Pushing yourself to the edge: The relationship of worker self-sacrifice behaviour with perceived role performance, emotional exhaustion, and partner self-sacrifice

TY - JOUR

T1 - Pushing yourself to the edge: The relationship of worker self-sacrifice behaviour with perceived role performance, emotional exhaustion, and partner self-sacrifice

AU - Clinton, Michael E.

N1 - Funding Information: The author thanks Dr Tim Ling for all of his support during the collection of the data for this project. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Author. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The British Psychological Society.

PY - 2023/12

Y1 - 2023/12

N2 - Self-sacrifice behaviour features in a number of well-known management concepts such as organizational commitment, pro-social motivation, and organizational citizenship behaviour, but is rarely acknowledged as a salient factor or examined directly. Drawing on theories of goal systems and personal resource allocation, and dyad data collected from 122 church ministers twice over 2 years and their partners, this study examines the extent to which worker self-sacrifice behaviour is simultaneously an enabler of high work effectiveness and a cost for personal wellbeing. Findings support the ‘doubled-edged’ nature of self-sacrifice, showing that while worker reports of self-sacrifice behaviour are positively related to increases in perceived role performance, they are also linked to partner ratings of worker emotional exhaustion and partner self-sacrifice behaviour 2 years later. This study therefore validates the importance of self-sacrifice behaviour in accounting for divergent work outcomes and its potential to spillover into the nonwork domain. The study further finds psychological detachment to partially moderate the relationship between worker self-sacrifice and the two problematic outcomes. Therefore, psychological detachment offers a potential means of sustaining high self-sacrifice behaviour over time and could play an effective role in related interventions.

AB - Self-sacrifice behaviour features in a number of well-known management concepts such as organizational commitment, pro-social motivation, and organizational citizenship behaviour, but is rarely acknowledged as a salient factor or examined directly. Drawing on theories of goal systems and personal resource allocation, and dyad data collected from 122 church ministers twice over 2 years and their partners, this study examines the extent to which worker self-sacrifice behaviour is simultaneously an enabler of high work effectiveness and a cost for personal wellbeing. Findings support the ‘doubled-edged’ nature of self-sacrifice, showing that while worker reports of self-sacrifice behaviour are positively related to increases in perceived role performance, they are also linked to partner ratings of worker emotional exhaustion and partner self-sacrifice behaviour 2 years later. This study therefore validates the importance of self-sacrifice behaviour in accounting for divergent work outcomes and its potential to spillover into the nonwork domain. The study further finds psychological detachment to partially moderate the relationship between worker self-sacrifice and the two problematic outcomes. Therefore, psychological detachment offers a potential means of sustaining high self-sacrifice behaviour over time and could play an effective role in related interventions.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85163002072&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/joop.12453

DO - 10.1111/joop.12453

M3 - Article

SN - 0963-1798

VL - 96

SP - 947

EP - 969

JO - JOURNAL OF OCCUPATIONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

JF - JOURNAL OF OCCUPATIONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

IS - 4

ER -