How Social Stressors at Work Influence Marital Behaviors at Home: An Interpersonal Model of Work-Family Spillover

Drawing on conservation of resources and related theories, this study develops and tests an interpersonal model of work-family spillover. Our model specifies how social stressors at work (i.e., workplace incivility, abusive supervision, interpersonal conflict) result in the experience of a social-based form of work-family conflict, ultimately influencing marital behaviors at home, on a daily basis. The mediating role of burnout and the moderating role of trust were also examined. A 2-week experience-sampling study with daily employee surveys at work and at home and with spousal ratings for employees' marital behaviors in the evening provided general support for the proposed relationships. Within individuals, social stressors at work were associated with burnout symptoms, which mediated the effect of workplace social stressors on social-based work-family conflict. In line with congruence response models, we found that those who are more trusting were more negatively affected by social stressors at work. Finally, on evenings when employees experienced social-based work-family conflict, their spouses reported more withdrawn and angry behaviors and less supportive behaviors shown toward them. Overall, the present research explicates a specific form of work-family conflict, one in which social stressors in one domain result in negative behaviors in the other domain via burnout experiences.