












































 Humanities and Social Science Research; Vol. 8, No. 3; 2025 
ISSN 2576-3024   E-ISSN 2576-3032 

https://doi.org/10.30560/hssr.v8n3p71 

 71 Published by IDEAS SPREAD 
 

Impact of Off-Hours Work-Related Electronic Communication on 
Work Engagement Among University Faculty: The Moderating Role 

of Boundary Flexibility 
Qing Yang1, Xiaohan Ma1, Yang Li2 & Lingling Zhang2 

1 Business Administration, Affiliation School of Management, Beijing Union University, China 
2 Human Resources, School of Biochemical Engineering, Beijing Union University, China 
Correspondence: Lingling Zhang, Human resources, School of Biochemical Engineering, 100101, China. Tel: 86-
136-9133-0749. E-mail: yangqing20021126@163.com, zwqmxk@163.com, nansanyan@163.com, 
zllzk2006@163.com 
 
Received: May 19, 2025; Accepted: May 30, 2025; Published: May 31, 2025 
 
Abstract 
With the rapid development of information and communication technology and new office forms, non-working 
time and work-related electronic communication has become an essential part of people's work and life. Teachers 
in colleges and universities also have the same phenomenon in their daily work, but different teachers have 
different evaluations of this work status, and there are differences in the impact of different work motives. The 
article explores the mechanism of the influence of non-working time and work-related electronic communication 
on work engagement by taking teachers in college A as the research object, and selects boundary flexibility ability 
as the moderating variable. The results show that non-working time and work-related e-communication have a 
significant negative effect on work engagement of teachers in college A. Boundary elasticity ability plays a 
negative moderating role between non-working time and work-related e-communication and work engagement, 
and there is a significant difference between different work motives. The findings of the study provide theoretical 
basis and practical support for moderately controlling non-work time and work-related e-communication and 
enhancing college teachers' work engagement. 
Keywords: higher education faculty, non-work time and work-related electronic communication, work 
engagement, boundary resilience capacity, work motivation 
1. Introduction 
With the rapid development of ICT and new office forms (e.g., telecommuting), as well as the high expectations 
of organizations for employees' out-of-hours work connectivity, electronic communication has become an essential 
part of people's daily work and life. According to statistics, nearly 50% of employees worldwide have had or are 
experiencing work-related e-communication during non-work time periods (Ferguson et al., 2016), and non-work 
time work-related e-communication has become a common phenomenon in all industries and has been on a 
continuous upward trend since 2002 (Cheng Huan et al., 2023). In recent years, this phenomenon has not only 
been hotly debated among employees in organizations and companies, but has also received extensive attention 
from academics. 
Unlike traditional telecommuting or overtime work, work-related electronic communication during non-working 
hours is a non-fixed, non-compulsory and unpaid behavior (Qianqiu Wang, 2023), which usually affects 
employees in two ways. On the one hand, with the help of technological means to eliminate time and space barriers, 
it is convenient for members of the organization to keep in touch at any time and any place to deal with work 
affairs in a timely manner, which enhances the flexibility and autonomy of employees in work-life transition, and 
is conducive to enhancing the efficiency of teamwork as well as improving the individual's work performance (Li 
Yinfang, 2022); on the other hand, e-communication during non-work time is prone to cause the employees to 
have a work-nonwork On the other hand, e-communication during non-working hours is prone to cause conflicts 
between employees' work and non-work, making it difficult for employees to detach themselves from their work 
and affecting their normal life, which in turn reduces their sense of well-being and induces emotional exhaustion 
(Ru Yucheng, 2022). However, most of the current research on non-work time and work-related e-communication 
is based on corporate employees, and only a relatively small amount of literature focuses on college teachers. In 



