Perceived job ambiguity, predisposition to procrastinate, work-related information and experience: An investigation of procrastination behavior at work

The emphasis in this research was on the perception of job ambiguity since it is believed to produce an uncomfortable psychological state that is likely to be avoided by procrastination. In addition, the aspects of the work situation that give rise to the perception of job ambiguity as well as the personal characteristics of the individual employee that inhibit or enhance these effects were considered in explaining procrastination behavior at work.;Employees of a large petrochemical company in Venezuela served as subjects in the present study. Employees' perceptions regarding the ambiguity experienced in their jobs, work-related information received, and predisposition to procrastinate were obtained from each focal employee by means of a questionnaire.;The results indicated that the basic assumptions of the model were not supported. Perceived job ambiguity did not account for variance in supervisors' ratings of subordinates' procrastination behavior. Furthermore, results showed that neither predisposition to procrastinate nor work-related experience moderated this relationship. However, certain situational factors in the model, notably job exception and contingency information, were found to be related to procrastination behavior. In addition, all aspects of perceived job ambiguity were related to employees' self-report of their own procrastination.;Under conditions of high job feedback, an employee's predisposition to procrastinate moderated the effect of scheduling information on procrastination behavior. Similarly, the effect of evaluation information was found to be moderated by predisposition to procrastinate under conditions of high job ambiguity. In instances of either high or low job analyzability, predisposition to procrastinate moderated the effect of method information on procrastination behavior.;Finally, a new construct was also examined based on a principal component analysis performed on the procrastination behavior scale. This construct was referred to here as "autonomy procrastination" and the main regression analyses performed on the procrastination behavior construct were reexamined on this dependent measure.;All results were interpreted for each construct in this study and potential alternative explanations were provided where unexpected findings were obtained. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.).