharton School.
Commuting as Role Transitions 2
ABSTRACT
Across the globe, the average commute is 38 minutes each way, and it is well known that
lengthy commutes have negative effects on employees’ well-being and job-related outcomes.
Despite the importance of commuting in the employees’ everyday life, very little is known about
offsetting such negative effects of lengthy commutes. Integrating theories of self-control and
boundary work in psychological and organizational sciences, we argue that engaging in future-
oriented thinking about specific work goals while commuting, what we call work-related
prospection, positively influences job satisfaction because it facilitates employees’ transition into
their work role. Across two field studies and one field experiment, we find that employees higher
in trait self-control are less likely to experience negative effects of lengthy commutes because
they use their commuting time to engage in work-related prospection. In a field experiment,
employees asked to engage in work-related prospection during commuting reported higher levels
of job satisfaction in comparison to multiple control groups. Although commuting is typically
seen as the least desirable part of an employee’s day, our theory and results point to the benefits
of using it as a time period to engage in work-related prospection.
Keywords: Commuting, Role Transition, Boundary Work, Job Satisfaction.
Commuting as Role Transitions 3
Commuting is part of everyday life. Because home and the office are often in separate
locations, most employees face commutes every workday. Globally, the mean commute time is
about 38 minutes each way (Rampell, 2011), thus an average commuter can expect to spend
almost 300 hours traveling between work and home over the course of a year, more than 10% of
the total working time (OECD, 2014). Although commute time is related to work – without
work, there is no need to commute – commuting is typically unpaid, and rarely included when
calculating work time (BBC, 2015). In addition, commutes are getting longer: for example, a
recent study found that the distance between employees and their workplaces in America grew
by about 5% from 2000 to 2012 (Kneebone & Holmes, 2015).
Evidence suggests that commuting is not an aspect of life that people enjoy. In a survey
conducted by Kahneman and Krueger (2006), for instance, respondents identified the morning
journey between home and work as their least desirable activity of the day, closely followed by
the evening commute as third worst. But commuting is not only disliked, it also bears negative
consequences for people. Lengthy commutes are associated with lower levels of subjective well-
being (Stutzer & Frey, 2008) and greater levels of stress (Gottholmseder, Nowotny, Pruckner, &
Theurl, 2009; Novaco, Stokols, & Milanesi, 1990). Lengthy commutes thus lead to outcomes
that are likely to influence people’s attitudes and behaviors on the job. Lower well-being and
greater stress reliably predict decreased job satisfaction (Gaines & Jermier, 1983) and increased
emotional exhaustion (Fox, Dwyer, & Ganster, 1993; Packard & Motowidlo, 1987).
Furthermore, lengthy commutes affect work-related outcomes: commuting longer distances to
work in the morning increases lateness (Leigh & Lust, 1988) and absenteeism (Van Ommeren &
Gutierrez-i-Puigarnau, 2011). Not only do employees dislike lengthy commutes, then, they also
Commuting as Role Transitions 4
have a negative bearing on employees’ experience of work.
Despite the pervasiveness and consequentiality of commuting, few organizational
researchers have attended to this part of the day. As a result, we know fairly little about why
commuting is so aversive, who is most affected by the commuting experience, and how people
could better cope with lengthy commutes. In this paper, we address these questions by drawing
on theories on boundary work (Ashforth, Kreiner, & Fugate, 2000; Nippert-Eng, 1996) and self-
control (Baumeister, Bratslavsky, Muraven, & Tice, 1998; de Ridder, Lensvelt-Mulders,
Finkenauer, Stok, & Baumeister, 2012) as frameworks for conceptualizing commuting as an
opportunity to both physically and psychologically transition between roles. We specifically
focus on the morning commute, during which employees exit their home roles (by leaving home)
and enter their work roles (by arriving at work).1
We suggest that people with high degrees of self-control use their commute to more
effectively transition from one role to another, and, as a result, are less aversely affected by the
commuting experience. Casting commuting as a boundary work situation that both demands and
benefits from self-control, we examine what high self-control employees do during their
commutes to offset the negative effects of commuting, and suggest and find that they engage in a
mental strategy that facilitates role transition. This mental strategy involves work-related
prospection – thinking ahead to envision and plan one’s work-related goals (Austin &
Vancouver, 1996; Szpunar, Spreng, & Schacter, 2014). We propose that work-related
prospection is a strategy not just accessible to employees with higher levels of trait self-control
but can instead be utilized by other employees as well to facilitate their role transition, and thus
1 We acknowledge that some employees commute to work at other times during the day, for example, if they work during the night shift. The majority of employees commute to work during the morning hours, however.
Commuting as Role Transitions 5
make lengthy commutes less aversive.
Our conceptual model is depicted in Figure 1. We relate commute time to job satisfaction
and turnover. We suggest that whether commute time lowers job satisfaction and increases
turnover depends on employees’ levels of trait self-control, such that those with high trait self-
control are less influenced by lengthy commutes whereas those with low trait self-control tend to
be more negatively affected. We also suggest that those with high trait self-control are more
likely to engage in work-related prospection, which ameliorates the negative consequences of
lengthy commutes, in comparison to those with low trait self-control. We test this conceptual
model in a series of three studies, including a field study at a major media company in the UK;
an online study of commuters across the US; and a field experiment with commuters across the
US during which we asked some commuters but not others to engage in work-related prospection
and tracked their job satisfaction.
-------------------------------
Insert Figure 1 about here
-------------------------------
By bringing together organizational and psychological theories, this research offers
several theoretical contributions. First, we utilize the context of employees’ daily commutes to
advance the growing literature on role transitions and boundary work (Ashforth et al., 2000;
Kreiner, 2006; Kreiner et al., 2009; Rothbard, Phillips, & Dumas, 2005). While previous
research has shown the negative effect of commuting length on job-related outcomes, we provide
insight into the mechanism through which this occurs. Specifically, we conceptualize the
morning commute as a time period for employees to shift from their home to their work role.
Viewed through this theoretical lens borrowed from boundary theory, we suggest that longer
Commuting as Role Transitions 6
commutes are aversive because they delay the achievement of the goal of the commute, the entry
into one’s work role, and thus keep employees in an endured state of role ambiguity. However,
employees can engage in boundary work during their commute to accelerate their role entry,
which reduces the frustration experienced from the delayed role entry associated with lengthy
commutes, and thus makes particularly time-consuming morning commutes less aversive.
Second, we suggest that some employees are more likely to intuitively engage in this type
of boundary work during their commute than others, and thus are less negatively affected by
longer commutes. Employees may not have control over their means of commute, but they have
relative control over what they think about during their commute. Role transitions are prompted
by the physical environment, such as the start and end of the morning commute, but how swiftly
role transitions occur and how fast they are completed are essentially a matter of the mind. Those
employees who have a greater capacity to regulate their thoughts during the morning commute
may be more predisposed to effectively engage in boundary work to facilitate their role transition
and complete it swiftly; others may have lingering thoughts about home until they arrive at work
or may continue to think about home while at work, indicating an incomplete role transition
(Ashforth et al., 2000). Prior research suggests that individuals who score high on one particular
personality facet, trait self-control, are better able to regulate their thoughts; we apply and extend
self-control theory to suggest that employees with high trait self-control are less affected by
lengthy commutes.
Third, we unpack how trait self-control affects people’s commuting experience by
proposing that employees with higher self-control are more likely to engage in a cognitive
strategy – work-related prospection – that involves thinking about and planning for the workday
ahead. Engaging in this form of cognition during the morning commute reflects a strategy
Commuting as Role Transitions 7
through which employees with higher levels of trait self-control facilitate their role transition.
However, the application of this strategy is not limited to employees with higher trait self-
control; instead, we propose and find that employees with lower trait self-control can be
instructed to apply this cognitive strategy. By highlighting to employees that the morning
commute is an opportunity for them to engage in work-related prospection, employees who are
not high in trait self-control can also reap its positive benefits and, as a result, suffer less from
commuting. We contribute to the rich body of literature on self-control by suggesting trait self-
control is comprised of strategies that employees can learn and that can be taught.
