Self-Undermining, Work-Family Conflict and Fatigue: Family Health Climate Towards Physical Activity as Key to...

Research about factors affecting workers' physical and mental fatigue has mainly focused on job characteristics. However, as the extended demands-resources model acknowledges, the family, work, and organizational domains are interconnected. In this study, we analyze whether self-undermining behaviors can induce work-family conflict, leading to fatigue. Moreover, we examine the moderating role of a physically active, healthy climate within the family on the above relationships. Two hundred sixteen workers from different industry sectors completed self-reported measures at two-time points. At Time 1 (T1), self-undermining and family health climate regarding physical activity; and at Time 2 (T2), work-family conflict and fatigue were measured. SPSS's PROCESS macro was used to conduct moderated mediation analyses. Albeit self-undermining (T1) did not have a direct effect on fatigue (T2), it had an indirect effect through work-family conflict (T2), moderated by the family climate (T1). Specifically, an increase on physical activity behaviors at the family level buffered the effect of self-undermining on work-family conflict. This study highlights the interconnection between work and family, discovering strategies at the family level to buffer the impact of self-undermining behaviors on work-family conflict, thereby reducing fatigue. As stressors on one domain can hurt another, positive effects may also influence each other.