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fact, it is extremely common for college teachers to engage in work-related e-communication during non-work 
time, and college teachers have mixed feelings about this work status. Moreover, the question of under what 
circumstances work-related e-communication during non-working hours can have a positive impact and under 
what circumstances it can have a negative impact needs to be further explored based on different work motivations. 
Self-determination theory emphasizes that the motivation for a behavior largely determines its aftereffects (Deci 
& Ryan, 2000). Based on the different nature of motivation, self-determination theory specifically divides it into 
two basic categories: autonomous and controlled motivation. Autonomous motivation stems from an individual's 
intrinsic interest in and identification with a behavior, reflecting the individual's perception of the importance and 
value of the behavior; whereas controlled motivation stems from the stimuli of the external environment, and is 
more often reflected in the motivation to avoid external punishment or pursue external rewards (Ohly, 2014). 
Behavior driven by an individual's intrinsic autonomous motivation tends to better satisfy his or her basic needs 
and form positive aftereffects such as positive affective states and engagement (Xinying Lu, 2024). In contrast, 
when an individual's behavior is driven by external controlled motivation, it tends to pose a limitation on the 
individual's autonomy and diminish his or her intrinsic source of motivation, which in turn is more likely to lead 
to negative affect and reduce the individual's level of engagement and concentration (Deci & Ryan, 2000). 
Therefore, from the perspective of both autonomous and controlled dual motivation, exploring the effects of and 
comparing the differences in the influence of non-work time and work-related electronic communication on work 
engagement among college teachers is conducive to making differentiated recommendations for college teachers 
under different behavioral motivations, which is of greater practical significance. 
This paper focuses on University A, a comprehensive university in Beijing with a total of more than 2,550 faculty 
members and 1,547 full-time teachers (data as of September 2023). In recent years, the use of electronic 
communication tools such as cell phones and computers to communicate at work during non-working hours has 
become more common among teachers in University A. The boundaries between teachers' work and non-work are 
becoming more and more blurred, and the impacts on teachers are different. It is necessary to explore in depth the 
impacts of non-working hours and work-related electronic communication on work engagement as well as 
differences under different behavioral motives based on the actual situation in University A, with a view to helping 
A teachers in colleges and universities to continuously maintain a good state of work engagement. 
In view of this, this paper takes teachers in college A as the research object, analyzes the impact of non-working 
time and work-related electronic communication on teachers' work engagement in college A, discusses in depth 
the reality, impact effect and mechanism of the current work-life boundary blurring of teachers in colleges and 
universities, and furthermore, this study pays attention to the moderating role that boundary resilience may play in 
this impact path, and ultimately proposes targeted strategies and suggestions for moderately controlling non-
working time and work-related electronic communication and enhancing teachers' work engagement in colleges 
and universities. Finally, in light of the current situation of electronic communication and work engagement of 
teachers in college A, this study puts forward targeted strategies and suggestions, aiming to provide theoretical 
basis and practical support for moderately controlling the non-work time and work-related electronic 
communication and enhancing the work engagement of teachers in colleges and universities. 
2. Rationale and Research Hypothesis 
2.1 Self-Determination Theory 
Self-Determination Theory (SDT) is a theory of human motivation that emphasizes the central role of intrinsic 
motivation and basic psychological needs in individual behavior. According to Self-Determination Theory, 
motivation is viewed as a continuum that covers the progression from unmotivated to controlled to autonomous 
motivation, and it is believed that motivations of different natures possess a greater ability to predict an individual's 
behavior as compared to a different number of motivations (Deci & Ryan, 2000). Individuals' motivation can be 
categorized into two basic categories: autonomous and controlled motivation, and the key to distinguishing 
between these two types of motivation is the source of the motivation: whether it stems from external pressures or 
from the individual's inner true will; specifically, the measurement of controlled motivation involves external and 
introjected regulation, whereas the measurement of autonomous motivation encompasses identity regulation, 
integrative regulation, and internal regulation (Deci & Ryan, 2000). 2000). 
2.2 Theory of Boundary Elasticity 
Boundary Flexibility Theory (BFT) is a theory that explains the behavior and intentions of individuals to make 
role transitions. The theory suggests that flexibility ability is an individual's cognitive assessment of the 
characteristics of the situation in which they find themselves, particularly with regard to the assessment of the 
situation that affects their ability to leave their current domain role to fulfill another domain role. In research on 