THEORY DEVELOPMENT
Commuting as Role Transition between Work and Home
Commuting, by nature of standing between work and home both physically and
temporally, is a uniquely positioned time period when employees are neither at work, nor at
home. Commuting, therefore, is a prototypical situation for role transitions – a “boundary-
crossing activity, where one exits and enters roles by surmounting boundaries” (Ashforth et al.,
2000: 472). Boundary theory suggests that there are two types of transitions: “micro” transitions
whereby individuals move between roles with regular frequency (e.g., home roles and work
roles), and “macro” transitions, more infrequent and often permanent changes (e.g., job changes).
Micro role transitions are particularly important because they occur frequently (often, several
times a day) and require individuals to engage in different behaviors and attitudes in each role.
For example, the same parent who gets their daughter ready for school in the morning must
behave very differently from the research and development manager that drives innovative
projects forward at work. The time period between these two roles – the commute between home
Commuting as Role Transitions 8
and work – may allow employees to move from one role to the next.
How individuals engage in role transitions may be particularly important for the commute
from home to work because the contrast between role identities tends to be large. That is, the
number of associated core and peripheral features that differ between one’s home and one’s work
identity is likely to be high (Louis, 1980), such that the magnitude of the transition – and thus the
associated difficulty of moving from one role to the next – is also increased (Ashforth et al.,
2000). Because commuting stands between home and work, commuting time can thus serve as a
time period for this micro role transition to occur, defined as the “psychological and physical
movement between sequentially held roles” (Ashforth, 2000: 7). Viewed from this perspective,
the commute may begin with an employee exiting their home role, and may end with an
employee entering their work role.
Specifically, commuting provides an opportunity for a rite of passage, which facilitates
movement of employees from one role to another (Ashforth et al., 2000; Richter, 1990; van
Gennep, 1960). These rites of passage include three steps: separation (facilitating role exit),
transition (facilitating psychological and physical movement), and incorporation (facilitating
role entry; see Van Gennep, 1960). Morning commutes, in particular, serve as an opportunity to
provide a buffer between multiple role identities as they separate employees physically and
psychologically from home. Morning commutes also allow them to transition between distinctive
role identities (Hall, 1990), by facilitating role exit (leaving home), transition (transport to work)
and role entry (arriving at work). In addition to serving as a means to travel from home to work,
the morning commute can therefore serve as a means to aid the shift from home- to work-related
roles.
Based on this conceptualization of commuting as an opportunity for effective role
Commuting as Role Transitions 9
transitions to occur, the extent to which the commute facilitates or impedes the role transition can
be a source of frustration for the employee. The goal of employees in commuting to work is to
enter their work role. We propose that commutes may be aversive to the extent to which they
impede the role transition to occur and delay the achievement of the goal of commuting. Lengthy
commutes in particular can delay the entrance into an employee’s work role, such that the
increased time spent on getting to work may lead to dissatisfaction and frustration due to delayed
goal achievement (Casey et al., 2011; Mischel & Grusec, 1967; Novaco et al., 1990). The
ambiguity between home and work-roles in the transition period during the morning commute
can have negative consequences (Desrochers & Sargent, 2004), especially when this ambiguity is
sustained for extended periods of time (Bacharach, Bamberger, & Conley, 1991; Rizzo, House,
& Lirtzman, 1970). Frustration is higher when individuals experience little agency in the delay of
their goal achievement (Muraven, 2008; Muraven, Gagné, & Rosman, 2008). This is likely to be
the case during lengthy commutes.
Thus, we suggest that lengthy commutes lead to higher frustration, and in turn to lower
subjective well-being, because they delay the achievement of employee’s goal to enter their work
role. Our suggestion is aligned with the commute impedance model (e.g., Stokols, Novaco,
Stokols, & Campbell, 1978), which highlights that any factor that frustrates the goal of arriving
at work, such as distance, slow speed, and congestion (referred to in this model as commute
impedance) induces strain. This can include increased blood pressure (Stokols et al., 1978),
nervousness and tension (Stokols et al., 1978), and reduced task performance (Schaeffer, Street,
Singer, & Baum, 1988). Increased strain also manifests in employee’s ratings of job satisfaction,
with longer commutes associated with lower levels of job satisfaction, both for existing
employees (Novaco et al., 1990) as well as recently relocated employees (Geyer & Daly, 1998).
Commuting as Role Transitions 10
Higher commuting time therefore leads to lower job satisfaction because employees’
achievement of role entry is delayed.
Trait Self-Control as a Boundary Condition
While lengthy commutes have a negative effect on employees’ job satisfaction, it is
unclear whether all employees are similarly affected by longer commutes. No prior research has
identified a boundary condition for the relationship between commute time and job satisfaction.
The identification of who is less affected by longer commutes can provide insight into how those
less affected employees manage the challenge of the delayed achievement of work role entry;
after all, the choice of how employees commute is relatively fixed, and often outside of the
control of the commuter. However, how employees spend their time when commuting,
specifically, what they think about, may differ between employees. This difference may account
for substantial variation in how effectively employees cope with lengthy commutes.
Although separation, transition, and incorporation were originally thought to be triggered
by changes in the employees’ physical environment (Van Gennep, 1960), we propose they are
essentially matters of the mind that can be prompted by employees themselves. If employees
were to use their commute in a way to facilitate role transition, and thus accelerate their role
entry to a time period possibly even before they arrive at their office, a lengthy commute would
not necessarily have to be aversive because the goal of work role entry would no longer be
blocked or delayed, and the sustained role ambiguity resolved earlier. Consistent with this view,
Ashforth et al. (2000) alluded that even lengthy commutes could be made enjoyable if they are
perceived as an “efficient way of facilitating a physical and psychological shift between roles”
(p. 473). Hence, the relationship between commute time and job satisfaction may not be uniform
across all commuters. Instead, the relationship may be influenced by how employees spend their
Commuting as Role Transitions 11
time commuting, such that those employees who utilize their morning commute to engage in
thoughts that facilitate role entry may not be as aversely affected by longer commutes.
Prior research suggests that the extent to which employees can gain control over what
happens during their commute may influence their commuting experience. One factor that may
make the transition into one’s work role more difficult is commute variability, the within-person
standard deviation of commute time, which influences the ability of commuters to mentally
control their commute (Kluger, 1998). The less able employees are to have control over their
thoughts when commuting, the less they may be able to influence their transition into their work
role, and the more they may be affected by longer commute times. Indeed, when controlling for
commute variability, one study found that commute time was positively related to commuters’
enjoyment of their commute, operationalized as an employee’s opportunity to relax and to
engage in time to think (Kluger, 1998). Although commuting could be viewed as a highly
“mindless” role transition enacted repeatedly (Ashforth & Fried, 1988), individuals have the
flexibility to choose subroutines that are less structured even during such a routinized transition
(Ashforth, Kreiner, & Fugate, 2001). Exerting control by way of choosing certain subroutines
thus allows employees to shape their commute experience.
In line with our argument that role transitions are a matter of the mind, we suggest that
employees’ level of control during commuting may too be a question of their psychology. What
employees think about while en route to work may facilitate their work role entry, and in turn
increase job satisfaction. But even if employees have the possibility to engage in thoughts during
their morning commute that aid their role transition, some employees may be more likely to
make use of this opportunity than others, and in turn, suffer less from lengthy commutes. These
employees need to have an especially higher capacity to regulate their thoughts and choose what
Commuting as Role Transitions 12
to think about during their commute, despite a variety of distractions during their commute that
might make it difficult to remain engaged in thought patterns of their choice. Prior research has
identified one personality trait that describes individuals with this tendency, namely trait self-
control. Those high in self-control have been found to have “the capacity to alter or override
dominant response tendencies and to regulate behavior, thoughts, and emotions” (de Ridder et
al., 2012: 77 – italics added). That is, individuals higher in trait self-control have a higher
propensity to consistently be able to stay on track with their intended goals (Hofmann, Luhmann,
Fisher, Vohs, & Baumeister, 2014) – this, we suggests, extends to their propensity to use their
commute time to meet the goal of work role entry.
In addition, although using commuting time as an opportunity to think and as an
opportunity to relax have previously not been distinguished (Kluger, 1998), we suggest that both
are qualitatively distinct. Using one’s commute to relax may require less effort and may be more
enjoyable for the employee. In contrast, using one’s commute to engage in work-related planning
may require more deliberate effort and may not be immediately rewarding (Alahmadi et al.,
2016). Consistent with theoretical specifications of self-control, commuters with higher degrees
of self-control may therefore be more likely to choose to engage in more effortful thinking, in
contrast to others who may instead opt for using commuting time as an opportunity to relax.
