Family serves as a crucial source of motivation in the workplace that fosters the improvement of job performance. Recent research calls for explorations on the adverse impacts of family motivation. In response, this study investigates how and when family motivation may drive employees to pursue performance goal attainment in a self-interested way. Drawing on resource allocation theory, we propose that family-motivated employees tend to allocate more resources to the work domain, which shapes their experiences in both work (experienced job responsibility) and family (work-to-family conflict) domains, especially under the circumstance of high performance pressure. We further propose that experienced job responsibility and work-to-family conflict influences individuals’ engagement in self-interested performance. Our theory suggests a paradox effect of family motivation on self-interested performance: under high performance pressure, while family motivation can foster experienced job responsibility, thereby reducing self-interested performance, it can simultaneously heighten work-to-family conflict, prompting performance behaviors that prioritize self-interest. Using a time-lagged sample, we find general support for our hypotheses. We discuss the implications of the findings for theory, practices, and future research regarding family motivation and performance behavior.
