A study from Guangzhou University in China examined how skilled workers fare when family motivation is strong and stress resistance is high. The findings indicate these employees push themselves harder and stay productive longer, a conclusion reported in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.
The research rests on the conservation of resources theory. It explains that people draw on various resources such as time, mental focus, and physical energy to complete tasks. To prevent burnout, they must replenish these resources during breaks and rest periods, especially when workload demands are high.
Almost 1,300 Chinese employees took part in the study. Participants completed surveys to provide demographic details and to measure personal resilience, the level of job overqualification, and the strength of family motivation. The data offered a broad view of how these factors interact in real work settings.
The researchers explored how individual resilience relates to work effort and how this relationship is influenced by extreme skill requirements and family motivation. Across two waves of data collection, resilience consistently correlated with higher work effort, and this effect was amplified when extreme skill demands or family motivation were present. The result suggests that employees can exhibit greater diligence at work while also maintaining high efficiency over extended periods.