Using the commute as an opportunity to think may reflect a facilitation of work role entry, in
contrast to delaying work role entry by using the morning commute to relax.
Following this logic, we propose that employees with higher levels of trait self-control
are more likely to use their morning commute in a way as to facilitate role transition; thus these
employees are less likely to be negatively affected by lengthy commutes and, in turn, will not
suffer as much from decreases in job satisfaction. Those with lower levels of trait self-control, in
Commuting as Role Transitions 13
contrast, are likely to transition less effectively and more slowly into their work roles, thus
leaving them more vulnerable to the strain of commuting and, as a result, less satisfied with their
job. In sum, we propose that trait self-control moderates the negative effects of lengthy morning
commutes on job satisfaction, as follows:
Hypothesis 1: The negative relationship between commute time and job satisfaction
is less pronounced for employees who have high trait self-control, than for those who
have low trait self-control.
Trait Self-Control and Work-related Prospection
How do employees with higher levels of trait self-control use the opportunity to think
during their morning commute to facilitate their transition into their work role? Higher levels of
trait self-control are achieved in part through a variety of cognitive strategies that influence an
individual’s ability to remain on track with their intended goals and regulate their thoughts
(Inzlicht, Legault, & Teper, 2014; Magen & Gross, 2010). Some of these strategies have been
identified in prior research. For example, individuals with higher self-control are also more likely
to change how a situation is perceived, for example by reframing the meaning of possible short-
term temptations (Mischel, Ebbesen, & Raskoff Zeiss, 1972) or by altering how distracting they
perceive a temptation to be (Fujita & Han, 2009). Similarly, during their commutes, employees
with high trait self-control may use their capacity to regulate their thoughts in the face of
possible temptations experienced during their commute (such as daydreaming or listening to
music) to engage in specific thoughts that allow them to transition into their work role.
Specifically, employees with higher levels of trait self-control may be more likely to
deploy a cognitive strategy that may help facilitate work role entry during their morning
commute. This mental strategy – work-related prospection – refers to “the ability to represent
Commuting as Role Transitions 14
what might happen in the future” (Szpunar, Spreng, & Schacter, 2014: 18414) about the tasks
and goals embedded in the workday ahead (Austin & Vancouver, 1996). One particular
prospection cognition is planning, which involves identifying and organizing steps toward
achieving a goal. When employees engage in work-related prospection, they think through what
they have to achieve in the workday ahead. Thus, they mentally shift attention away from what
they are experiencing in the here and now – thoughts pertaining to their commute – and toward
what they will be experiencing once they arrive at work – thoughts pertaining to their work day.
Employees who engage in work-related prospection during their morning commute are therefore
more likely to think about topics pertaining to their work-role. This future focus (Benoit, Gilbert,
& Burgess, 2011; Liu, Feng, Chen, & Li, 2013) allows employees to cognitively inhabit their
work roles and thus aids work role entry.
The suggestion that employees with higher levels of trait self-control are more likely to
engage in work-related prospection is consistent with prior research that showed that levels of
trait self-control relate to how likely individuals are to plan ahead, especially for future goal-
related tasks (de Ridder et al., 2012). High trait self-control individuals are more likely to
recognize opportunities to deploy cognitive strategies that may help in regulating their thoughts
(Myrseth & Fishbach, 2009) and are more likely to acknowledge that planning is a useful activity
(Alahmadi et al., 2016). They may therefore be more likely to prefer using the morning commute
as an opportunity to think rather than an opportunity to relax. For those reasons, we argue that
employees with higher levels of trait self-control will be more likely to engage in work-related
prospection.
Hypothesis 2. Employees who have high levels of trait self-control are more likely to
engage in work-related prospection, as compared to those who have low levels of trait
Commuting as Role Transitions 15
self-control.
Work-related Prospection: A Strategy to Facilitate Work Role Transition
Employees who have high levels of self-control are inherently more likely to engage in
work-related prospection. However, we also propose that work-related prospection is not only a
cognitive strategy for those with high self-control, but also one that can be used by other
employees to facilitate their work role entry. Even though employees with higher levels of trait
self-control might be instinctively more pre-disposed to engage in work-related prospection,
others may also be able to learn how to engage in this type of thought during their morning
commute and reap its beneficial effects. There is evidence that cognitive strategies such as
monitoring and goal-setting, which allow individuals with higher levels of trait self-control to
regulate their thoughts, behaviors and emotions, can be learned by others (Inzlicht, Legault, &
Teper, 2014). Indeed, many of the strategies inherently deployed by individuals with high self-
control can be taught to others and help them increase their capacity to regulate themselves (e.g.,
Duckworth, Gendler, & Gross, 2016; Galla & Duckworth, 2015; but see also Miles et al., 2016).
In line with this research, we suggest that employees who are not high in trait self-control can
also engage in work-related prospection during their commute if they are instructed to do so, and
thus benefit from a more effective work role entry.
Work-related prospection serves as a cognitive strategy facilitating role transition
primarily by identifying and organizing a course of action to achieve a goal. When individuals
think ahead about their workday (or the longer term) and how to achieve their work tasks, they
contemplate how to structure their work time adequately (Locke & Latham, 2002), they consider
making a detailed plan of how they will achieve their work-related goals (Gollwitzer, 1999), and
they plan for sufficient time and breaks such that the achievement of their work-related goals are
Commuting as Role Transitions 16
more likely (Gollwitzer, Gawrilow, & Oettingen, 2010). Thus work-related prospection during
their morning commute may serve as a powerful cue for employees that facilitates the entry into
their work role, and may as a result reduce the strain experienced from a delayed work role entry
of a lengthy commute.
Therefore, although longer commutes are typically associated with lower job satisfaction
because the delayed work entry may frustrate employees, those employees who engage in work-
related prospection during their morning commute can accelerate work role entry and are thus
less likely to be negatively affected by the longer commute.
Hypothesis 3. Work-related prospection attenuates the negative effect of commute time on
job satisfaction.
Overview of the Present Research
We tested our hypotheses in three studies. First, we present evidence from a multi-source
multi-time point field study from the UK offices of a large global media company. Here we
investigated whether the negative relationship between the length of employees’ commutes and
job satisfaction is more pronounced for employees with low levels of trait self-control
(Hypothesis 1). In the second study, we conducted an online survey to examine what employees
think about when commuting to work. In addition to testing Hypothesis 1, this study allowed us
to investigate whether employees with high trait self-control are more likely to engage in work-
related prospection during their commutes, as compared to those who have low trait self-control
(Hypothesis 2), and whether work-related prospection moderates the relationship between
commuting time and job satisfaction (Hypothesis 3). Thus Study 2 provided a test of our full
model as depicted in Figure 1. The third study zooms in on Hypothesis 3 and offers causal
evidence that work-related prospection attenuates the negative effect of commute time on job
Commuting as Role Transitions 17
satisfaction. In a field experiment, we directly manipulated work-related prospection by
prompting some employees over the course of two weeks to set aside time during their commute
to think about their day ahead, and examined the effect of this manipulation on employees’ job
satisfaction.
STUDY 1
Does it depend on trait self-control whether employees with lengthy commutes are less
satisfied with their jobs than those with short commutes? To address this question and test
Hypothesis 1, we conducted a multi-time point, multi-source field study at the UK offices of a
global media firm. To empirically underpin the importance of our main dependent variable – job
satisfaction – we also assessed whether or not employees left the company six months after our
data collection. Building on evidence showing that job satisfaction and turnover are closely
linked (Mobley, 1977; Porter, Steers, Mowday, & Boulian, 1974; Tett & Meyer, 1993), we
anticipated that employees with lengthy commutes and low trait self-control would not only be
less satisfied with their jobs, but would also be more likely to quit the organization as a result.
Method
Sample and Procedures. The firm’s CEO sent email invitations to all 559 employees
asking them to participate in a study about improving their workplace. The e-mail of the CEO
included a link to Survey 1, which featured questions regarding employees’ trait self-control.
