Supporting one's family is a major reason why many people work, yet surprisingly little research has examined the implications of family motivation. Drawing on theories of prosocial motivation and action identification, we propose that family motivation increases job performance by enhancing energy and reducing stress, and it is especially important when intrinsic motivation is lacking. Survey and diary data collected across multiple time points in a Mexican maquiladora generally support our model. Specifically, we find that family motivation enhances job performance when intrinsic motivation is low-in part by providing energy, but not by reducing stress. We conclude that supporting a family provides a powerful source of motivation that can boost performance in the workplace, offering meaningful implications for research on motivation and the dynamics of work and family engagement.

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Summary Research on envy is dominated by a focus on approach‐oriented behaviors—when envious employees take action to reduce the gap between the self and envied targets. Surprisingly, little research has examined the relationship between envy and avoidance‐oriented behaviors, even though emotion regulation research suggests that avoidance is a common reaction to unpleasant, painful emotions such as envy. We seek to understand envy's consequences for workplace avoidance—namely, absenteeism and turnover. Drawing on theories about how people interpret and regulate emotions according to their goals, we suggest that employees' individual differences in motivational strivings shape the relationship between envy and avoidance behaviors. We propose that for employees high in communion or status striving, envy is associated with more absences and thereby increased turnover; for employees high in achievement striving, envy is associated with fewer absences and ultimately reduced turnover. A field study of supermarket employees shows general support for our conceptual model regarding communion and achievement strivings but a null effect for status striving. Our research expands the nomological network of envy by examining its impact on workplace avoidance, helps to shed light on contradictory findings in envy research, and offers implications for theories on work motivation, emotions, and avoidance behaviors.

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