Does homesickness undermine the potential of job resources? A perspective from the work–home resources model

Rapid economic development in recent decades has resulted in a considerable increase in the number of people working far away from their home locations. Homesickness is a common reaction to the separation from home. Our research uses the work–home resources model to explain how the experience of hom...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of organizational behavior 2018-01, Vol.39 (1), p.96-112
Main Authors: Du, Danyang, Derks, Daantje, Bakker, Arnold B., Lu, Chang-qin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Economic development
Emotional instability
Homesickness
Job performance
Manufacturing
Migrant workers
Openness
Organizational behavior
Organizational change
Personal safety
RESEARCH ARTICLE
safety behavior
Safety behaviour
Task performance
work–home resources model
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Summary:Rapid economic development in recent decades has resulted in a considerable increase in the number of people working far away from their home locations. Homesickness is a common reaction to the separation from home. Our research uses the work–home resources model to explain how the experience of homesickness can undermine the positive effect of job resources on job performance (i.e., task performance and safety behavior). In addition, we hypothesize that emotional stability and openness are key resources that can buffer the negative interference of homesickness with the job resources–performance relationship. We conducted two studies to test our hypotheses. Study 1 was a two-wave longitudinal study using a migrant manufacturing worker sample. In this study, homesickness was measured at the between-person level, and performance was measured three months later. Study 2 was a daily diary study conducted in a military trainee sample. In this study, homesickness was measured at the within-person level to capture its fluctuations over 20 days, and daily job performance was assessed using supervisor ratings. Both studies showed evidence of the hypothesized moderating effect of homesickness and three-way interaction effects of job resources, homesickness, and key resources (i.e., emotional stability and openness) on task performance and safety behavior.
ISSN:0894-3796
1099-1379
DOI:10.1002/job.2212