Thirty days later, the CEO sent a second e-mail to all employees inviting them to complete
Survey 2 that included questions about the employees’ commute time and levels of job
satisfaction. In addition, the human resources department of the firm provided us with
information about employees’ demographics 12 months prior to the start of the study, and
turnover 6 months after the second survey. The participation in the surveys was voluntary, and
Commuting as Role Transitions 18
no incentives for survey completion were provided other than that employees were informed the
firm would donate £1 for each completed survey to the Somerset Flood Relief Fund (a fund
managed by an independent foundation to support recovery efforts from a flood in the greater
London area).
Of the invited employees, 332 responded to the first survey (59.4%), and 333 responded
to the second survey (59.6%). A total of 225 employees completed both surveys and had human
resources data that could be matched (Mage = 32.72, SDage = 6.87; 57% male). Respondents had
worked in the firm on average for 2.85 years (SD = 3.37). To address a possible self-selection
issue, we compared the demographic information provided by respondents and non-respondents,
and found no significant differences in age (non-respondents’ M=31.97, SD=9.00, t(557) = –
1.24, ns), gender (non-respondents’ N = 335, 35.2% female, Χ² (1) = 3.50, ns), or firm tenure
(non-respondents’ M = 3.04, SD = 3.73, t(557)=.54, ns).
Measures
Commute Time. Employees reported the actual time taken to commute on a daily basis,
as part of the second survey. Commuting duration ranged from 2 to 240 minutes, with an average
of 50.56 minutes (SD = 31.8).
Trait Self-Control. We assessed employees’ trait self-control using a widely used 10-
item measure (Tangney, Baumeister, & Boone, 2004) in the first survey. Example items include:
“I am good at resisting temptation,” “People would say that I have very strong self-discipline,”
and “I do things that feel good in the moment but regret later on.” Participants indicated the
extent to which these statements describe them (1 = “Not at all like me” to 5 = “Very much like
me,” α = 0.77).
Job Satisfaction. We measured employees’ job satisfaction using a 3-item scale (Morris
Commuting as Role Transitions 19
& Venkatesh, 2010; Morris & Venkatesh, 2010; 1 = “Strongly Disagree” to 7 = “Strongly
Agree;” α = 0.81): “Overall, I am satisfied with my job,” “I would prefer another, more ideal
job,” and “I am satisfied with the important aspects of my job.” Job satisfaction was assessed in
the second survey.
Actual Turnover. The HR department provided us with turnover data indicating that 41
respondents (19.2%) left the firm during the time after the second survey, a rate that is relatively
common for firms in this sector.
Control Variables. We controlled for age, gender, and organizational tenure in the
analyses, because prior research suggests that age and gender are related to job satisfaction
(Clark, 1997; Clark, Oswald, & Warr, 1996; Hunt & Saul, 1975; Kalleberg & Loscocco, 1983).
Further, age and tenure are negatively related to turnover, and women tend to quit their jobs
fewer times than men (Griffeth, Hom, & Gaertner, 2000).
Results
Table 1 reports means, standard deviations, and correlations for the study variables. First,
we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis with maximum likelihood estimators to examine the
factor structure of the variables. The expected two-factor structure (i.e. trait self-control and job
satisfaction as separate factors) showed a significantly better fit with the data than a one-factor
structure (Δχ2 = 412.08, p < .001), and both variables had significant factor loadings in the
expected direction.
Hypothesis 1 suggested that trait self-control moderates the relationship between
commute time and job satisfaction, such that employees with lower trait self-control are more
likely to be negatively affected by lengthy commutes. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a
regression analysis entering commute time as the independent variable, trait self-control as the
Commuting as Role Transitions 20
moderator, and job satisfaction as the outcome variable. As Table 2 shows, we found a
significant interaction between commute time and trait self-control (B = .22, SD = .09, p = .02).
The relationship between commute time and job satisfaction was significant for employees with
low trait self-control (–1SD), B = –.30, SE = .14, p = .03, but not for employees with high levels
of trait self-control (+1SD), B = .14, SE = .12, p= .22, as depicted in Figure 2. Hence, employees
with lower levels of trait self-control were negatively affected by lengthy commutes, whereas
employees with higher levels of trait self-control were not. For every 15-minute increase in
commute time, the job satisfaction of low trait self-control employees dropped by 0.31 points (on
a 1 – 7 scale).2
-------------------------------
Insert Tables 1 and 2 and Figure 2 about here
-------------------------------
To underpin the importance of our findings, we also tested whether the moderating effect
of trait self-control on the relationship between commute time and job satisfaction influenced an
employee’s likelihood of leaving the organization. Using the application PROCESS (Hayes,
2013), we specified a moderated mediation model with a binary dependent measure. We entered
commute time as the independent variable, trait self-control as the moderator, job satisfaction as
the mediator, and actual turnover 6 months later as the dependent variable. We found a
significant indirect effect of commute time on turnover, through job satisfaction and depending
2 We also tested whether employees with longer commutes reported lower levels of job satisfaction. Contrary to previous findings from studies about the commuting strain model (Novaco et al., 1990), we did not find a significant main effect for commute time on job satisfaction: individuals with lengthy commutes were no more likely to have lower levels of job satisfaction. This finding is in line with our reasoning that the effect of commute time on job satisfaction is contingent upon a third variable – trait self-control. Furthermore, a reasonable alternative to a linear relationship between commute time and job satisfaction is a curvilinear relationship that implies that too short a commute is as bad as too long a commute. We thus tested for a quadratic effect of commute time on job satisfaction. We found no evidence for such an effect (p = .74).
Commuting as Role Transitions 21
on trait self control. For employees who have low trait self-control, a bootstrap analysis with
5,000 bias-corrected samples showed that the 95% confidence interval for the indirect effect of
commute times on turnover (through job satisfaction) did not include zero (estimate = .02, boot
SE = .011, 95% CI = [.004, .049]). For those who have high trait self-control, however, the
confidence interval included zero (estimate = –.01, boot SE = .009, 95% CI = [–.035, .002]).
Therefore, commute time puts low trait self-control employees in peril of quitting their job
because of lower job satisfaction, but leaves high self-control employees unaffected.
We also ran all analyses without control variables (Becker, 2005), and the results
remained unchanged in terms of direction and significance.
Discussion
The aim of this study was to test whether the relationship between commute time and job
satisfaction is moderated by levels of trait self-control (Hypothesis 1). The findings offer support
for Hypothesis 1, suggesting that those with longer commutes suffer from lower job satisfaction
to the extent that they lack high levels of trait self-control. This does not remain without
consequences: employees with longer commutes and low trait self-control are more likely to
leave their organization due to their reduced levels of job satisfaction.
STUDY 2
In Study 2, our main goal was to identify why employees with higher trait self-control are
less affected by lengthy commutes: What do employees with high trait self-control do differently
during their commutes, compared to those with low trait self-control? We predicted that
employees with higher trait self-control would be more likely to engage in work-related
prospection (Hypothesis 2) and that work-related prospection in turn would moderate the
relationship between commute time and job satisfaction (Hypothesis 3). In addition, we were
Commuting as Role Transitions 22
able to replicate our test of whether the relationship between lengthy commutes and job
satisfaction is moderated by levels of trait self-control (Hypothesis 1). Thus Study 2 offered a
test of our full conceptual model as depicted in Figure 1.
Method
Sample and Procedures. We recruited individuals through Amazon Mechanical Turk, an
online labor market (Buhrmester, Kwang, & Gosling, 2011). In the job posting for completing
the study, we explicitly specified that this study was only available to employees who work full-
time and commute to work. At the beginning of the survey, we then asked individuals whether
they worked full-time and whether they commuted. Only individuals who replied “yes” to both
questions were allowed to continue with the study. A total of 229 participants (71.3% of the 321
who accessed the study) fit these pre-conditions and formed the sample for our survey (Mage =
36.41, SDage = 10.60; 58% male). Employees were paid $1 for their participation. We first
measured commute time and trait self-control, then whether subjects engaged in work-related
prospection, and finally job satisfaction.
Measures
Commute Time. Participants reported their actual commuting time. Commute time
ranged from 3 to 120 minutes, with an average of 38.09 minutes (SD = 25.58).
Trait Self-Control. We assessed employees’ trait self-control using the same 10-item
measure as in Study 1 (Tangney, Baumeister, & Boone, 2004). Participants indicated the extent
to which each item describes them on a 5-point scale (1 = “Not at all like me” to 5 = “Very much
like me,” α = 0.88).
