When Home Tensions Spill Over: How Hope Shields Employees from Family Incivility

What is it about?

This study investigates how negative family experiences affect employees’ positive contributions at work, focusing on the link between family incivility and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Family incivility—rude, dismissive, or disrespectful behavior among family members—can create emotional strain that carries into the workplace. The authors propose that such tension leads employees to feel emotionally overextended, reducing their ability and willingness to go beyond their formal job duties. Using three-wave data from employees and peers in Pakistani organizations, the study finds that emotional exhaustion mediates the link between family incivility and OCB. Uncivil treatment at home leads to emotional fatigue, reducing helpful and cooperative behavior at work. However, hope—reflected in waypower (finding paths to goals) and willpower (motivation to pursue them)—buffers this effect. Employees with stronger hope experience less exhaustion and maintain higher OCB despite family incivility. These results highlight that even in challenging family situations, personal strengths can help employees maintain their energy and engagement at work. By fostering hope and goal-directed thinking, organizations can help employees better manage the emotional impact of family stress. Supportive initiatives such as resilience training, mentoring, and well-being programs can strengthen employees’ capacity to cope with personal difficulties, thereby sustaining their voluntary and cooperative behaviors on the job.

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Photo by Alex Shute on Unsplash

Photo by Alex Shute on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This research deepens understanding of how family life influences workplace outcomes by revealing a specific psychological pathway from family incivility to diminished OCB. It identifies emotional exhaustion as the key mediating mechanism and highlights hope—through waypower and willpower—as a crucial buffer that protects employees from emotional depletion. By linking personal resources with cross-domain effects, the study contributes to both stress and motivation theories in organizational behavior. Conducted in Pakistan, this study also provides valuable insights into how family adversity affects workplace behavior in non-Western contexts. Its findings emphasize the need for organizations to recognize how family strain can undermine engagement and to cultivate environments that nurture employees’ psychological resources. Building hope and resilience not only helps individuals withstand strain but also fosters a more supportive and productive organizational culture.