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work-family balance, it has been noted that employees tend to experience lower levels of psychological 
disengagement when their boundary resilience is underperforming, and that this lower state of psychological 
disengagement significantly exacerbates work-family conflict (Ye Shuang, 2022), whereas, on the contrary, 
employees with high boundary resilience will have a positive contribution to their individual prosperity (Xu Xue, 
2022). 
2.3 Resource Conservation Theory 
Conservation of Resources (COR) is a theory of motivation that explains how individuals respond to 
environmental stresses and challenges. The theory suggests that individuals have a general tendency to conserve 
and maintain existing resources and to acquire new ones, so that stress responses may be triggered when 
individuals face actual resource losses, threats of potential losses, or mismatches between resource inputs and 
returns (Hobfoll & Stevan, 1989). In organizational behavior, resource preservation theory has been used to explain 
the psychological and behavioral generating motivations of employees, such as work engagement, job satisfaction, 
and organization-member relations (Liao Hwa Hwa et al., 2022). Related studies have also shown that stress caused 
by the lack of work resources is one of the important factors affecting employees' time encroachment behaviors 
(He, Yujie & Yu, Jing, 2020). 
2.4 Out-of-Hours Work-Related Electronic Communication and Work Inputs 
As a form of online labor, work-related electronic communication during non-work time brings a significant sense 
of relative exploitation to employees due to its occupation of private time and consumption of physical and mental 
resources, which not only makes employees physically and mentally exhausted, but also prevents them from 
achieving psychological disengagement (Yuan Xiaoya, 2021). "Work engagement" represents the psychological 
connection between employees and their work roles and involves their full commitment of physical, emotional, 
and cognitive resources at work (Christian et al., 2011). While work-related electronic communication during non-
work hours has facilitated the efficient exchange and sharing of resources to some extent, at the same time, it has 
expanded work boundaries and gradually infiltrated work into family life, making it difficult for individuals to 
achieve effective relaxation and relief at both the physical and psychological levels, which negatively affects sleep 
quality and limits participation in leisure and recreational activities (Lanaj et al., 2011). Lanaj et al.,2014), which 
can increase workload and produce negative perceptions of work experience, thus reducing engagement in work 
(Zhao Yue et al.,2024). Breaking the state of psychological disengagement has been found to increase fatigue or 
anxiety, reduce resource reserves, and have a negative effect on the next day's work engagement (Wanjin et al., 
2023).A College teachers' work engagement is also affected by this continuous work engagement, which may have 
a negative impact on work performance. Based on this, this paper proposes the following hypothesis 
H1: Non-work time and work-related electronic communication is detrimental to teachers' work engagement in A 
university. 
2.5 The Moderating role of the Elastic Capacity of the Boundary 
In the study of the moderating role of boundary flexibility, foreign scholars Mathews et al. (2010) found that the 
higher the boundary flexibility, the easier it is for people to cope with the psychological needs related to the 
transition between the work and family domains. Individuals with higher boundary resilience ability will 
significantly enhance their perceptions of the support of boundary strategies and imply that individuals can 
effectively narrow or expand the boundary between family and work to flexibly cope with and meet the needs of 
family or work (Ye Shuang, 2022). Existing research points out that boundary flexibility ability plays an important 
moderating role in stressors and stress responses, arguing that for individuals with more limited boundary 
flexibility ability, when faced with nontraditional or unconventional work tasks, it is often difficult to achieve 
smooth role transitions between the work and family domains, resulting in the blurring of the boundaries between 
work and family, which exacerbates the conflict between the two (Jie Xu, 2018). 
Teachers in university A generally have high boundary resilience ability, and have more excellent role switching 
ability when encountering work-related electronic communication during non-working hours, and are able to 
switch between work and family flexibly with ease, effectively alleviating potential conflicts between work and 
family, and demonstrating high work-family balance ability, which enables them to be more dedicated to their 
work. Based on this, this paper proposes the following hypotheses: 
H2: The stronger the boundary resilience capacity, the stronger the role of work-related electronic communication 
during non-work time as a hindrance to work engagement. 



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Figure 1. Research model 

 
3. Research Design and Measurement of Variables 
3.1 Selection of Research Subjects 
The research focus of this paper centers on the group of teachers engaged in teaching and research types in 
University A. University A is a comprehensive university in Beijing, which has a higher percentage of teaching 
and research type teachers compared to other types of teachers. The survey utilized a combination of electronic 
and paper questionnaires to pre-interview the working and living conditions of teachers in University A and 
conduct a small-scale questionnaire-based survey. In the formal stage of the survey, both electronic and paper 
questionnaires were used for distribution in order to cover the target population more widely. Further screening of 
the questionnaires eliminated invalid questionnaires that were incompletely filled out or had obvious logical errors. 
The questionnaire survey totaled 200 questionnaires, 12 invalid questionnaires were screened out, and 188 valid 
questionnaires were received, with a recovery rate of about 94%. 
According to the analyzed survey data, the largest share of female teachers in college A is 70.21%. As for the 
marital status, the proportion of married and childbearing teachers is the highest, reaching 71.28%. The specific 
sample distribution is shown in Table 1. 
 