Work-related Prospection during Commute. We asked respondents to “list all of the
things you typically think about while commuting” in an open text box. Two independent coders
Commuting as Role Transitions 23
then analyzed each response, coding for work-related prospection during commute (0 = no, 1 =
yes; IRRkappa = .71). Specifically, we asked coders to identify occurrences where employees
“engaged in thoughts which pertain to work-related topics during their morning commute.” In 45
cases (out of 229), the coders’ ratings did not coincide. In order to resolve these conflicts, we
asked a third coder to evaluate these cases and to resolve the conflict. In total, the coders
identified 153 participants (66.81%) that use work-related prospection during their commutes.
Examples of work-related prospection are as follows:
“I think about what I will do when I get into the office. I try to plan out what things I will
accomplish for the day.”
“If I'm on my way to work I'm usually planning my day in my head. If I have a meeting I will
be holding I will be either thinking about it or practicing what I will say.”
“I think about what I have to do for work that day and also think about whether I had
completed all of my tasks related to the day before. I think about how I'm going to try to be
organized at work and get activities done in a timely manner.”
Job Satisfaction. We measured the extent to which participants were satisfied with their
jobs using the same 3-item instrument as in Study 1 (Morris & Venkatesh, 2010; α = .81).
Control Variables. We measured age and gender as control variables, as in Study 1.
Results
Table 3 reports means, standard deviations, and correlations for the variables. First, we
conducted a confirmatory factor analysis with maximum likelihood estimators. The expected
two-factor structure (i.e. trait self-control and job satisfaction as separate factors) showed a
significantly better fit with the data than a one-factor structure (Δχ2 = 268.26, p < .001), and both
Commuting as Role Transitions 24
variables had significant factor loadings in the expected direction.
-------------------------------
Insert Table 3 about here
-------------------------------
First, we tested Hypothesis 1, investigating whether trait self-control moderated the
relationship between commute time and job satisfaction. Indeed, the interaction effect for
commute time and trait self-control was significant (B = –.008, SE = .004, p = .04). The
relationship between commute time and job satisfaction was only significant for employees with
low trait self-control (–1SD), B= – .02, SE= .005, p = .003, but was not significant for employees
with high levels of trait self-control (+1SD), B = –.006, SE = .004, p = .16. The results replicate
the findings from Study 1.3
In Hypothesis 2, we suggested that employees with higher levels of trait self-control are
more likely to engage in work-related prospection during their commute. A logistic regression
with trait self-control as the independent variable and work-related prospection as the dependent
variable showed that trait self-control was positively related to employees’ likelihood of
engaging in prospection, B = .51, SE = .18, p = .004. Hypothesis 2 was supported.
Hypothesis 3 stated that work-related prospection moderates the relationship between
commute time and job satisfaction. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a regression analysis
with commute time as the independent variable, work-related prospection as the moderator, and
job satisfaction as the dependent variable. Table 4 shows that we found a significant interaction
3 We also examined whether those employees with lengthy commutes reported lower levels of job satisfaction. Unlike Study 1, we found a significant relationship (B = –.01, SE = .003, p < .001) such that the longer employees commuted, the less satisfied they were with their jobs. We again tested for a quadratic effect of commute time on job satisfaction, but found no evidence (p = .17). We also found a main effect of trait self-control on job satisfaction, whereas in Study 1, the main effect of trait self-control on job satisfaction and turnover outcomes was not significant.
Commuting as Role Transitions 25
between commute time and work-related prospection (B = –.02, SE = .007, p = .002), such that
the negative relationship between commute time and job satisfaction did not hold for those who
engaged in work-related prospection during their commute (B = –.003, SE = .006, p = .58), but it
did hold for those who did not engage in work-related prospection during their commute (B = –
.02, SE = .004, p < .001).
The results provide evidence in support of our full model, as depicted in Figure 1. First,
the relationship between lengthy commutes and job satisfaction is moderated by levels of trait
self-control, such that higher levels of trait self-control attenuate the negative effect of lengthy
commutes, as proposed in Hypothesis 1. Second, employees with higher levels of trait self-
control are more likely to engage in work-related prospection, providing support for Hypothesis
2. Work-related prospection, in turn, moderates the relationship between commute time and job
satisfaction. Those employees who engage in work-related prospection were not negatively
affected by lengthy commutes, thus providing support for Hypothesis 3. The step-wise analyses
we conducted to test the model yield the same results as path analysis (Edwards & Lambert,
2007). We also ran all of our analyses without control variables (Becker, 2005), and the results
remained unchanged in terms of direction and significance.
-------------------------------
Insert Table 4 about here
-------------------------------
Discussion
The aim of Study 2 was to unpack the findings of Study 1 and examine why employees
with higher trait self-control are less affected by lengthy commutes. Using an open-ended
question to assess what employees think about en route to work, we find that employees with
Commuting as Role Transitions 26
high trait self-control are more likely to engage in work-related prospection. This cognitive
strategy involves thinking ahead about the workday, thus likely facilitating role entry. Study 2
also allowed us to test the full set of hypotheses we proposed, and offers support of our
conceptual model that the linkage between commute length and job satisfaction is contingent
upon trait self-control, which facilitates work-related prospection and thus ameliorates the pain
of lengthy commutes.
STUDY 3
Is work-related prospection a cognitive strategy that all commuters could employ to
counter detrimental effects of commuting on job satisfaction? The goal of Study 3 was to
generalize the findings of Study 1 and 2, and to provide causal evidence in support of the idea
put forth in Hypothesis 3 that work-related prospection, as a cognitive strategy, can offset the
negative effect of commute length on job satisfaction among all commuters – even those that
may have low trait self-control. To test the effectiveness of work-related prospection in helping
commuters buffer against the chore of commuting, we conducted a field experiment over the
course of four weeks with several hundred commuters across the US.
Method
Sample and Procedures. We recruited full-time employees in collaboration with
ClearVoice, an online survey recruiter. We specified that the employees had to have at least a 15-
minute commute to work. We invited the participants for a study that ran over the course of four
weeks and featured four distinct phases.
In phase 1, at the outset of the study, participants received an initial online survey that
included questions about their commute, trait self-control, job satisfaction, and demographics as
well as trait affectivity. The survey asked employees for their mobile phone number so that we
Commuting as Role Transitions 27
could contact them over the remaining part of the study; we did not collect any other identifying
information.
In phase 2, participants received daily text-message prompts on their mobile phone
inviting them to answer a question regarding the extent to which they engaged in work-related
prospection on their commute to work. Participants replied to the question through an online
survey that they could access on their smart phone, or on any computer. The text messages were
sent approximately 30 minutes after participants arrived at their workplace (the time was
determined based on the information participants had provided in the initial survey). The text
messages were sent to participants each workday (Monday through Friday) for the whole four
week-period that the study ran, and participants’ answers served as a baseline and manipulation
check for the intervention conducted in phase 3.
In phase 3, two weeks after the start of the study, participants were randomly allocated to
one of four experimental conditions: (1) work-related prospection, (2) gratification, (3) mixed, or
(4) control. The participants were not aware that the study featured different experimental
conditions. Then, over the course of the third and fourth week, participants received daily text
messages, specific to their condition, that were sent 15 minutes before participants left for their
morning commute. The time that the messages were sent was again determined on the basis of
responses in the initial survey. In phase 4, after the four weeks were over, all participants were
asked to fill out a final survey that once again measured their level of job satisfaction.
To increase response rates, we devised an incentive structure that encouraged employees
to respond to as many of our daily questions as possible. Participants who responded to 50-74%
of our prompts received a $5 bonus, 75-89% received $20 bonus, and 90%+ responses generated
a $30 bonus. A total of 443 employees of the 600 invited employees (Mage = 42.23, SDage =
Commuting as Role Transitions 28
10.01; 47.5% women) responded to the initial survey, the daily prompts, and the final survey, for
a final response rate of 74%.4 To address a possible self-selection issue, we compared the
demographic information provided by respondents and non-respondents, and found no difference
in age (non-respondents’ M = 42.25, SD = 10.11, t(598) = –.1, ns), or gender (non-respondents’
M = 1.51, SD = .5, t(598) = .67, ns).
