Work–family conflict to unsafe pre‐work commuting: A road through sleep and affect

Abstract The potential for connections between work and commuting experiences (i.e. commuting spillover) is the subject of increasing attention in research and practice. Most commuting spillover work has focused on same‐day associations, with little attention to the potential for work‐related experiences at home to yield across‐day spillover that impairs next‐morning commuting safety. We map the process through which work–family conflict at home influences next‐morning pre‐work commute hard braking, emphasising the interceding roles of sleep and affect in across‐day commuting spillover associations. In a 2‐week daily survey study incorporating objective measures of unsafe commuting ( N  = 50), we observed nightly work–family conflict to influence next‐morning pre‐work commute hard braking through next‐morning positive affect extending from nightly sleep quality. We discuss theoretical implications of our findings for the commuting spillover literature and provide practical recommendations surrounding the implications of our findings for worker safety while commuting.