Table 1. Distribution of the survey data sample 

Category sample 
distribution 

Percentage 
(%) Category sample distribution Percentage 

(%) 

Gender Male 29.79 
Teaching 
experience 
 

≤1 year     4.26 
Female 70.21 1~5 years 15.96 

(a person's) 
Age 

≤30 years old 7.45 6 to 10 years 11.70 
31~35 years old 15.96 11-20 years 30.85  
36~ 45 years old 21.28  ≥21 years 37.23  
46-55 years old 44.67  

Type of position 

Teaching-oriented 28.73  
≥56 years old 10.64 Research-oriented 14.89 

Education 
level 

Bachelor's 
degree 7.45 Teaching and 

Research 56.38 

Master's degree 38.3 Type of 
instruction 

Public course 28.72 
Doctoral degree 54.25 Specialized subject  48.94 

Professional 
title 

junior 5.32 Both  22.34  
Intermediate 52.13 

Marital status 

Unmarried  11.70 

Associate Senior 30.85  Married without 
children 17.02 

Full Senior 11.70  Married with 
children 71.28 

 
3.2 Measurement of Variables 
In this paper, the four variables of non-work time and work-related electronic communication, work engagement, 
boundary flexibility, and autonomous and controlled motivation were measured by means of well-established 
domestic and international scales, all using the Likert five-point scale, with scores ranging from "Strongly 



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Disagree" to "Strongly Agree" on a scale of 1-5, with higher scores indicating that the descriptions of the items 
are more consistent with the actual situation. "The higher the score, the more consistent the description of the 
situation is with the actual situation. The higher the score, the more frequent the communication was in the non-
working time and work-related electronic communication scale. 

1. For the measurement of work-related electronic communication during non-working hours, this paper adopts 
the scale developed by the research of Hongyu Ma and other scholars (2016), which includes the question "How 
often do people related to my work contact me through the above communication tools during non-working 
hours because of work-related matters?" and other three question items. 
2. For the measurement of work engagement, this paper adopts the nine-item work engagement scale developed 
by Schaufeli et al. (2002), which consists of nine items such as "I feel strong and energized when I work". 
3. For the measurement of boundary resilience ability, this paper chooses the Work-Family Boundary Resilience 
Scale, which was revised and widely used by scholars such as Ma Hongyu (2016), as a research tool and focuses 
on two key dimensions for in-depth analysis, namely, the work resilience ability dimension and the family 
resilience ability dimension, such as: "I am able to leave halfway through my work when I have something at 
home that needs to be taken care of. ", "I am able to work late without compromising the fulfillment of my 
family duties if my work requires it" and "I am willing to put aside my family duties when I receive a work 
assignment at home".Court affairs to get the job done," etc. 
4. Measurement of autonomous and controlled motivation, the scale in this paper is taken from Grant et al. 
(2011) and includes twelve items such as "I do not want to fail because my job is a very important part of my 
life", "I do this job mainly to get a salary. " and twelve other question items. 

4. Empirical Analysis 
4.1 Reliability Test 
The results of the reliability test of all the scales are shown in Table 2, the Cronbach's α value of the Non-Working 
Time and Work-Related e-Communication Scale is 0.917, the Cronbach's α value of the Work Engagement Scale 
is 0.760, and the Cronbach's α value of the Boundary Flexibility Capacity is 0.839, which is greater than 0.7, and 
the scales used in this paper have good reliabilities and can be used for further research and analysis. 
 
Table 2. Results of confidence test 

variant Number of questions Cronbach's alpha 
Out-of-hours work-related electronic communication 3 0.917 
devote one's energies to work 9 0.760 
Boundary resilience 8 0.839 

 
The results of the validity test of all the scales are shown in Table 3, the KMO values of the Non-Working Time 
and Work-Related e-Communication Scale, the Work Input Scale, and the Boundary Flexibility Ability are all 
greater than 0.7. In addition, after the Bartlett's spherical test, the significance of the Non-Working Time and 
Work-Related e-Communication and Work Input Scale is 0.001, and that of the Boundary Flexibility Ability Scale 
is 0.000, all of which are less than 0.05, indicating that the scales used in this paper all have good validity in 
measuring the relevant variables. 
 
