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How Work-Family Research Can Finally Have an Impact in Organizations
Abstract
Although work-family research has mushroomed over the past several decades, an implementation gap persists in putting work-family research into practice. Because of this, work-family researchers have not made a significant impact in improving the lives of employees relative to the amount of research that has been conducted. The goal of this article is to clarify areas where implementation gaps between work-family research and practice are prevalent, discuss the importance of reducing these gaps, and make the case that both better and different research should be conducted. We recommend several alternative but complementary actions for the work-family researcher: (a) work with organizations to study their policy and practice implementation efforts, (b) focus on the impact of rapid technological advances that are blurring work-family boundaries, (c) conduct research to empower the individual to self-manage the work-family interface, and (d) engage in advocacy and collaborative policy research to change institutional contexts and break down silos. Increased partnerships between industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology practitioners and researchers from many industries and disciplines could break down silos that we see as limiting development of the field.
... It is assumed that supervisors play a pivotal role in shaping up an employee's perception about timely assistance provided by the employer along with the assurance to address and balance work-life needs. Kossek et al. (2011) and various other researchers like Eisenberger et al. (2002) have endorsed the viewpoint stated by Kossek et al. (2011). Hence, supervisor's supportive behaviors comprise an assortment of support methods stretching over a multitude of life management techniques (Hammer et al., 2009). ...
... It is assumed that supervisors play a pivotal role in shaping up an employee's perception about timely assistance provided by the employer along with the assurance to address and balance work-life needs. Kossek et al. (2011) and various other researchers like Eisenberger et al. (2002) have endorsed the viewpoint stated by Kossek et al. (2011). Hence, supervisor's supportive behaviors comprise an assortment of support methods stretching over a multitude of life management techniques (Hammer et al., 2009). ...
... Conversely, all these consequences can positively affect the organization as a whole such as through producing an engaged workforce. Kossek et al. (2011) labeled the concept of perception of supervisor work-life support as a general belief concerned with care shown by a supervisor for an employee's work-life wellbeing. ...
The research aims to estimate the impact of abusive supervision on psychological engagement and absorptive capacity under the mediating role of knowledge hiding. This study was cross-sectional and data were collected from employees of four different sectors through a questionnaire. The convenient sampling technique was used to collect data from 450 employees. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used as a data analysis technique because the two-stage SEM technique produces precise and accurate estimates while modeling the path analysis. The output of the measurement model assessment confirmed that all measurement scales were reliable. In addition to this, structural model assessment confirmed that abusive supervision did not significantly predict the absorptive capacity and psychological engagement, although knowledge hiding negatively predicted psychological engagement.
... Yet, parental leave policies are often underutilizedparticularly among fathersdue in large part to workers' fears that taking leave will lead them to be perceived as less committed workers (Haas and Hwang, 2019;Harrington et al., 2014;Society for Human Resource Management, 2017;Samtleben et al., 2019;Zagorsky, 2017). Thus, it is imperative to better understand the disconnect between parental leave policies and the culture surrounding these policies, and to identify the policy conditions under which commitment penalties can be minimized (Bornstein, 2013;Kossek et al., 2011;Thébaud and Halcomb, 2019). ...
... Most Americans want better parental leave policies, and wide-ranging evidence shows numerous benefits of parental leave for families, parents, children, companies, and the broader society (Kaufman 2020;Milkman and Appelbaum, 2013;Moss et al., 2019;Petts et al., 2020a,b;Petts and Knoester, 2020;Pew Research Center, 2017). Although states are increasingly adopting paid family leave policies, and high-profile media stories suggest that more companies are offering paid parental leave, there currently exists an implementation gap whereby parents desire to take paid parental leave but often feel unable to do so for fear of experiencing workplace penalties (Kossek et al., 2011;Samtleben et al., 2019;Williams, 2000). In this study, we use a survey experiment to test whether leave-taking leads to a commitment penalty, and to identify aspects of organizational paid parental leave policies and workplace culture that may improve perceptions of worker commitment and perhaps attenuate this penalty. ...
