Procrastinate at Work, Sleep Badly at Night: How Job Autonomy Matters

Drawing on appraisal theory and examining the detrimental effect of procrastination on sleep quality, this study extended existing literature on the outcomes of procrastination. Results of 2026 daily data demonstrated that at within-person level, day-specific procrastination is negatively related to subsequent sleep quality at night through the serial mediators of rumination and negative affect. Furthermore, we identified an important boundary condition, i.e. job autonomy, on the effectiveness of the negative influences of daily procrastination at between-person level. Specifically, job autonomy moderates the within-person effect of procrastination on rumination, such that this effect is stronger for employees with higher levels of job autonomy. In doing so, this study could enrich the findings of the negative influences of procrastination, reveal an underlying mechanism, and more importantly, show how to effectively cope with daily procrastination."