How to work out and avoid procrastination: The role of goal focus

Procrastination in the Intention-Behaviour gap: Exercise procrastination and the moderating role of emotion

Health behaviour procrastination is closely associated with the intention-behaviour gap. However, research on health behaviour procrastination has tended to focus on bedtime procrastination, with relatively few studies on exercise procrastination. This research examined the relationship between exercise procrastination and the intention-behaviour gap through three studies. Additionally, based on the temporal-affective self-regulation resource model, the moderating role of emotion as a self-regulatory resource in exercise procrastination was explored. Study 1 validated the Chinese version of the newly developed Procrastination in Exercise Scale in two Chinese adult samples (N = 2376 and N = 393). Study 2 collected two waves of data from 447 Chinese adults (Mage = 31.19) and examined the mediating role of exercise procrastination in the intention-behaviour gap. Using a sample of 453 Chinese adults (Mage = 20.39), Study 3 investigated the moderating role of positive and negative affect in the association between intention and exercise procrastination. Cross-lagged analyses revealed the predictive roles of Time 1 intention on Time 2 exercise procrastination and Time 1 exercise procrastination on Time 2 physical activity. Exercise procrastination mediated the relationship between intention and physical activity. Examining the moderating role of emotion between intention (Time 1) and exercise procrastination (Time 2), Study 3 found that negative affect buffered this association. Findings highlight the role of exercise procrastination in explaining the intention-behaviour gap and shed new light on physical activity interventions, with implications for promoting exercise behaviour.

The Effect of Decisional Leader Procrastination on Employee Innovation: Investigating the Moderating Role of Employees’ Resistance to Change

Most prior research has examined procrastination as a type of self-defeating behavior. The present research, however, focused on the social consequences of procrastination, by investigating how decisional leader procrastination as a leader trait affects others in the workplace. We specifically developed the argument that the way in which employees deal with changes plays a critical moderating role in the relationship between leader procrastination and employee innovation. More precisely, we hypothesized that decisional leader procrastination negatively impacts employee innovation, but only so for employees who are low (compared to high) in resistance to change. This prediction was tested in an experimental study (Study 1) and two double-source survey studies (Studies 2 and 3). In support of our prediction, the results showed that an indecisive leader indeed undermines the innovation of those employees who embrace—rather than resist—changes. Critically, however, our findings also illustrated that when being supervised by a decisive leader, these particular employees are actually most likely to bring forward the process of innovation. Theoretical and practical implications of our results are discussed.