... This is vitally important for policymakers to be mindful of when designing and implementing parental leave policies. Largely unfavorable policies, and policies that are implemented within unfavorable work environments, will likely be underutilized (Kossek et al., 2011). By designing policies that encourage and enable more workers to take leave, the benefits of parental leave for families, companies, and society can be better realized. ...
Americans do not always fully utilize available parental leave policies due (in part) to fear of a commitment penalty – where taking leave (or taking longer periods of leave) lowers perceptions of job commitment. Using a survey experiment (N = 1713) to identify whether organizational leave policies affect perceived job commitment, we find that leave-taking (and taking longer periods of leave) is negatively associated with perceived commitment. However, perceived commitment is higher when workers take leave under more favorable policies, and the effect of favorable policies on perceived commitment is greater for fathers than mothers. Overall, these results can help organizations design parental leave policies that increase the likelihood that workers can take needed leave without damaging their careers.
... A number of changes have taken place in the past 50 years that have contributed to major changes in the work and home domain (Barnett, 2005;Kossek, Baltes, & Matthews, 2011). First, coinciding with economic globalization, the nature of the work has changed, particularly in emotionally and mentally demanding jobs (Guest, 2002). ...
... These all demand our time and can be sources of pressure (Guest, 2002;Singh & Kumar, 2011). Second, a growing number of women have joined the workforce (Fernández & Wong, 2014;Kossek, Baltes, & Matthews, 2011;Thijs, Te Grotenhuis, Scheepers, & Van Den Brink, 2019) which is also the case among GPs (Van Der Velden & Batenburg, 2017). In 2006, approximately one-third of GPs in the Netherlands were female compared to approximately 50% in 2016 (Van Der Velden & Batenburg, 2017). ...
... In 2006, approximately one-third of GPs in the Netherlands were female compared to approximately 50% in 2016 (Van Der Velden & Batenburg, 2017). Therefore, balancing work and home life has become an increasingly difficult and growing challenge (Kossek, Baltes, & Matthews, 2011;Mcnall, Nicklin, & Masuda, 2010;Michel, Kotrba, Mitchelson, Clark, & Baltes, 2011). When the work and home domain pressures are mutually incompatible, negative WHI occurs (Amstad, Meier, Fasel, Elfering, & Semmer, 2011;Bellavia & Frone, 2005). ...
Scholars often examine the effect of generic job demands and resources on burnout, yet to increase ecological validity, it is important to examine the effects of occupation-specific characteristics. An extended version of the job demands-resources model with work−home interference as a mediator is examined among a cross-sectional sample of 178 general practitioners (GPs). Interviews with GPs were used to develop questions on occupation-specific work characteristics. Hypotheses were tested in MEDIATE. Both generic and occupation-specific job demands positively affected emotional exhaustion, while only occupation-specific job demands affected depersonalization. Only strain-based work−family interference mediated the relationship between generic and occupation-specific job demands, emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. This study offers an important extension of the job demands-resources model by including occupation-specific job characteristics. This broader perspective can aid in more targeted job design to reduce burnout among GPs.
... The increasing trends of dual-earner couples, single-parent families, employed individuals with care-giving responsibilities and the substantial participation of women in work have received wide publicity during the past two decades (Aziz and Cunningham, 2008;Neal and Hammer, 2007;Sharabi, 2017). These changes have motivated organizations to introduce work-life programs to support employees' personal, professional and societal lives (Kossek et al., 2010(Kossek et al., , 2011. Work-life programs can be defined as "how the organization intends to Work-life programs and organizational outcome allow employees greater flexibility in their working patterns so that they can balance what they do at work with the responsibilities and interests they have outside work" (Armstrong, 2017, p. 86). ...
