New Study on Leadership and Digital Availability

28 April 2026

What are the consequences when leaders send emails or respond to digital messages after working hours? This question is examined in a recent study by Hendrik Hüttermann together with Frederik Hesse and Heike Bruch (University of St. Gallen), published in the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology.

Based on a large-scale analysis using data from more than 23,000 employees and leaders across 142 organizations, the study shows that employees closely observe their leaders’ behavior outside working hours and interpret it as an implicit expectation. This gives rise to what is known as a climate of constant connectivity within organizations, in which employees assume that they must remain available for digital communication even during their leisure time. This, in turn, impairs key resources such as recovery and energy and leads to increased collective exhaustion at the organizational level.

At the same time, the findings show that clear organizational structures and rules can mitigate this effect. In highly formalized organizations in particular, no relationship was found between leaders’ behavior, a climate of constant connectivity, and collective exhaustion.

The study thus highlights the central role of leaders in shaping organizational expectations and underlines the importance of a mindful approach to digital availability.

The full text of the study is freely available here.

“Always on-line? An organizational model of leaders' after-hours smartphone use and climate of constant connectivity” (with Frederik Hesse and Heike Bruch). Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology.

_{(5-year Impact Factor: 6.0)}