Table 3. Validity test results 

variant KMO 
value 

Barthelle's 
Spherical Value 

(number of) degrees of 
freedom (physics) 

signific
ance 

Out-of-hours work-related 
electronic communication 0.742 206.140 3 0.001 

devote one's energies to work 0.763 176.258 36 0.001 
Boundary resilience 0.824 438.898 28 0.000 

 
4.2 Correlation Analysis 
Correlation analysis as a statistical analysis tool aims to explore the potential association between two or more 
random variables. In this study, the correlation analysis of non-working time with work-related e-communication, 



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work engagement, and boundary resilience ability was conducted with the help of SPSS27.0, and the results are 
shown in Table 5, which shows that there is a significant negative correlation between non-working time with 
work-related e-communication and individual's work engagement of teachers in A university (r=-0.420, P<0.01). 
Meanwhile, there was a significant positive correlation between non-work time and work-related e-communication 
and an individual's boundary resilience ability (r=0.321, P<0.01). The findings of the correlation analysis provided 
some support for the subsequent hypothesis testing. 
 
Table 4. Results of correlation analysis 

variant Out-of-hours work-related 
electronic communication 

devote one's 
energies to work 

Boundary 
resilience 

Out-of-hours work-related 
electronic communication 1   

devote one's energies to work -0.420** 1  
Boundary resilience 0.321** 0.029 1 

Note. * denotes p < 0.05, ** denotes p < 0.01 
 
4.3 Regression Analysis 
In this paper, with the help of SPSS 27.0 software, we analyze the direct impact of non-working time and work-
related e-communication on work input and further explore the moderating role of boundary elasticity capacity 
between the two, and the regression results are shown in Table 5, according to Model 1, the regression coefficients 
of non-working time and work-related e-communication of teachers in college A on work input are negative and 
at a high level of significance (β = -0.258, and P < 0.01), indicating that non-working time and work-related e-
communication has a significant negative effect on work engagement of teachers in university A. H1 is verified. 
In order to reduce the influence of multicollinearity on the results of regression analysis, the variables involved in 
the interaction term were centered before testing the moderating effect. From Model 2 in Table 5, boundary 
resilience ability was found to play a positive moderating role (β = 0.141, p < 0.05) in the facilitation effect of 
work-related electronic communication on work engagement during non-work time, and H2 was verified. 
 
Table 5. Results of regression analysis 

variant 
devote one's energies to work 
Model 1 Model 2 

Out-of-hours work-related electronic communication 
-0.258*** 
(0.056) 

-0.230*** 
(0.061) 

Boundary resilience  
0.049 
(0.084) 

Out-of-hours and work-related electronic communication× Boundary resilience capabilities  
0.141** 
(0.060) 

distinguishing between the sexes 
-0.041 
(0.124) 

-0.013 
(0.126) 

(a person's) age 
0.153* 
(0.091) 

0.147 
(0.089) 

educational attainment 
-0.050 
(0.093) 

-0.028 
(0.091) 

length of teaching experience 
-0.223** 
(0.082) 

-0.201** 
(0.080) 

F 5.824*** 5.529*** 
Adjusted R² 0.206 0.254 

Note. * indicates significant at the 0.1 level, ** indicates significant at the 0.05 level, *** indicates significant at 
the 0.01 level; values in parentheses represent standard errors. 
 
In order to be able to more intuitively show the moderating effect of boundary elasticity capacity on the relationship 
between non-working time and work-related e-communication and work input, this paper plots the moderating 



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effect as described in the previous section. As shown in Figure 2, the solid and dashed lines represent low boundary 
elasticity capacity and high boundary elasticity capacity, respectively, and the slopes of the two lines are both 
negative, indicating that the relationship between non-work time and work-related e-communication and work 
input is negative. The results in the figure show that the slope is smaller when the boundary elasticity capacity is 
at a high level, and at this time the negative impact of non-work time and work-related e-communication on work 
input is smaller than when the boundary elasticity capacity is low. This shows that the boundary elasticity capacity 
has a negative moderating effect in the relationship between non-working time and work-related e-communication 
and work input, which reduces the negative impact of non-working time and work-related e-communication on 
work input. 

