Putting role resources to work: The cross-domain thriving model

Abstract

Thriving at work - an employee's perception of vitality and learning while working- is linked to individual and organizational benefits. We merge thriving and work-family literatures to theorize about how thriving in work and nonwork roles creates and depletes resources across roles. We posit that both work-to-nonwork enrichment and conflict are mechanisms by which thriving at work simultaneously creates and depletes resources. When resource creation outpaces resource depletion, nonwork thriving occurs and when resource depletion exceeds resource creation, nonwork thriving is thwarted. In turn, nonwork thriving relates to greater nonwork-to-work enrichment and conflict, simultaneously creating and depleting resources at work, reinitiating the cycle. We present a theoretical framework, the Cross-Domain Thriving (CDT) model, considering individual differences and context, which posits how thriving creates and depletes resources both within and across work and nonwork domains.