... They include practices such as flexible work, childcare facilities, adoption leave, parental leave, job sharing, part-time work, compressed week, flexible holidays and support groups for single employees and working parents. Despite this surge of attention, researchers observe that work-life programs are being marginalized in organizational systems, essentially creating a significant implementation gap of these programs in organizations (Kossek et al., 2010(Kossek et al., , 2011. Hence, this paper presents a systematic review of the literature on work-life programs and their impact on multiple organizational outcomes, potentially providing a foundation to better understand the business case. ...
... A test of the curvilinear work-life programsoutcomes relationship might help refine the impact and explain some of the inconsistent findings (Ali et al., 2011). Explanatory case studies of firms would facilitate building theories as well as examine the benefits and actual costs associated with various work-life programs (Kossek et al., 2011). ...
Purpose – Work-life programs research has been conducted at the individual and organizational levels, yet one important question remains unanswered: Do work-life programs improve organizational outcomes?
Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents a systematic literature review of the impact of work-life programs (bundles vs. separate programs) on outcomes at the organizational level. A systematic selection process was adopted, resulting in a final sample of 35 articles published in 26 peer-reviewed journals from 1990-2019.
Findings – The findings suggest that these programs can result in positive, negative, or no impact on organizational outcomes, depending on the study design, industry, organization size, and country/region.
Originality/value – This review draws on quantitative and qualitative empirical studies to summarize, explain, and refine the business case for work-life programs. The resulting framework provides directions for future research.
Keywords – Review, work-life programs, organizational outcomes, business case, context
Paper type – Literature review
... The women in the Dindoffer et al. (2011) study described the support from mentors as extremely critical in the way they made meaning of their experiences, which is similar to the way in which the participants in this study described the importance of having mother leaders above them to relate to their experiences during the pandemic and the challenges they had to navigate. Furthermore, an organization-level mitigation factor for work-family conflict is a family-supportive work environment (Kossek et al., 2011), and having a top leader who is a mother may influence the culture to be family-supportive. ...
... Knowing that work-family conflict is one of the greatest social indicators of mental health (Amstad et al., 2011;Allen, 2013), institutions need to create a culture that decreases work-family conflict and releases the gendered expectations through policy changes and practice changes. Having a family-supportive working environment reduces the overall work-family conflict, especially for women (Kossek et al., 2011). There seems to be a pipeline problem for women in higher education leadership (American Council of Education, 2017) as the number decreases each step of the proverbial ladder. ...
This qualitative interpretative phenomenological analysis explored the lived experience of mother executive administrators in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic. Utilizing the philosophical underpinnings of the Heideggerian (1962/1927) phenomenological approach, the following research question guided this study: What are the lived experiences of mother executive administrators in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic? Participants included nine self-identified mother executive administrators from one Midwest state at a variety of institution types and locations within the state. Data collection involved two focus groups and individual interviews with all nine participants. After data analysis, three recurrent themes emerged from the data: (1) Burnout and Exhaustion, (2) Never Enough: Responsibility Generated Feelings of Guilt, and (3) Receiving Support: Importance of Gender, Family Role, and Agency. The findings of this study exposed the neoliberal feminist and capitalistic ideological stronghold on the United States workforce and culture intensifying the already existing challenges of these mothers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
... Oleh sebab itu, muncullah suatu inisiatif untuk memberi bekal bagi karyawan, berupa pemberdayaan untuk bisa mengelola pekerjaan dan aspek kehidupan lain di luar pekerjaan. Melalui pemberdayaan yang disebut Empowerment Initiatives tersebut (Friedman dan Westring, 2015), diharapkan karyawan bisa membantu dirinya sendiri agar bisa mengatasi work-life conflict yang dialaminya (Kossek et al., 2011). ...
