When email use gets out of control: Understanding the relationship between personality and email overload and their impact on burnout and work engagement

• Email overload is significantly correlated with some Big Five traits and CSE.
• CSE predict email overload beyond Big Five traits and email-related predictors.
• The importance of including personality traits to explain email overload is shown.
• Email overload and CSE are important predictors of burnout/work engagement.
• Email overload showed incremental validity in predicting burnout/work engagement.

Research on email overload has mainly focused on email-related predictors and on linking it to stress and productivity. However, only few studies have considered personality traits to explain email overload and no studies to date have examined burnout and work engagement as potential consequences. Hence, this study was conducted (N = 201) to test to which extent Core Self-Evaluations, the Big Five traits and ambition predict email overload beyond email-related predictors. Moreover, the relationship between email overload and burnout/work engagement was examined. Results show that Core Self-Evaluations predict email overload beyond other personality traits and email-related measures. Second, high feelings of email overload and low Core Self-Evaluations are suggested to contribute to higher levels of burnout and low work engagement, beyond other personality traits and control variables. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. This study demonstrated the importance of personality, in particular of Core Self-Evaluations, to explain email overload. Moreover, it strongly indicates that email overload is not only related to productivity but also to burnout and work engagement.