Work passion, work–family conflict, and counterproductive work behaviors

We examined whether obsessive passion and harmonious passion interacted in the prediction of work–family conflict, and the indirect effects of obsessive passion on counterproductive work behaviors as mediated by work–family conflict. We collected data from two samples of employees with jobs in engineering (Sample 1) and administration (Sample 2). Obsessive passion was associated with higher levels of work–family conflict, whereas harmonious passion was negatively related to work–family conflict. Furthermore, the positive effects of obsessive passion on work–family conflict were lower at high levels of harmonious passion. Work–family conflict was also positively related to counterproductive work behaviors (Sample 2). Finally, the indirect effects of obsessive passion on counterproductive work behaviors (Sample 2) were lower at high levels of harmonious passion.