... Keberhasilan seseorang dalam mengintegrasikan pekerjaan dan aspek kehidupan lainnya bisa dipengaruhi oleh faktor kepribadian ataupun dari strategi yang digunakan oleh individu tersebut Faktor kepribadian tidak bisa dilatih, sedangkan strategi yang digunakan oleh seseorang dalam mengintegrasikan kehidupan dan aspek lain di luar pekerjaan dapat ditiru dan dilatih (Kossek et al., 2011). Karyawan juga bisa menerapkan strategi dan keterampilan sehingga bisa mengelola beragam perannya dalam kehidupan dengan lebih efektif (Friedman dan Westring, 2015). ...
Accountant profession, especially consultant, is known with inflexible and overloaded work stereotypes. Thus, accountants tend to experience difficulties in balancing time spent in aspects of work and others. Therefore, the concept of work life harmony is more in line with accountants, where everyone has their respective compositions for harmony. The company strives to facilitate through various work life programs. However, those programs can’t accommodate all employee’s needs. So, companies arrange organizational values and activities aimed at empowering accountants. Through empowerment, accountants can help themselves to overcome conflicts and achieve harmony. This study used qualitative interpretive paradigm and aims to understand the linkages of organizational values and employee empowerment to the achievement of work life harmony for PT S accountants. The results indicate that organizational values translated into various empowerment activities contribute to the achievement of accountant harmony, which appears to be subjective and psychological well being of accountants. The organization still has various limitations in supporting that achievement. At a stage where everything depends on accountants’s intrinsic motivation, the organization can no longer help that achievement. Therefore, it is important for accountants to strive to achieve their own harmony.
... Individuals wish to perform the activities of both domains according to their requirements and preferred time for integrating work and life (Kelliher and Anderson, 2009;De Menezes and Kelliher, 2011). WLB is influenced by both work and personal attributes, still, the work factors have more influence on it (Kossek et al., 2011;Kossek and Ollier-Malaterre, 2020). Personal factors that contribute to the interface are: gender, life stage and responsibilities, e.g. ...
... Sometimes the offered flexibility does not match with the employee requirements, which make it useless and create an implementation gap (Dan, 2012;Davidson et al., 2010;Elisabeth et al., 2014;Kossek et al., 2011Kossek et al., , 2015. Offered FWAs is not the same for all employees owing to the business requirements, and such decisions are taken without any consideration of individual WLB requirements (Perlow and Kelly, 2014). ...
Purpose
The growing demands of work and life have shifted the concept of work-life balance to work-life integration (WLI). The success of integration depends upon the flexibility to perform the duties. This paper aims to explore the factors that affect WLI and the role of flexible work arrangements (FWAs) in the process of WLI.
Design/methodology/approach
Systematic literature review was used to explore the concept of WLI and FWAs. A bibliometric analysis was carried out with Bibexcel and VoSviewer.
Findings
This paper explained the organizational and personal factors that create the demand for WLI. The FWAs, perceived flexibility, technology and self-efficacy have important roles in WLI. The result of WLI can be enrichment or strain, depends upon how effectively the work-life domains are integrated.
Originality/value
This paper explores the work-life from both personal and organizational views. The findings of this paper will be useful to design the organizational policies and work arrangements that match the requirements of employees and organizations. This paper helps to develop the future research agenda of investigating the relations of WLI to performance, organizational policies and personal factors.
... This has the potential to negatively affect, and cause anxiety among, those who engage in flexible or remote working (Elsbach et al., 2010) as these employees are less likely to receive better work projects or enjoy career progression compared to those who spend more physical time in the office and at specific work events (Cristea & Leonardi, 2019). Another element of face-time bias manifests amongst those employees without childcare responsibilities who are 'left in the office', feeling that they carry more of the workload and are more committed to work than parents who use flexible benefits or spent less face-time in the workplace (Bian & Wang, 2019;Kossek et al., 2011). ...
