Guilt-proneness: Prioritizing Multiple Foci of Commitment and Coping Strategies

Abstract

Many researchers have investigated and highlighted the characteristics of guilt-prone employees in terms of their responsibility and commitment toward their organization and its employees. Much research has also focused on how employees feel guilty when they neglect their personal commitments for the sake of their professional commitments. Although much is known about the dilemmas and dissonance faced by employees while striving to have work–life balance, one of the areas that is not much researched concerns exploring how guilt-prone employees, who generally experience excessive levels of guilt, manage their different commitments arising out of their professional and personal domains at the same time, both consisting of morally competing standards of behaviors. This research has been conducted to explore whether guilt-prone employees are inclined toward prioritizing any one domain of commitment over the other. It also explores guilt-prone employees’ coping strategies that they use to manage and reconcile conflicting behavioral standards. A total of 20 in-depth interviews were conducted in India to get insights into the same. It has been found that although guilt-prone employees do seem to have an inclination toward prioritizing their professional life, their priorities are situation-specific that support the individual’s views and notions of righteousness.