Not All Overtime Is Equal: Differential Effects of Overtime Motivations on Employees’ Sustainable Consumption Behavior

Employees increasingly experience blurred boundaries between work and private life, yet little is known about how workplace experiences influence consumer behavior beyond the workplace. Drawing on conservation of resources theory and ego depletion theory, and adopting the research perspective from the field of work–life spillover, this study employs survey data from 1030 Chinese employees to investigate the relationships among diverse overtime motives, perceived control, and sustainable consumption behavior, as well as the differences in these relationships within family and organizational contexts. The findings reveal that proactive overtime motivations (development-driven, subsistence-driven, and belonging-driven) are positively associated with green purchasing behavior, whereas reactive overtime motivations (escape-type, peer pressure, and mandatory) are negatively associated with reduced consumption behavior. Further analyses show that perceived control partially explains the positive relationship between proactive overtime motivations and green purchasing behavior, but does not mediate the associations between reactive overtime motivations and reduced consumption behavior. In addition, family emotional support strengthens compensatory consumption tendencies among employees experiencing involuntary overtime, whereas organizational green climate can strengthen the positive association between belonging-driven overtime motivation and green purchasing behavior. This study extends consumer behavior research by identifying overtime motivation as an important work-related correlate of sustainable consumption. The findings offer practical implications for managing overtime and fostering organizational green climates that support sustainable consumer behavior.