Sharing and caring: A research programme on love and the work-family interface

Management scholars increasingly realize that what happens at home exerts substantial influence on the quality and quantity of employees’ work. In this talk, I will present the findings of two projects examining how work can influence interactions among members of dual-earner couples at home and how this, in turn, spills back over to impact work outcomes. In the first project “Sharing is Caring” (Stollberger et al., 2021) my colleagues and I explored how and when work-family support at work (e.g., from coworkers) and at home (from one’s spouse) can facilitate partner’s creativity at work. Results show that that compassionate love from one’s spouse at home strengthens the positive work-home dynamics that follow from coworker work-family support and promote partner’s work-related creativity. The second project “From Care to Unfair” (Stollberger et al., in preparation) explores the consequences of sharing positive work events with one’s spouse at home (i.e., work-family capitalization). Results show that although work-family capitalization facilitates both home and work engagement and subsequent proactivity at home and at work, having a partner with high compassionate love leads to a shift in engagement and proactivity away from home and toward work. Our work highlights the role of love in relationships as both a source of support and an opportunity for exploitation. Practically, our research provides insights for interventions, which may encourage work-family support provision at work and at home.

Dr Jakob Stollberger is an Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at the department of Management and Organisation of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and an International Research Affiliate at the National University of Singapore. Jakob’s research explores various ways how behavioral insights can support organizations in their day-to-day work. His research agenda focuses on themes that lie at the intersection between organizations and society, such as issues around how leaders can promote or derail organizational innovation efforts, how work influences family dynamics, as well as how humans can best work together with artificial intelligence (AI) in the not-too-distant future of work. Jakob’s work has been published in outlets such as Journal of Applied Psychology, Human Relations, Journal of Organizational Behavior, or Harvard Business Review. He is a member of the Editorial Board of Human Relations and for his service received the Human Relations Reviewer of the Year 2022 Award.