 
Figure 2. Moderating effect of boundary resilience capacity on non-work time and work-related electronic 

communication and work engagement 
 

4.4 Heterogeneity Analysis 
This paper analyzes heterogeneity from the perspective of different levels of autonomous and controlled 
motivation. Specifically, taking the mean value of autonomous and controlled motivation as the division point, 
autonomous motivation is divided into low autonomous motivation and high autonomous motivation, and 
controlled motivation is divided into low controlled motivation and high controlled motivation. The results, as 
shown in Table 6, under high levels of autonomous motivation, the negative effect of non-working time and work-
related electronic communication on work engagement is weakened, and the moderating effect of boundary 
elasticity competence is more significant; while under high controlled motivation, the negative effect of non-
working time and work-related electronic communication on work engagement is deeper, but the negative 
moderating effect of boundary elasticity competence can be manifested only under low levels of controlled 
motivation. 
 
Table 6. Results of heterogeneous analysis 

variant 

devote one's energies to work 

Low autonomous 
motivation 

Highly 
autonomous 
motivation 

Low-control 
motives 

Highly Controlled 
Motivation 

Out-of-hours work-related electronic 
communication 

-0.314** 
(0.108) 

-0.203** 
(0.064) 

-0.183** 
(0.068) 

-0.302** 
(0.111) 

Boundary resilience 0.049 
(0.093) 

-0.046 
(0.136) 

0.058 
(0.095) 

-0.018 
(0.149) 

Out-of-hours work-related electronic 
communication x Boundary resilience 
capability 

0.076 
(0.061) 

0.297** 
(0.108) 

0.155** 
(0.065) 

0.092 
(0.110) 

distinguishing between the sexes -0.031 
(0.163) 

0.102 
(0.179) 

-0.090 
(0.165) 

-0.084 
(0.208) 



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(a person's) age 0.205* 
(0.104) 

-0.055 
(0.136) 

0.243** 
(0.094) 

-0.098 
(0.177) 

educational attainment -0.019 
(0.117) 

0.074 
(0.128) 

-0.161 
(0.109) 

0.113 
(0.149) 

length of teaching experience -0.225** 
(0.092) 

-0.079 
(0.122) 

-0.286*** 
(0.082) 

-0.023 
(0.165) 

F 4.061** 3.490** 5.354*** 2.123* 
Adjusted R² 0.333 0.262 0.393 0.149 
Note. *, **, *** denote significant at the 0.1, 0.05, and 0.01 levels, respectively; values in parentheses are standard 
errors. 
 
