How motherhood boosts work effort and initiatives

Having kids can deepen the meaning of work and ignite a drive to show the best for the family, especially for women

Featured faculty: Liao Huiyao
Written by Sally Ho

For decades, a common preconception about working mothers has been that having children may reduce women’s commitment to work. This perception has led to a phenomenon dubbed the “motherhood penalty,” which refers to the documented disadvantages women face after becoming mothers and discrimination in hiring because of their childbearing responsibilities.

Parenthood affects both mother and father. However, broader economic research has shown that child rearing has significantly contributed to the gender wage gap, with women experiencing a larger disadvantage.

“Managers often perceive women as having more work-life conflict, and thus, less committed to work when becoming mothers, even when data suggests otherwise, leading to less inclination to reward them with promotions and salary increases,” says Liao Huiyao, Assistant Professor in the Department of Management at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Business School.

However, Professor Liao and his co-authors challenged this assumption, observing that working parents, especially mothers, sometimes show greater work commitment. They suggest this stems from a sense of obligation to perform at their best, using their professional dedication as a positive symbolic influence on their families.

“Confucian philosophy places a strong emphasis on parental responsibility for a child’s character development and education, beyond just providing for material needs,” he adds. “This profound sense of parental obligation naturally extends into the workplace, shaping how working parents interpret the very meaning of their work.”

Professor Liao calls this concept “family-centred symbolic meaning of work,” in which employees view their jobs as a means to set a positive example for their children. His study, Uncovering a motherhood advantage: How parenthood impacts perceptions of the meaning of work and work outcomes, challenges prevalent stereotypes about working parents.

The interesting part is that mothers are more likely to view their work as a means to instil moral values in their kids, which, in turn, motivates them to go the extra mile at work. This finding breaks the stigma associated with working mothers that perpetuates the motherhood penalty.

Mothers view work beyond salary

To illustrate a working mother who embodies a family-centred symbolic meaning of work, Professor Liao points to former US First Lady Michelle Obama. She was a lawyer at a top-tier law firm, where she met and mentored the future US president, and then held senior leadership roles at the University of Chicago before moving to the White House.

“Michelle Obama sees her career as a way to teach her daughters about responsibility,” he says. “This view is a common, yet under-researched motivation.”

Along with Tammy Allen at the University of South Florida, Liu Zhaopeng Liu at Shandong University, Thomas Ptashnik at Providence College, and Wu I-Heng at the University of South Alabama, Professor Liao gathered responses from 867 Chinese and US employees and their supervisors through a series of studies on how employees view their work in relation to their families.

“It is precisely because of their commitment to shaping their children’s character that working parents, especially mothers, are motivated to work harder and engage in more ethical and organisational citizenship behaviours.”

Professor Liao Huiyao

The analyses find that having children reshapes parents’ identity and priorities. Work no longer feels like merely an individual pursuit but part of how someone cares for and nurtures their family through acting as a role model. Becoming a parent is linked to a stronger moral commitment to family.

These positive effects are particularly pronounced among mothers. Researchers call this a “motherhood advantage,” in which a heightened sense of symbolic meaning drives increased work effort and organisational citizenship behaviours.

“Work effort has long been considered a cornerstone of a strong work ethic, while organisational citizenship behaviours, such as being helpful, loyal, and going above and beyond, are seen as pro-social actions,” says Professor Liao. “Individuals with high family-centred symbolic meaning of work are more likely to engage in both to demonstrate the character they wish to instil in their children.”

Parenthood reshapes work purpose

While the study does not find that parenthood automatically improves job performance, it names psychological mechanisms that can explain how parenthood affects the family-centred symbolic meaning of work.

Professor Liao highlights that while parenthood reshapes work purposes for both genders, the effect is particularly pronounced for women for two reasons. First, the physical experience of pregnancy is a transformative life stage that often fosters a more interdependent self-concept in women, making them more likely to integrate their family extensively into their sense of identity, including their work identity.

Additionally, despite evolving social norms, women are still associated with caregiving responsibilities in many societies, reshaping their identity more profoundly. As a result, mothers may imbue their work with deeper personal significance to fulfil their maternal responsibilities.

“For fathers, it remains more socially acceptable to compartmentalise work and family, and view careers as personal pursuits rather than as a medium for teaching moral values for their children,” he says.

However, the key is not simply having children, but how parenthood reinterprets professionalism. This psychological process is not confined to a single society but reflects a broader pattern across cultures.

Moving beyond the motherhood penalty

The motherhood advantage does not deny the existence of structural barriers that women face in the workplace, but rather highlights a personal motivation that emerges with parenthood. Far from diminishing professional drive, motherhood may intensify the sense that work matters more than just for money.

“It is precisely because of their commitment to shaping their children’s character that working parents, especially mothers, are motivated to work harder and engage in more ethical and organisational citizenship behaviours,” says Professor Liao.

Supporting parents rather than sidelining them may therefore allow organisations to reap from stronger sense of purpose. “These insights hopefully lead managers to re-evaluate their assumptions during hiring and promotion decisions, and to stop penalising working mothers based on unfounded biases,” he adds.

“Companies should move away from the outdated idea that the best employees are those who work long hours without family responsibilities. Instead, they should recognise and value that working parents, particularly mothers, can be highly committed and productive because their family inspires them to be role models.”