Measures
Commute Time. We measured the length of employees’ commute in the initial survey.
Commute time ranged from 16 to 180 minutes5, with an average of 51.54 minutes (SD=32.15).
Trait Self-Control. We assessed employees’ trait self-control in the initial survey using
the same 10-item measure as in our prior studies (Tangney et al., 2004; α = .83).
Job Satisfaction. As in Study 1 and 2, we measured the extent to which employees are
satisfied with their work in both the initial and the final survey using a 3-item scale (Morris &
Venkatesh, 2010; α = .82).
Control Variables. We controlled for employees’ age and gender as in the first and
second study. In addition, we asked participants to indicate their levels of positive and negative
affect (PANAS; Watson & Clark, 1999) in the initial survey as both variables are linked with job
satisfaction (Connolly & Viswesvaran, 2000; Shaw, 1999) and may indicate the extent to which
employees are positively or negatively affected by their commute.6
Intervention
We designed four experimental conditions to investigate whether engaging in work-
4 8% of participants responded to 90%+ of prompts, 69% to 75-89% of prompts, 18% to 50-74% of prompts and 5% to less than 50% of all prompts. 5 We removed one outlier, a participant who indicated they commuted 270 minutes, as they were nearly 3 standard deviations away from the next-closest participant. Keeping this participant in our sample does not significantly alter any of our results. 6 We thank our anonymous reviewers for pointing out the need to control for trait affectivity.
Commuting as Role Transitions 29
related prospection during the morning commute offsets the aversive effects of longer commute.
Based on Kluger’s (1998) distinction that commutes offer an opportunity to think or to relax, we
created one condition for work-related prospection (1), one for gratification (2), one that featured
a mix of work-related prospection and gratification (3), and one control condition that featured
no particular prompt (4).
Text messages. First, the work-related prospection condition featured instructions that we
crafted based on prior research on prospection as well as written sentences we collected from
commuters and coded as work-related prospection in Study 2. Specifically, we asked employees
to engage in work-related prospection through the following prompt:
“We are interested in how people spend time during their commute to work. Many people
find it helpful to focus on making a plan of their work day, or week ahead and reflect on
how these plans will help them achieve their personal and career goals. We would like to
invite you to do that during your commute, too. Ask yourself, for example, what are the
strategies you have for the week to be productive? What steps can you take today and
during this week to get closer to your work goals, as well as your personal and career
goals? Please use your commuting time to focus on your goals and make plans about
what to do.”
Second, based on Kluger’s (1998) suggestion that commutes offer an opportunity to
relax, we prompted participants in the gratification condition to use the commute time to engage
in thoughts and activities that are relaxing for the employee. Specifically, employees received the
following prompt:
“We are interested in how people spend time during their commute to work. Many people
find it helpful to do something enjoyable and relaxing on their way to work. We would
Commuting as Role Transitions 30
like to invite you to do that during your commute, too. For example, you could listen to
music, read the news, or catch up on social media – anything that you inherently enjoy is
fine. Please use your commuting time to relax and do something enjoyable.”
Third, in the mixed condition, we highlighted to employees that they could use the
commute for both, work-related prospection and relaxing thoughts and activities. The two are not
mutually exclusive (Kluger, 1998); therefore, a combination of both serves as a valid comparison
to just work-related prospection. In the mixed condition, employees were sent the following text:
“We are interested in how people spend time during their commute to work. Many people
find a combination of activities helpful. They make a plan of their work day or week
ahead and reflect on how these plans will help them achieve their personal and career
goals, and they also do something enjoyable and relaxing on their way to work. We
would like to invite you to do that during your commute, too. Ask yourself, for example,
what are the strategies you have for the week to be productive? What steps can you take
today and during this week to get closer to your work goals, as well as your personal and
career goals? Also do something that you inherently enjoy such as listening to music,
reading the news, or catching up on social media. Please allocate some of your
commuting time to focusing on your goals and making plans about what to do, and some
to relaxing and doing something enjoyable.”
Finally, in the control condition, participants received a text message that did not contain
any particular prompt. Participants were given the following instructions:
”We are interested in how people spend time during their commute to work. Please do
what you normally do during your commute.”
Contrasting the work-related prospection condition with these three other conditions
Commuting as Role Transitions 31
allows us to test whether employees can offset the commuting-related detriment in job
satisfaction by engaging in work-related prospection during their morning commute.
Manipulation Check. We measured the extent to which employees engaged in work-
related prospection on their commute to work in our daily surveys before and after the
intervention. Consistent with our theoretical propositions and our coding in Study 2, participants
received a prompt each work-day approximately 30 minutes after arriving at their workplace
with the question, “To what extent did you think about work during your commute to work
today?” ranging on a scale from 1 (not at all) to 5 (to a large extent).
Results
First, we checked whether there were any significant differences in commute time, trait
self-control, or job satisfaction between conditions prior to the intervention. This was not the
case, suggesting that the randomized allocation of participants to the four conditions had created
four groups of participants that were not significantly different.
Next, we conducted the manipulation check. First, we examined whether there were any
significant differences between conditions in the extent to which participants engaged in work-
related prospection on their commute to work prior to the intervention. We aggregated
participants’ responses over the course of weeks 1 and 2, and found no significant differences,
suggesting that the baseline of work-related prospection for each group of participants was not
different.7 Second, we tested whether there were any significant differences between conditions
in the extent to which participants engaged in work-related prospection on their commute to
7 We also checked whether participants with higher levels of trait self-control would be more likely to engage in goal-directed prospection prior to the intervention. We averaged responses from the weeks 1 and 2 and we specified a linear regression with trait self-control as the independent variable, and goal-directed prospection in weeks 1 and 2 as the dependent variable. We find a significant effect of trait self-control on goal-directed prospection prior to the intervention (B = .14, SE = .07, p =.04), such that employees with higher levels of trait self-control were more likely to engage in goal-directed prospection prior to the intervention. This finding is expected based on Hypothesis 2.
Commuting as Role Transitions 32
work after to the intervention. We aggregated participants’ responses on the work-related
prospection question for weeks 3 and 4, and checked whether condition was a significant
predictor of work-related prospection during those two weeks. Because participants in the work-
related prospection and the mixed conditions were both prompted to think about their work-day
ahead, we expected they would report higher levels of work-related prospection during their
morning commute than participants in the gratification and control conditions.
For this analysis, we dummy-coded the three experimental conditions (work-related
prospection, gratification, mixed) against the control condition. Then we conducted a linear
regression with condition as the independent variable (coded as a factor), and work-related
prospection in weeks 3 and 4 as the dependent variable. As Table 5 shows, we found that in
comparison to the control condition, work-related prospection was higher in the condition that
prompted work-related prospection (B = .21, SE = .09, p = .02), as expected, and lower in the
condition that prompted gratification (B = –.18, SE = .09, p = .03). Work-related prospection was
not significantly different between the control condition and the mixed condition (B = .03, SE =
.09, p = .76). Thus, our manipulation was successful in increasing levels of work-related
prospection during the morning commute, but only in the condition that solely prompted work-
related prospection.
-------------------------------
Insert Table 5 about here
-------------------------------
Now, we turned to the test of Hypothesis 3. Are those participants that were prompted to
engage in work-related prospection less affected by longer commutes than participants in the
other conditions? For these type of comparisons, Hayes and Montoya (2016) suggest using the
Commuting as Role Transitions 33
Helmert coding method which allows for the comparison of one group to all other groups which
are higher on a categorical variable in a path-analytic approach. When using the Helmert coding
method, it is assumed that the arbitrarily numerically coded variable corresponds in ascending
ordinality to the multicategorical variable of interest. Following their suggestion, we conducted a
regression analysis with commute time as the independent variable, condition as the moderator
coded using the Helmert method, job satisfaction at time point 2 as the dependent variable, and
age, gender and trait affectivity (positive and negative) as control variables.
The analysis shows that the relationship between commute time and job satisfaction
following the intervention is significant for two conditions. First, for employees in the work-
related prospection condition, commute time was significantly related to higher levels of job
satisfaction at time point 2 (B = .012, SE = .005, p = .01). This provides support for Hypothesis
3. Second, for employees in the gratification condition, commute time was marginally
significantly associated with lower levels of job satisfaction at the 10% significance level (B = –
.008, SE = .005, p = .08). For the mixed condition, there was no significant effect of condition on
job satisfaction (B = .004, SE = .004, p = .36).
