The crossover of work engagement between working couples A closer look at the role of empathy Arnold B. Bakker Department of Work and Organizational Psychology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and Evangelia Demerouti Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of empathy (empathic concern and perspective taking) in the crossover process. Specifically, it aims to test whether empathy moderates the crossover effect of women’s work engagement to their men’s work engagement. Additionally, it seeks to investigate the relationship between men’s engagement and colleague ratings of job performance. Design/methodology/approach – Hypotheses were tested using a cross-sectional design with three sources of information: 175 Dutch women and their partners working in different occupational sectors, as well as 175 colleagues of the male participants. Findings – Results of moderated structural equation modeling analyses showed that the crossover of work engagement from women to men was strongest when men were high (vs low) in perspective taking (the spontaneous tendency of a person to adopt the psychological perspective of other people). Empathic concern did not moderate the crossover effect. In addition, men’s work engagement was positively related to in-role and extra-role performance. Practical implications – Results suggest that work engagement is not only important for one’s own, but also for one’s partner’s performance. This implies that companies should try to facilitate engagement. Originality/value – The findings shed light on the crossover process, and indicate under which conditions employees are influenced by their partners and consequently change their work behavior. Keywords Family life, Employee behaviour, Job satisfaction, The Netherlands Paper type Research paper The process that occurs when the psychological well-being experienced by one person affects the level of well-being of another person is referred to as crossover (Westman, 2001) or transmission (Jones and Fletcher, 1993; Rook et al., 1991). Crossover is a dyadic, inter-individual transmission of well-being between closely related individuals that occurs within a particular domain such as the workplace or the family. Most studies conducted during the past decade have focused on unwell-being, and these studies have shown that several types of strain may crossover from one person to another (intimate partners, or colleagues), including anxiety (Westman et al., 2004), depression (Katz et al., 1999; Vinokur et al., 1996; Westman and Vinokur, 1998), and job The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0268-3946.htm JMP 24,3 220 Received April 2007 Revised December 2007 Accepted December 2007 Journal of Managerial Psychology Vol. 24 No. 3, 2009 pp. 220-236 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0268-3946 DOI 10.1108/02683940910939313