When help is not wanted: Frustrated needs and poor after‐work recovery as consequences of unwanted help at work

Abstract

Instrumental help and support in the workplace are mostly associated with outcomes that are considered desirable for organisations and their employees. In this study, we seek to shed light on a specific type of help at work that may entail negative consequences: being offered help that is not wanted by the recipient. Drawing on basic psychological needs theory and on theory of ruminative thoughts, we propose that offering unwanted help frustrates the recipient's psychological needs for autonomy and competence, which in turn affects after‐work recovery processes in the form of increased rumination and decreased psychological detachment. Supporting our hypotheses, a cross‐sectional survey study (Study 1, N = 279) revealed that employees who were offered unwanted help from coworkers or supervisors experienced higher frustration in need for competence and autonomy, which in turn was associated with higher rumination after work and less psychological detachment from work. Results from a time‐lagged survey with two measurement points 2 weeks apart (Study 2, N = 165) showed that being offered unwanted help was concurrently related to increased competence and autonomy frustration, of which only autonomy frustration later translated into higher after‐work rumination and ultimately lower psychological detachment from work. Our findings suggest that needs frustration provides a promising approach to investigate and explain potentially detrimental effects of unwanted help at work on after‐work recovery processes.