The impact of employees experiencing negative commuting events on effective work behavior

Whether negative commuting events influence employees’ effective work behavior across domains remains uncertain in existing literature. This study introduces the cross-domain identity theory and employs two empirical sampling methods to investigate: at the individual level, negative commuting events experienced by employees generate both the trapped-by-emotion effect, reducing employee identity and effective work behavior through self-depletion, and the compensation effect, enhancing employee identity and effective work behavior through compensation. When employees possess a high extraversion personality trait, at the individual level, negative commuting events enhance employee identity and promote effective work behavior. Conversely, when employees possess a low extraversion personality trait, at the individual level, negative commuting events diminish employee identity and reduce effective work behavior. This research deepens the understanding of how negative events experienced by employees affect effective work behavior, enriches the understanding of the role of extraversion personality traits in the workplace, and expands research on the antecedents of identity.