Abstract
Research has suggested that sacrifices are made to manage the work-home interface. They have been however, related to various deleterious effects. Drawing from self-determination theory, we argue that the sacrifice of psychological needs is worse than the sacrifice of activities such as maintenance and leisure in terms of personal functioning. The present two studies investigate whether sacrifices made in one life sphere to attend matters in another are negatively related to well-being and satisfaction, through enhanced work-family conflict, and whether all sacrifices are created equal. One transversal (n = 141) and one three-wave prospective (n = 78) study were conducted among convenience samples of workers who answered online surveys. Results revealed that personal psychological need sacrifices were negatively related to well-being via family to work conflict (FWC) and work to family conflict (WFC), over and beyond other types of sacrifice. In addition, personal psychological need sacrifices led to decreased life and professional satisfaction over 3 months, via FWC and WFC. Hence, need sacrifices, especially those made in the personal sphere, come at a cost and may not be the best long-term strategy to manage one’s work-home interface.
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This research was supported in part by grants from the FRQSC and SSHRC. Authors would like to thank Maud Billet, Lili Cloutier, Évelyne Croteau, Emeline Houssin, Gabriel Lemay-Lapointe, Frédérique Maire, Marie-Ève Migneault, and Jean-Luc Razanakarivelo for their help in collecting the data.
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Houlfort, N., Cécire, P., Koestner, R. et al. Managing the work-home interface by making sacrifices: Costs of sacrificing psychological needs. Motiv Emot 46, 658–671 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-022-09971-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-022-09971-0