5. Conclusions and Implications of the Study 
5.1 Conclusions of the study 
This paper takes teachers in college A as the research object, using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, 
regression analysis and other methods, on the basis of grasping the status quo of non-working time and work-
related electronic communication and work input of teachers in college A, revealing the role relationship between 
non-working time and work-related electronic communication and work input and the moderating role of boundary 
flexibility ability from different levels of autonomous motivation and controlled motivation Heterogeneity analysis 
was conducted. The results of empirical analysis show that non-work time and work-related e-communication are 
negatively correlated with work engagement, and boundary elasticity ability plays a negative moderating role 
between non-work time and work-related e-communication and work engagement among teachers in university A. 
The results of heterogeneity analysis show that high level teachers are more likely to have a negative relationship 
between non-work time and work-related e-communication. The results of heterogeneity analysis show that 
college A teachers with a high level of autonomous motivation can effectively mitigate the negative impact of non-
work time and work-related e-communication on work engagement, and the moderating effect of boundary 
elasticity will be more significant; whereas college A teachers with a high level of controlled motivation will 
exacerbate the negative impact of non-work time and work-related e-communication on work engagement, and 
boundary elasticity will be more significant only in the case of a low level of controlled motivation. The negative 
moderating effect of boundary resilience of HEI A teachers with high levels of controlled motivation is only 
manifested at low levels of controlled motivation. 
5.2 Implications of the Study 
HEI A should tighten control over the duration of teachers' non-work time and work-related electronic 
communication, for example, by specifying the maximum time required for teachers to engage in non-work time 
and work-related electronic communication and to complete related work on a daily basis; HEI A should take a 
number of measures to increase teachers' autonomous motivation, reduce controlled motivation, develop more 
flexible and personalized work and rest time schedules, and reorganize the work pattern; and HEI A should be 
keenly aware that management strategies that overly require teachers to maintain constant work contact during 
non-work time are not a long-term solution. Recognize that management strategies that overly require teachers to 
be in constant contact with their work during non-working hours are not sustainable and may not be effective in 
contributing to teachers' long-term performance. 
A Colleges and universities should pay more attention to teachers' mental health and implement targeted measures, 
such as training in psychological disengagement strategies, to enhance teachers' ability to regulate their mental 
health, so that they can restore their physical and mental resources in time to show a higher level of commitment 
to their work. Colleges and universities can also conduct regular mental health surveys and organize lectures for 
teachers to teach them about mental health and methods of self-regulation. 
A Colleges and universities should strengthen humanistic care for teachers and advocate happy work and happy 
life. For example, university A can implement a humanized management model, understand teachers' needs, care 
about their work and living conditions, and provide necessary family-friendly support policies. It should also 
moderately improve teachers' welfare benefits, such as housing, children's schooling, medical insurance, health 
care and hardship assistance, to alleviate teachers' worries and role conflict pressure, so that they can devote 
themselves to their work and family roles in a positive and happy mood, and enhance their family life performance. 
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	Qing Yang1, Xiaohan Ma1, Yang Li2 & Lingling Zhang2
	1 Business Administration, Affiliation School of Management, Beijing Union University, China
	2 Human Resources, School of Biochemical Engineering, Beijing Union University, China
	Correspondence: Lingling Zhang, Human resources, School of Biochemical Engineering, 100101, China. Tel: 86-136-9133-0749. E-mail: yangqing20021126@163.com, zwqmxk@163.com, nansanyan@163.com, zllzk2006@163.com
	Received: May 19, 2025; Accepted: May 30, 2025; Published: May 31, 2025
	Abstract
	With the rapid development of information and communication technology and new office forms, non-working time and work-related electronic communication has become an essential part of people's work and life. Teachers in colleges and universities also ...
	Keywords: higher education faculty, non-work time and work-related electronic communication, work engagement, boundary resilience capacity, work motivation
	1. Introduction
	With the rapid development of ICT and new office forms (e.g., telecommuting), as well as the high expectations of organizations for employees' out-of-hours work connectivity, electronic communication has become an essential part of people's daily work...
	Unlike traditional telecommuting or overtime work, work-related electronic communication during non-working hours is a non-fixed, non-compulsory and unpaid behavior (Qianqiu Wang, 2023), which usually affects employees in two ways. On the one hand, wi...
	Self-determination theory emphasizes that the motivation for a behavior largely determines its aftereffects (Deci & Ryan, 2000). Based on the different nature of motivation, self-determination theory specifically divides it into two basic categories: ...
	This paper focuses on University A, a comprehensive university in Beijing with a total of more than 2,550 faculty members and 1,547 full-time teachers (data as of September 2023). In recent years, the use of electronic communication tools such as cell...
	In view of this, this paper takes teachers in college A as the research object, analyzes the impact of non-working time and work-related electronic communication on teachers' work engagement in college A, discusses in depth the reality, impact effect ...
	2. Rationale and Research Hypothesis
	2.1 Self-Determination Theory
