Does work passion influence prosocial behaviors at work and home? Examining the underlying work–family mechanisms

Abstract

SummaryIntegrating job demands‐resources theory (Bakker & Demerouti, 2014, 2017) and crossover theory (Westman, 2001), this study examines the differential effects of two types of work passion, harmonious and obsessive, on both employees' and spouses' prosocial behavior: organizational citizenship and family citizenship behavior. We propose that these relationships are mediated by two contrasting paths through employees' work–family enrichment and conflict, as well as their own and their spouses' work–family balance. By sampling 400 pairs of dual‐earner couples in the United States at two time points, we tested the model using structural equation modeling. Our findings supported that harmonious work passion, working through job demands‐resources theory's motivational path, increased employees' organizational and family citizenship behavior via work–family enrichment and work–family balance; obsessive work passion, working through job demands‐resources theory's impairment path, decreased employees' organizational and family citizenship behavior through work–family conflict and work–family balance. Moreover, the results supported crossover effects such that employees' harmonious and obsessive work passion had similar effects on spouses' organizational and family citizenship behaviors through employees' work–family interface as well as crossover effects of work–family balance between employees and spouses.