The relationships between work-family life conflict, prosocial motivation, and emotional burnout: A mixed-methods study on public and private sector employees

This study aims to examine the relationships between work-family conflict, prosocial motivation, and emotional burnout using a mixed-methods design. Quantitative data were collected from a total of 600 employees in Türkiye between March and August 2025, 350 from the public sector and 250 from the private sector. Qualitative data were obtained through semi-structured interviews with 50 participants selected from the quantitative sample, 30 from the public sector and 20 from the private sector. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, reliability and validity analyses, Pearson correlation analysis, and regression analysis. Qualitative data were analyzed using descriptive and thematic analysis. Quantitative findings showed that work-family conflict had no statistically significant effect on prosocial motivation, but had a statistically significant positive effect on emotional burnout. The relationship between prosocial motivation and emotional burnout was weak and borderline statistically significant. Qualitative findings provided a contextual perspective on these statistical patterns. Participants identified time constraints, energy depletion, role conflict and stress, work-family conflict, and emotional exhaustion as significant experiences associated with these factors. Regarding prosocial motivation, participants highlighted conditional willingness to help, occupational boundaries, personal values, and the role of work-family balance. Overall, the findings suggest that work-family conflict is more explicitly associated with emotional exhaustion than prosocial motivation, and that individual and contextual factors can shape the prosocial responses of workers under conditions of work-family strain. The mixed-methods findings emphasize the importance of considering workers' resource conditions, occupational boundaries, and contextual experiences when examining the relationships between work-family conflict, prosocial motivation, and emotional exhaustion.