You are a helpful co-worker, but do you support your spouse? A resource-based work-family model of helping and support provision

Katrina Jia Lin, Remus Ilies, Helen Pluut and Su-Ying Pan

Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 2017, vol. 138, issue C, 45-58

Abstract: Drawing from the literature on behavioral spillover effects, the work-home resources model and research on helping at work, we investigate how help provision at work spills over to influence the provision of spousal support at home by examining a resource generation mechanism and a resource depletion mechanism. Across two experience-sampling studies, we collected data from employees and their spouses multiple times per day in different domains for ten workdays. Results from our two-study examination supported both the resource generation mechanism and the resource depletion mechanism. On days when employees helped colleagues more, they reported higher positive affect, which led to higher support provision to their spouses; meanwhile, higher levels of helping translated in less time for the family, which led to lower support provided to spouses. In Study 2, we tested and found that prosocial motivation enhanced the resource-generating effect of help provision. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Keywords: Behavioral spillover; Helping at work; Spousal support provision; Work-home resources model; Resource generation; Resource depletion; Prosocial motivation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jobhdp:v:138:y:2017:i:c:p:45-58

DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2016.12.004

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