Personal Life Interrupted: Understanding the Effects of Technology-Mediated Interruptions from Work to Personal Life

This study examines how technology-mediated work-related interruptions affect people’s personal life in terms of the level of work-life conflict they experience and their ability to fulfill the responsibilities of their personal life. Based on interruption source, we differentiate between two types of interruptions that occur in one’s personal life: other-initiated and self-initiated. Drawing on interruption research and micro-role transition theories, we conceptualize distinct effects of the two interruption types on outcome variables. Data were collected through surveys from 137 knowledge workers. The results reveal distinct effects of other-initiated and self-initiated interruptions on personal life. The frequency of other-initiated interruptions is found to be positively associated with work-life conflict and negatively associated with fulfillment of personal life responsibilities, whereas the frequency of self-initiated interruptions does not significantly affect personal life. The results also suggest that the effects of otherinitiated interruptions on fulfillment of personal life responsibilities are partially mediated by work-life conflict. The study concludes with implications for research and practice.