Understanding Employee Motivation for Work-to-Nonwork Integration Behavior: a Reasoned Action Approach

Abstract

This study investigates individual and organizational factors that motivate employees to enact the work role in the nonwork domain (work-to-nonwork integration behavior). We argue that implications of work-to-nonwork integration may be better understood by learning more about the reasons why employees perform integration behavior. Based on the reasoned action approach (RAA), we examined four antecedents of employee integration behavior: individuals’ attitudes toward integration (integration preference), perceived employer expectations (injunctive norms), perceived integration behavior of coworkers (descriptive norms), and perceived control to manage the work–nonwork interface (behavioral control). The results of structural equation modeling with a heterogeneous sample of 748 employees indicated the relevance of all four RAA factors in explaining integration behavior 1 month later. Specifically, the individual preference to integrate evolved as the strongest motivational aspect, followed by injunctive norms. Additionally, our results suggest that injunctive and descriptive norms each explained unique variance in integration behavior. Organizational interventions may aim at shaping both norms and behavioral control to improve employees’ work–nonwork boundary management. Furthermore, making employees aware of the importance of their integration preferences is a critical factor for actively managing the work–nonwork interface.