Exploring a sleepiness framework : The effect of sleepiness on interpersonal adaptability, and the role of time pressure, chronotype, tenure, agreeableness and extraversion in the relationship

Abstract:

People spend a great portion of their life either sleeping or working. The modern working environment is filled with hectic work schedules and an increasing demand for international teamwork which have wide variety of influences on an individual. As the connection between sleepiness and work outcomes hasn’t been thoroughly researched, this paper explored the relationship between time pressure and sleepiness, as well as an increasingly important work outcome, namely interpersonal adaptability. Other assessed relationships were with tenure acting as a moderator, and chronotype, extraversion and agreeableness as control variables. The assessed relationships were based on a sleepiness framework by Mullins and colleagues (2014). The convenience sample consisted of 125 students from a university in the south of Sweden. Data was collected using a self-report measure and analyzed using path analysis. Results gave support for two hypotheses out of six: (1) Time pressure is a significant predictor of daytime sleepiness, and (2) extraversion and agreeableness significantly predict interpersonal adaptability. It was concluded that time pressure, extraversion and agreeableness should be considered in future research of sleepiness and interpersonal adaptability. Additionally, it is recommended to use more behavior-based and less self-evaluative measures in future research.