We repeated all analyses without control variables (Becker, 2005), and the results
remained unchanged in terms of direction and significance.
Discussion
Does work-related prospection help overcome the strain of commuting? To answer this
question, we prompted some commuters but not others to engage in work-related prospection
while traveling to work, every day for a period of 2 weeks. Our findings show that those
employees in the work-related prospection condition, compared to those in the gratification,
mixed, or control conditions, do not show the negative relationship between commute time and
Commuting as Role Transitions 34
job satisfaction. This finding provides evidence in support of the direction of our theorized
relationship in Hypothesis 3, showing that work-related prospection can serve to neutralize the
detrimental effect of commute length on job satisfaction.
GENERAL DISCUSSION
Do lengthy commutes necessarily lead to negative work-related outcomes? Through new
theory and a series of three empirical studies, we examined why commuting tends to be aversive,
who is most affected by the commuting experience, and how commuters can better cope with
their daily chore of getting to their workplace. Extending prior research on commuting, we find
that employees with higher levels of trait self-control are less likely to experience the aversive
effects of lengthy commutes. We find that these employees are more likely than those with lower
levels of trait self-control to engage in work-related prospection during their commute. Work-
related prospection – the tendency to think about the work-day ahead and make plans about work
tasks and goals – in turn serves to attenuate the relationship between lengthy commutes and job
satisfaction.
Theoretical Contribution
The theoretical contributions that our research offers derive from a combination of
organizational and psychological theories in the endeavor to better understand a global problem:
most people around the world commute to work; commutes are getting longer; and commuting is
linked to negative outcomes both on and off the job. Although commuting occurs outside of
work time, organizational researchers need to be concerned with it to the extent that it affects
people at work. Organizational researchers have attended to both the work and home roles that
employees enact, as well as the spill-over between them (e.g., Nippert-Eng, 1996), but rarely
have they shed light on the time in between those roles and on how commuting serves as the
Commuting as Role Transitions 35
space in which the transition between these roles occur. Our research shows that commuting
deserves attention, as it affects how employees feel about their job and, also, whether or not
employees quit their organization.
We apply and advance the growing literature on role transitions and boundary work
(Ashforth et al., 2000; Kreiner, 2006; Kreiner et al., 2009; Rothbard et al., 2005) to examine why
commuting tends to be aversive. We describe commuting as an opportunity for employees to
engage in boundary work to accelerate exiting their home role and entering their work role.
While previous research has described how the physical environment prompts role transitions,
we proposed that how role transitions are conducted and how swiftly they occur are essentially
matters of the mind and that it is the employees themselves who psychologically prompt role
transitions. Our theory and research therefore suggest that role transitions are at least to some
extent under the discretion of the employee, and there are some employees that are better able to
manage the interface between home and work that commuting provides.
Drawing on self-control theory (Baumeister et al., 1998; de Ridder et al., 2012), we
theorized and found that employees with high degrees of trait self-control manage their
commutes in ways that offset the aversive effects. Although commutes offer anyone the
possibility to choose what they think about, those with high trait self-control are more likely to
recognize this as an opportunity to engage in role transitioning. Based on prior research that has
identified trait self-control as one personality trait that describes individuals with an increased
tendency to regulate their thoughts, we suggested and found that employees with higher levels of
trait self-control are less negatively affected by longer commutes. Indeed, individuals with higher
levels of trait self-control are more likely to identify situations where it is applicable to deploy
cognitive strategies that allow them to achieve their goals (Myrseth & Fishbach, 2009). In
Commuting as Role Transitions 36
addition, those individuals are better able to regulate their thoughts, especially in the face of
temptations such as the less effortful, but more instantly gratifying option of relaxing during
one’s morning commute (Alahmadi et al., 2016; de Ridder et al., 2012; Hofmann, Luhmann,
Fisher, Vohs, & Baumeister, 2014; Kluger, 1998). In our studies, we find that employees with
higher levels of trait self-control are less affected by longer commutes, thus adding an important
nuance to previous findings that have focused on the overarching relationship between
commuting length and work-related outcomes (e.g. Gottholmseder et al., 2009; Novaco et al.,
1990; Stutzer & Frey, 2008).
We unpack the effect of trait self-control by investigating the cognitive strategy that
employees who score higher on this personality facet deploy in order to facilitate their role
transition. Although trait self-control has been associated with a variety of positive outcomes,
such as increased life satisfaction and academic performance (Casey et al., 2011; Hofmann et al.,
2014), only scant research has investigated how those individuals are able to achieve these
favorable outcomes. Some suggest that individuals with higher levels of trait self-control are able
to engage in better regulation because they employ specific cognitive strategies when necessary
(Inzlicht, Legault, & Teper, 2014). These cognitive strategies can be taught to other individuals
and can aid in their pursuit of desired outcomes (Duckworth et al., 2016; Galla & Duckworth,
2015). Indeed, individuals higher in trait self-control are more likely to plan ahead for future
goal-related tasks, and are also more likely to indicate that planning is a useful activity
(Alahmadi et al., 2016; de Ridder et al., 2012). We theorized and found that while commuting,
this tendency manifests in an increased likelihood to engage in work-related prospection –
thinking about and making plans about the work-day ahead. Those employees who set aside
some time to plan for their work-day ahead are less likely to be negatively affected by their
Commuting as Role Transitions 37
morning commute.
The beneficial effects of work-related prospection likely reflect the accelerated role
transition that occurs as a result of employees engaging in such thought processes. Thinking
about one’s goals for the day ahead and how to achieve them places an employee in the mental
mindset of their work role, by contemplating about how to structure their time at work or
engaging in detailed planning of their work-related goals (Locke & Latham, 2002; Gollwitzer,
1999; Gollwitzer et al., 2010). Those employees who engage in work-related prospection during
their morning commute thus facilitate their entry into their work role and consequently reduce
the aversive impact experienced when the work role entry is delayed due to a lengthy commute,
more quickly resolving the sustained role ambiguity. This cognitive strategy is available not just
to employees with higher levels of trait self-control. As Study 3 shows, it is possible for other
employees to adopt this strategy and reap the beneficial effects of work-related prospection such
that longer commutes are no longer experienced as aversive because those employees have
facilitated their work role entry.
Our unique contributions thus lie in a closer investigation of the relationship between
commuting and work-related outcomes, by building on and merging boundary theory and self-
control theory. Our work further supports research that views work-related outcomes as being
affected by not just what happens at work, but also by what happens outside of work. What
happens outside of work is not only the source of negative spillovers, but can also be the source
of positive spillovers. A wealth of research, especially in the field of work recovery, has
investigated how what employees do during (Trougakos & Hideg, 2009; Trougakos, Hideg,
Cheng, & Beal, 2014) or after work can impact employees (Lanaj, Johnson, & Barnes, 2014;
Sonnentag, 2001, 2003, 2012). However, our research suggests that the time period before work
Commuting as Role Transitions 38
can help offset the negative effects of lengthy commutes, and thus increase the job satisfaction of
employees.
Limitations and Future Directions
Our studies are subject to a number of limitations that suggest directions for future
research. In all of our studies, we focused our measures on the usual content of employee’s
commutes and did not examine within-person variation in commuting activities. It is unclear
whether individuals are able to engage in both relaxing thoughts and activities, as well as work-
related prospection. Participants in our mixed condition were not any more likely to engage in
work-related prospection in comparison to the do-nothing control condition, and were also just as
negatively affected by longer commute time. We also did not take into consideration the
significant variance in modes of transport (self-driving vs. public transportation, or even walking
or biking), naturally-occurring distractions during one’s commute (such as traffic, background
music or noise, and other commuters), and other possible commuting activities that employees
may engage in (such as socializing, meditating, or learning). In additional analyses, we did test
for differences across various commuting types and found no differences in effects across mode
of transport.8 Although work-related prospection is one activity that is possible across various
modes of commuting, the circumstances and contexts of commuting may nonetheless function as
a boundary condition for the efficacy of work-related prospection; for instance, engaging in
work-related prospection in the midst of bad weather conditions while driving a car may be
hazardous. Using the morning commute to engage in work-related prospection might also
distract some employees from their mode of transportation, which in some cases – such as
8 We ran additional analyses on the relationship between commuting type and the ability to engage in work-related prospection in Study 3. We do not find significant relationships between the type of commuting and work-related prospection (B = .02, SE = .03, p = .46), or job satisfaction (B = .02, SE = .03, p = .46).
