Work intrusions, defined as unexpected encounters by others that disrupt recipients’ concentration and work flow, are ubiquitous in organizations. Although extensive research has explored their impacts on various work outcomes, it remains unclear how an employee who has been intruded upon will respond interpersonally to the intruding coworker. Drawing upon self-regulation theory, we theorize and test a within-person level model that links coworker intrusions to interpersonal behaviors through emotional and cognitive pathways. We also posit that this within-person process is moderated by perceived team goal interdependence at the between-person level. Results from a 2-week experience sampling study with 230 participants largely supported our hypotheses. Intrusions by a particular coworker were found to simultaneously trigger the recipient’s frustration and a sense of closeness with the intruder, leading to interaction avoidance and helping behavior towards the intruder, respectively. For employees who perceived their teams as highly goal interdependent, the indirect effect of intrusions on helping via closeness was less pronounced. Our study deepens the understanding of the social dynamics of work intrusions and offers a more balanced view of this phenomenon.