... These perceived social pressures and subjective workplace norms to work harder and stay connected for longer, are strongly influenced by the framing of narratives and actions within organisations. These may influence working parents' drive and desire to put in additional hours in private time to fill any productivity gaps that are perceived around their contribution to team-based activities and overall productivity levels (Derks et al., 2015;Kossek et al., 2011;Schmoll, 2019). Although colleagues have a strong influence on the norms and expectations around engaging with work-based communication after hours, supervisors who are perceived as role models regarding the behavioural expectations of a team, are particularly likely to influence and set the tone for workplace norms (Derks et al., 2015). ...
How working parents used personal and work-based technology during Lockdown 1.0, in spring and early summer of 2020, while simultaneously juggling home and childcare responsibilities.
... Kossek, Ruderman, Braddy, and Hannum (2012) describe three main boundary styles that extend the integration-segmentation continuum paradigm, and Boundary Management and Communication Technologies, p-6 include: separators, volleyers, and integrators. While integrators and separators reflect behaviours of those at the two extremes of Ashforth's continuum, volleyers are people who rely on both strategies and switch between them depending on job structure and family situation (Kossek, Baltes, & Matthews, 2011). ...
... Building on initial work looking at physical boundary artefacts (Nippert-Eng, 1996), more attention is being given to the role technology plays in boundary management. Most of these efforts fall under top-down policies and guidelines (e.g., Kossek et al., 2011), but more recently researchers have started to uncover bottom-up strategies that individuals can adopt (e.g., Cousins & Robey, 2015). ...
We live in a world of communication overload, where there is a wide range of platforms and devices to choose from, each providing massive content, offering different affordances, and fighting for our attention. Mobile technologies have contributed to expectations of anywhere anytime connectedness, making it hard for individuals to switch off. As a result, it can be hard to feel truly disconnected from work. A lack of control over work-home boundary cross-overs and interruptions can reduce post-work recovery, reducing productivity and increasing stress. Technology is not inherently good or bad, but rather, the way it is adopted and used can positively or negatively color one’s experience. As such, in this critical review we take a social constructionist approach to emphasize how communication technologies are challenging, as well as supporting, work-home boundary management. In doing so, we bring together work from occupational psychology (boundary theory) and human-computer interaction (computer-mediated communication and cross-device interaction). Understanding how these aspects interact and influence each other is important in order to support individuals appropriately, inform policies and guidelines, and ensure both social and digital interactions are designed carefully.
... As work-home conflict was confirmed to be likely to lead to adverse outcomes, such as job burnout, physical health symptoms, and low levels of well-being (Allen et al., 2000), teachers may tend to appraise work-home conflict as a threat. However, the work-family conflict experience may also enable teachers to become more self-regulated (Kossek et al., 2011). In this situation, teachers may tend to appraise work-home conflict as a challenge that they can tackle. ...
Colleges and universities worldwide have adopted online teaching for short or long periods in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. This study examines the appraisal results of specific techno-stressors related to online instruction and how these appraisal results impact teachers’ continuance intention towards online instruction. The investigation is important because it enables university administrators to manage different techno-stressors distinctively and adopt appropriate coping strategies to support online teaching. A research model is developed based on the transactional theory of stress (TTS) and tested empirically with a sample of 201 university teachers in China. The results reveal that (a) work overload is positively associated with university teachers’ challenge appraisal but negatively associated with their threat appraisal; (b) invasion of privacy is not significantly associated with challenge or threat appraisal; (c) work–home conflict is positively associated with threat appraisal but negatively associated with challenge appraisal; and (d) challenge appraisal is positively associated with continuance intention, while threat appraisal is negatively associated with continuance intention. Implications for online learning during pandemics are discussed.
... Doing multiple roles exhaust the individual of time and effort and make them psychologically distressed. Research demonstrated that organizational policies, cultural norms, organizational climate, supervisors and co-workers, play a significant role in workfamily balance of employees (Kossek, Baltes, & Matthews, 2011). Since workfamily balance is opposite to work-family conflict, it is necessary to understand the forms of work-family conflict. ...
