Work engagement and work-family facilitation: Making homes happier through positive affective spillover

Although work engagement has been shown to be associated with positive job attitudes and behaviors, no research has investigated its relationship with work-family issues. To address this, the current longitudinal, experience-sampling study aimed to determine the relationship between daily work engagement and work-to-family facilitation. A total of 52 extension agents responded to two daily surveys for two weeks. Results indicate that both work engagement and work-to-family facilitation vary considerably from day to day. Daily work engagement had a positive effect on family life. The effect of daily engagement in facilitating work-family relations was partially mediated by positive mood, and the relationship between work engagement and facilitation of work-family relations was moderated by work-family capitalization, or the sharing of positive work experiences at home. Implications and future research directions are discussed.