How "slacking off" sparks innovation: Evidence from a scenario experiment and a survey study on curvilinear mediation of recovery experience

In the digital economy era, employees' time theft-defined as engaging in unapproved non-work-related activities during work hours-has become increasingly hidden and widespread. Most prior studies have assumed that such behavior negatively impacts performance, focusing on mechanisms to reduce time theft within organizations. However, few have considered the potential positive effects of time theft or the conditions under which it may yield positive or negative outcomes. Drawing on the conservation of resources theory, this study examines the "too-much-of-a-good-thing" effect of time theft and explores how and under what circumstances it influences innovative behavior through recovery experience. Additionally, we investigate the moderating role of mindfulness to identify the boundary conditions of time theft's effects. To ensure both internal and external validity, we adopted a combination of experimental study (Study 1) and survey study (Study 2). In Study 1, we utilized a single-factor, three-level between-subjects design, randomly assigning 182 participants to one of three conditions. Participants first assessed their mindfulness traits and provided demographic information. They were then instructed to recall and describe a recent workplace time theft incident at one of three levels (high, medium, or low). Afterward, they completed measures of mindfulness and recovery experience and a manipulation check. In Study 2, we used a multi-wave, multi-source design to collect data from 633 employees. The survey was conducted in three phases, with a one-month interval between each phase. In the end, we obtained a leader-employee matched dataset with 503 observations across all three waves to test the proposed model. The experimental data (Study 1) showed that participants in the medium-level time theft group reported significantly higher recovery experience compared to those in the low- and high-level time theft conditions. The results also suggested that mindfulness moderated the relationship between time theft and recovery experience. Employees with higher mindfulness experienced a stronger positive effect of time theft on recovery. In Study 2, given that the data was nested (i.e., multiple employees' innovative behavior was assessed by the same leader), we employed the Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) to test our hypotheses. The results confirmed the inverted U-shaped relationship between time theft and recovery experience, and this effect was moderated by mindfulness. Additionally, following established methodologies, we used the "instantaneous indirect effect approach" to examine the indirect effects of time theft on innovative behavior through recovery experience. To further assess these indirect effects, we conducted a Monte Carlo simulation with 20 000 replications to generate 95% confidence intervals in R 4.2. The findings suggested that time theft influenced innovative behavior through recovery experience, with mindfulness strengthening the mediating effect. Drawing on the conservation of resources theory, we explored how time theft influenced innovative behavior through recovery experience. We also examined the moderating role of mindfulness. Our study contributes to the existing literature in the following ways. First, by investigating the effect of time theft on employee innovation, we offered a novel perspective that time theft, rather than being solely detrimental, can also provide benefits to organizations. Second, we identified the curvilinear mediation effect of recovery experience, suggesting that time theft and recovery exhibited an inverted U-shaped relationship, which indirectly influenced innovative behavior. Finally, we highlighted both the positive effects and potential costs of mindfulness as a moderator between time theft, recovery experience, and innovation, thus clarifying the boundary conditions under which time theft affected recovery experience.