Spillover of authenticity from work to home: The mediating role of affect

Abstract A growing area of research is beginning to examine the state‐like nature of authenticity. The current study builds on this research by examining the (dis)continuity in state authenticity across two different social contexts: work and home. We surveyed 154 full‐time employees twice a day for five consecutive workdays. Results showed that state authenticity at work and at home shared a relatively strong positive relationship that appeared to be mediated by the spillover of affect from one context to the next. This is consistent with prior work showing that affect tends to “spillover” from one context to the next and work that suggests a causal impact of affect on authenticity judgments. Implications for the study of state authenticity as well as work–home interaction are discussed.