In this paper, we conceptualize progress reporting as a prevalent but understudied work characteristic, where employees are required to report their progress towards previously set work-related goals to their supervisors. Through four distinct samples, we identified four specific content areas of progress reporting and developed and validated a measure. Besides, we identified the progress reporting frequency (PRF) as a previously overlooked temporal work characteristic and examined the relationship between PRF and job performance. Drawing on transactional stress theory, we propose that PRF is appraised by employees as a challenge when their promotion focus is higher, which leads to enhanced work engagement and subsequent task performance and creativity. However, it is appraised as a threat when employees’ prevention focus is higher, which leads to work procrastination and decreased task performance and creativity. Results from three-wave supervisor-employee dyadic survey study sampling a total of 314 employees provide consistent support for our theoretical reasoning and hypotheses. We discuss the theoretical contributions this paper makes to advance the job demand and work design literatures, as well as the practical implications of our findings for organizations and beyond.
