Seibel, SebastianSebastianSeibel0000-0002-4380-8611Volmer, JudithJudithVolmer0000-0003-4476-65372025-07-312025-07-312025https://fis.uni-bamberg.de/handle/uniba/109253Recovery during yesterday’s leisure time is benefcial for morning recovery, and morning recovery fosters employees’ work engagement, a positive, motivational state associated with job performance. We extended existing research by assuming that both, morning recovery (considered a resource) and anticipated leisure time (considered an anticipated resource gain), relate to work engagement. Anticipated leisure time comprises two constructs: general anticipation of leisure time, which refers to employees’ cognitive evaluation of their entire upcoming leisure time, and pleasant anticipation of a planned leisure activity, which describes a positive affective reaction because of one specifc, upcoming leisure activity. We suggested that employees with high pleasant anticipation generate more thoughts of a planned leisure activity (ToPLA), which may distract them from their work, reducing their work engagement. A diary study over fve days showed that morning recovery and general anticipation of leisure time were positively related to work engagement. Furthermore, employees with higher pleasant anticipation of a planned leisure activity reported more ToPLA. In contrast to our expectations, neither pleasant anticipation nor ToPLA was related to work engagement. In sum, this study introduced anticipated leisure time as a novel antecedent of work engagement and demonstrated that anticipated resource gains are important for high work engagement.engmorning recoveryleisure timepleasant anticipationwork engagementthoughts of a planned leisure activitydiary study150articleurn:nbn:de:bvb:473-irb-109253x