The Chaos at Home, the Meaningless at Work: The Impact of Family Incivility on Job Meaningfulness

Bai Qiyu; Jia Huiyuan; Li Yi; Wang Enzhe

doi:10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20250516

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Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2025, Vol. 48 ›› Issue (5) : 1210-1220. DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20250516

Social, Personality & Organizational Psychology

The Chaos at Home, the Meaningless at Work: The Impact of Family Incivility on Job Meaningfulness

Bai Qiyu¹, Jia Huiyuan², Li Yi², Wang Enzhe³

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Abstract

In traditional Chinese culture, the saying that a harmonious family leads to success in everything reflects a deeply rooted value. Research has found that family life plays a double-edged role in people’s lives. On one hand, supportive family relationships offer emotional comfort and psychological backing. On the other hand, tensions at home can spill over into the workplace and affect one’ s performance. These effects aren’t just triggered by major conflicts; everyday family friction can also cause harm.
One such form of friction is family incivility, which involves subtle yet persistent negative behaviors such as sarcasm, indifference, and exclusion. Though low in intensity, these patterns can gradually wear down a person’s mental state and behavior. What’s more, the fallout from family incivility doesn’t stay at home. It often follows people to work. However, most current studies have focused on the surface-level impact it has on job behavior, while the deeper psychological processes remain largely overlooked.
Drawing on the self-determination theory and dual role theory, this study puts forward a framework for exploring how family incivility chips away at people’s intrinsic motivation and sense of work meaningfulness. According to Dual Role Theory, people juggle roles in both family and work, and stress in one area can spill over into the other. In this case, family incivility brings stress that colors people’s emotions and thoughts, which can then show up in how they approach work. That stress can sneak into the workplace through emotional and cognitive spillover, undermining motivation and distorting one’s sense of purpose in job.
The self-determination theory suggests that intrinsic motivation rests on three basic needs—autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Family incivility can make it harder to meet these needs. When those needs are not met, people tend to lose the internal drive that helps them stay engaged at work. So, this kind of home-based stress doesn’t just stay at home; it quietly eats away at what motivates people at work.
More than just a driver for productivity, intrinsic motivation shapes how people find meaning in their jobs. When emotional or cognitive stress from family life bleeds into work, it can muddy their sense of purpose. Intrinsic motivation acts as a bridge here—it connects the dots between unmet psychological needs and the fading sense of meaning in one’s work.
That said, the impact of family incivility isn’t set in stone. Charismatic leadership, a form of workplace support, can help soften the blow. Leaders with vision and emotional appeal can offer employees the reassurance they need, helping them regain a sense of control, capability, and belonging. By offering encouragement and purpose, these leaders can reignite employees’ belief in their work and its purpose.
This research used a three-wave survey design, spaced four weeks apart, to collect data from 297 employees in a state-owned company. Results show that family incivility tends to wear down employees’ intrinsic motivation, and that drop in motivation partly explains why they may feel their work has lost meaning. Furthermore, charismatic leadership acts as a buffer. When this type of leadership is weak, the hit to intrinsic motivation is stronger; but when such leadership is strong, the link between family incivility and low motivation largely disappears. In fact, the indirect impact of family incivility on work meaningfulness only shows up when charismatic leadership is lacking.
This study contributes to the literature by demonstrating how family incivility affects employee motivation, offering a fuller picture of what shapes people’s experience of meaning at work. It stresses the role of the family environment in shaping work attitudes and shows how strong, inspirational leadership can keep employees grounded, even when home life is tough. By helping employees meet their basic psychological needs, charismatic leaders can support well-being and motivation at work. The takeaway for organizations is clear: pay attention to the pressures employees carry from home, and invest in leaders who can lead with both heart and purpose.

Key words

family incivility / intrinsic motivation / job meaningfulness / perceived charismatic leadership / self-determination theory

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Bai Qiyu, Jia Huiyuan, Li Yi, Wang Enzhe. The Chaos at Home, the Meaningless at Work: The Impact of Family Incivility on Job Meaningfulness[J]. Journal of Psychological Science. 2025, 48(5): 1210-1220 https://doi.org/10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20250516

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