Bounded Autonomy or Unbounded Work? Work-Time Control, Boundary Intrusion, and Exhaustion in the Korean Working Conditions Survey.

OBJECTIVES

We examined whether work during free time was associated with greater exhaustion among workers with high work-time control.

METHODS

Wage employees aged 18-64 years in the 2023 (n=22,036) and 2020 (n=23,971) Korean Working Conditions Surveys were analyzed. Four profiles combined work-time control and work during free time. Survey-weighted models estimated differences in a two-item exhaustion score, adjusting for demographic and work factors. The 2023 comparison was primary; the 2020 comparison assessed reproducibility.

RESULTS

Among workers with high control, repeated work during free time (unbounded autonomy) was associated with greater exhaustion than rare or no such work (bounded autonomy) in 2023 (β=0.36, 95% CI 0.10 to 0.61) and 2020 (β=0.31, 95% CI 0.02 to 0.59). The interaction with control was not significant in 2023 (P = .600) but was negative in 2020 (P = .008). Sensitivity analyses supported the 2023 association; in 2020, confidence intervals under both weekly-or-more definitions included zero. Unbounded autonomy was also associated with sleep disturbance and work-to-family conflict.

CONCLUSIONS

Repeated work during free time was associated with greater exhaustion even among workers with high work-time control. Control did not consistently modify this association across waves. These cross-sectional findings support considering work during free time alongside scheduling flexibility.