Commuting as Role Transitions 39
driving in heavy traffic – could lead to unintended consequences. Future research could explore
these possibilities.
Relatedly, future research could explore potential outcomes of trait self-control and work-related
prospection, such as energy and task performance. For example, research in the work
recovery literature emphasizes the role of energy levels, especially as it affects employee
performance (Dutton, 2003). Because the beneficial effects of recovery activities fade over
time (Fritz, Lam, & Spreitzer, 2011), it would be interesting to investigate more closely how
work-related prospection influences daily energy levels (Demerouti, Bakker, Sonnentag, &
Fullagar, 2012; Sonnentag, 2001), and to examine whether energy varies with the extent to
which employees engage in work-related prospection as compared to other activities such as
listening to music. In addition, given that lengthy commutes are known to have a negative
impact on one’s task performance (Schaeffer et al., 1988), work-related prospection may
also enhance one’s task performance to the extent to which a facilitated role entry offsets
the negative impact of a lengthy commute. Therefore, we encourage future studies on the
effects of commuting on work performance.
Another venue of potential importance is the temporal focus of one’s work-related
prospection. Although we did not make empirical and theoretical distinctions between long-term
and short-term goals, this distinction may have important implications. For example, thinking
about one’s career goals may not only help in the transition to an employee’s work role, but it
may also re-affirm employees’ sense of purpose as they start their work day, as compared to
thinking about one’s day ahead as a temporal focus. We do not have empirical data on what the
ratio of work-related prospection was between relatively short- vs. long-term thinking, but we
encourage future researchers to further examine the role of temporal focus in enacting work-
Commuting as Role Transitions 40
related prospection.
Throughout our studies, we focused our investigation on morning commutes. Although
our theoretical conceptualization of commuting as role transitions does not differ substantially
for commutes after work, the direction of the role transition changes. Whereas work-related
prospection serves to strengthen boundary work unilaterally, on the way to work, it is likely that
home-related prospection is the counterpart for the way back from work. Evening commutes
might benefit from home-related prospection for activities in private life, or another third domain
(Ashforth et al., 2000), and may involve envisioning and making plans for the evening (e.g.,
what dinner to cook, what book to read to the children, what movie to watch). The transition
from work to home may be fraught with problems to the extent that role transitions are not
complete by the time of arrival, potentially affecting life satisfaction negatively. For example, if
individuals continue to ruminate about work-related problems at home, they may not fully enact
their home role, leaving the needs of those at home unfulfilled. As one cardiologist, quoted in
Yalof (1988: 84) details: “[…] That’s one of the therapeutic things about having a long drive
home. If I needed only five minutes to get home, I might spend a good deal more time thinking
about things […].” Importantly, though, we are not arguing that any spillover of work into the
non-work context is necessarily positive, or negative. Rather, we apply our theory to suggest that
individuals may recognize and enact more or less agency by actively engaging in prospection
that can aid in role entry.
Our findings identify an additional specific cognitive strategy that individuals with higher
trait self-control deploy in order to better regulate their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.
Although individuals are generally good at estimating their levels of trait self-control – self-
reported measurements converge with other behavioral measures and predict long-term outcomes
Commuting as Role Transitions 41
(de Ridder et al., 2012) – it is unclear whether individuals with higher levels of trait self-control
are aware of their ability to endure lengthy commutes with less negative consequences. When
choosing between jobs, employees must often weigh off the benefits of living further away from
work (e.g., lower rent, larger apartments, better school districts). If individuals with higher trait
self-control are more adept at perceiving a potential self-control conflict (Gillebaart & De
Ridder, 2015), does that mean employees with higher trait self-control also consciously choose
lengthy commutes? Even though in our data, we find no correlation between commute time and
trait self-control, future work should explore this area further.
Practical Implications and Conclusion
Our research offers valuable practical insights for both leaders and employees. For
leaders, our studies have two key implications. First, our findings alert leaders that the length of
their commutes might differently affect their employees. When employees have lower levels of
trait self-control, they are at higher risk of being less satisfied with their job. The popular press is
quick to warn employees that long commutes have negative consequences, but some employees
may stand to gain more from the benefits of living further away from work by offsetting the
negative effects of commuting. Leaders need to be aware of how commutes affect their
employees, and can help manage especially draining commutes for employees with lower trait
self-control, either by supporting their work-related prospection during commuting, or
suggesting other ways to reduce commute time, such as increased teleworking.
Second, our work highlights leaders need to take a more holistic conceptualization of
their employees. How employees feel about their work, and how well they perform, is not just a
function of what employees do at work, but also of what employees do outside of work. This is
especially important in the facilitation of the establishment of clear boundaries between home
Commuting as Role Transitions 42
and work. Leaders can help their employees by supporting the development of clear boundaries
between home and work, either through ‘hard’ changes – such as switching off email servers
after working hours to ensure employees have the opportunity to recover adequately – or through
‘soft’ suggestions, such as encouraging work-related prospection during morning commutes.
For employees, our findings highlight that although to some extent commuting time may
be outside their control, they are nonetheless in charge of their commute. Commuting is not per
se a chore to endure, but can also be viewed as a useful time period. Being able to set aside some
time during commuting for work-related prospection can turn a time period that many employees
rate as their least desirable into a less aversive time period – and possibly a more beneficial one.
Furthermore, our research highlights the need to consider boundaries between home and work.
Engaging in work-related prospection while commuting – where employees are neither at work,
nor at home – is a type of role transition that can improve work-related outcomes.
Commuting as Role Transitions 43
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Commuting as Role Transitions 52
FIGURE 1
Theoretical Framework
Commute Time Job
Satisfaction
Work-related Prospection
Trait Self-Control
Hypothesis 1
Hypothesis 2
Hypothesis 3
Commuting as Role Transitions 53
FIGURE 2
Study 1: Relationship between Commute time and Job Satisfaction
as a Function of Self-Control
Note: Removing the two outliers identified 3 standard deviations above the mean (those who had more than two hours of commuting, on the right side of the graph) did not change the direction or significance of the interaction between commute time and job satisfaction.
Commuting as Role Transitions 54
TABLE 1
Study 1: Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlations for Study Variables
Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 61. Commute time (minutes) 50.6 31.8 2. Trait Self-Control 3.42 .6 .11 3. Age 32.7 6.9 .18** .19** 4. Women .43 .5 –.13 .02 –.14* 5. Tenure (months) 2.85 3.4 .28*** .22** .43*** –.15* 6. Job Satisfaction 4.66 1.2 –.03 .02 .14* .05 .001 7. Actual Turnover .19 .4 –.02 .03 –.11 .001 –.1 –.22**Note. ***p<0.001, **p<0.01, *p<0.05.
Commuting as Role Transitions 55
TABLE 2
Study 1: Moderated Regression Analysis
Predictor Variables Job Satisfaction B SEAge .033* .013Women .164 .167Tenure –.027 .028Commute Time –.002 .003Trait Self-Control .026 .147Interaction (Commute Time x Self-Control) .012* .005 N 225F 2.08R2 .054Note. *p<0.05. Commute time and trait self-control were centered to create an interaction term.
Commuting as Role Transitions 56
TABLE 3
Study 2: Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlations for Study Variables
Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5
1. Commute Time (minutes) 38.21 25.52 2. Trait Self-Control 2.49 .82 -.19** 3. Work-related Prospection .67 .47 -.02 .20** 4. Job Satisfaction 4.57 1.38 -.24*** .20** .15* 5. Women 1.42 .49 .08 .05 .11 .08 6. Age 36.42 10.6 -.04 .21** .11 .03 .19**
Note. ***p<0.001, **p<0.01, *p<0.05
Commuting as Role Transitions 57
TABLE 4
Study 2: Moderated Regression Analysis
Predictor Variables Job Satisfaction B SEAge –.006 .009Women .24 .181Commute Time –.026*** .008Trait Self-Control .612* .202Interaction (Commute Time x Self-Control) .084* .041 N 228F 5.37R2 .11Note.***p<0.001, **p<0.01, *p<0.05