	Self-Determination Theory (SDT) is a theory of human motivation that emphasizes the central role of intrinsic motivation and basic psychological needs in individual behavior. According to Self-Determination Theory, motivation is viewed as a continuum ...
	2.2 Theory of Boundary Elasticity
	Boundary Flexibility Theory (BFT) is a theory that explains the behavior and intentions of individuals to make role transitions. The theory suggests that flexibility ability is an individual's cognitive assessment of the characteristics of the situati...
	2.3 Resource Conservation Theory
	Conservation of Resources (COR) is a theory of motivation that explains how individuals respond to environmental stresses and challenges. The theory suggests that individuals have a general tendency to conserve and maintain existing resources and to a...
	2.4 Out-of-Hours Work-Related Electronic Communication and Work Inputs
	As a form of online labor, work-related electronic communication during non-work time brings a significant sense of relative exploitation to employees due to its occupation of private time and consumption of physical and mental resources, which not on...
	H1: Non-work time and work-related electronic communication is detrimental to teachers' work engagement in A university.
	2.5 The Moderating role of the Elastic Capacity of the Boundary
	In the study of the moderating role of boundary flexibility, foreign scholars Mathews et al. (2010) found that the higher the boundary flexibility, the easier it is for people to cope with the psychological needs related to the transition between the ...
	Teachers in university A generally have high boundary resilience ability, and have more excellent role switching ability when encountering work-related electronic communication during non-working hours, and are able to switch between work and family f...
	H2: The stronger the boundary resilience capacity, the stronger the role of work-related electronic communication during non-work time as a hindrance to work engagement.
	Figure 1. Research model
	3. Research Design and Measurement of Variables
	3.1 Selection of Research Subjects
	The research focus of this paper centers on the group of teachers engaged in teaching and research types in University A. University A is a comprehensive university in Beijing, which has a higher percentage of teaching and research type teachers compa...
	According to the analyzed survey data, the largest share of female teachers in college A is 70.21%. As for the marital status, the proportion of married and childbearing teachers is the highest, reaching 71.28%. The specific sample distribution is sho...
	Table 1. Distribution of the survey data sample
	3.2 Measurement of Variables
	In this paper, the four variables of non-work time and work-related electronic communication, work engagement, boundary flexibility, and autonomous and controlled motivation were measured by means of well-established domestic and international scales,...
	1. For the measurement of work-related electronic communication during non-working hours, this paper adopts the scale developed by the research of Hongyu Ma and other scholars (2016), which includes the question "How often do people related to my work...
	2. For the measurement of work engagement, this paper adopts the nine-item work engagement scale developed by Schaufeli et al. (2002), which consists of nine items such as "I feel strong and energized when I work".
	3. For the measurement of boundary resilience ability, this paper chooses the Work-Family Boundary Resilience Scale, which was revised and widely used by scholars such as Ma Hongyu (2016), as a research tool and focuses on two key dimensions for in-de...
	4. Measurement of autonomous and controlled motivation, the scale in this paper is taken from Grant et al. (2011) and includes twelve items such as "I do not want to fail because my job is a very important part of my life", "I do this job mainly to ge...
	4. Empirical Analysis
	4.1 Reliability Test
	The results of the reliability test of all the scales are shown in Table 2, the Cronbach's α value of the Non-Working Time and Work-Related e-Communication Scale is 0.917, the Cronbach's α value of the Work Engagement Scale is 0.760, and the Cronbach'...
	Table 2. Results of confidence test
	The results of the validity test of all the scales are shown in Table 3, the KMO values of the Non-Working Time and Work-Related e-Communication Scale, the Work Input Scale, and the Boundary Flexibility Ability are all greater than 0.7. In addition, a...
	Table 3. Validity test results
	4.2 Correlation Analysis
	Correlation analysis as a statistical analysis tool aims to explore the potential association between two or more random variables. In this study, the correlation analysis of non-working time with work-related e-communication, work engagement, and bou...
	Table 4. Results of correlation analysis
	4.3 Regression Analysis
	In this paper, with the help of SPSS 27.0 software, we analyze the direct impact of non-working time and work-related e-communication on work input and further explore the moderating role of boundary elasticity capacity between the two, and the regres...
	In order to reduce the influence of multicollinearity on the results of regression analysis, the variables involved in the interaction term were centered before testing the moderating effect. From Model 2 in Table 5, boundary resilience ability was fo...
	Table 5. Results of regression analysis
	Note. * indicates significant at the 0.1 level, ** indicates significant at the 0.05 level, *** indicates significant at the 0.01 level; values in parentheses represent standard errors.
	In order to be able to more intuitively show the moderating effect of boundary elasticity capacity on the relationship between non-working time and work-related e-communication and work input, this paper plots the moderating effect as described in the...
	Figure 2. Moderating effect of boundary resilience capacity on non-work time and work-related electronic communication and work engagement
	4.4 Heterogeneity Analysis
	This paper analyzes heterogeneity from the perspective of different levels of autonomous and controlled motivation. Specifically, taking the mean value of autonomous and controlled motivation as the division point, autonomous motivation is divided int...
	Table 6. Results of heterogeneous analysis
	5. Conclusions and Implications of the Study
	5.1 Conclusions of the study
	5.2 Implications of the Study
	References
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