... Al respecto, Kossek et al. (2011) señalan que tradicionalmente la discusión en referencia a la conciliación trabajo-familia ha estado enfocada en el conflicto. Bajo esta mirada, se ha profundizado en la forma en que las presiones de una de estas esferas se ejercen sobre la otra; la demanda de tiempo que establece una de estas esferas y que influye de manera directa en la otra, y las repercusiones emocionales que surgen de esta relación. ...
A más de un año del inicio de la pandemia de COVID-19, los cambios en la configuración de la vida fueron evidentes. El campo educativo no estuvo exento de estas modificaciones y debió luchar por adaptarse a las nuevas condiciones impuestas en todo el mundo. En este marco, el presente artículo propone una reflexión sobre cómo estos cambios afectaron la vida de directoras escolares chilenas, a partir de los resultados de una investigación que tuvo como propósito indagar en las transformaciones ocurridas en el ejercicio del liderazgo y el proceso de conciliación trabajo-familia. La investigación realizada fue de carácter cualitativo y tuvo como objeto de análisis el relato de diez directoras escolares. Entre los principales resultados, se halló que las entrevistadas dieron cuenta de cambios tanto en su ejercicio del liderazgo como en lo que respecta a las tareas del hogar. Estos cambios tendieron a privilegiar el trabajo por sobre el espacio personal de las directoras, situación que se presentó como una tensión para ellas, ya que, pese a estar más tiempo en sus hogares, la interacción que tuvieron con sus familias fue menor.
... The level of organizational support is one of the positive efforts in helping employees coordinate their work and obligations at home to not interfere with each other (Voydanoff, 2004). Specific resources such as organizational support can reduce adverse psychological conditions, especially burnout (Kossek et al., 2011). Therefore, organizational support can significantly reduce the demands imposed by the two most dominant roles: work and family This study result also shows POS negatively affects burnout. ...
The pandemic of COVID-19 has influenced business in general. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, most companies or organizations have been implementing work from home (WFH). For working mothers who have children, this WFH policy creates a more stressful situation since they simultaneously have to deal with work and family in the same place. This study investigated the role of work-life balance and perceived organizational support in the level of burnout tendency among working mothers. Two hundred thirty-seven working mothers who work from home participated in this study. Questionnaires were distributed to the working mothers to measure work-life balance, perceived organizational support, and burnout tendency. Multiple linear regression was used to test the hypothesis. The results show work-life balance and perceived organizational support simultaneously predict burnout tendency. However, perceived organization support, especially a concern for employee welfare, contributes more to reducing burnout. Therefore, human resource management may develop a policy to reduce burnout among women employees by concerning employee welfare in terms of compensation and benefit and creating a conducive working environment
... It was also shown that mothers who work part-time have fewer responsibilities, which results in less stress and allows them to spend more time with their families and be happier in life. Working from home, according to Kossek et al., (2015), allows you to meet family expectations while conducting regular job. Employees who use this type of work can not only observe their children's development but also track their progress. ...
... Yet, unless externally imposed, as seen with the COVID-19 pandemic, employers are often slow and even resistant to adopt flexibility policies (Martin and McDonnell 2012;Perrigino et al. 2018;Williams, Berdahl, and Vandello 2016). When offered, resistance to endorsement may persist (Kelly et al. 2010;Padavic, Ely, and Reid 2020) and the gap between availability and use endures (Kossek, Baltes, and Matthews 2011). ...
Employees increasingly claim they do not have enough time to manage the demands of both work and family/life. Workplace flexibility policies have been offered as a key solution to managing these conflicting demands. Yet, employers remain resistant to develop, implement, and endorse these policies. We suggest one avenue to further our understanding is a more holistic look at the connection between availability and use of flexibility, and the workplace context. We specifically examine flexplace. The data derive from 25 in-depth interviews of employees in professional and supervisory positions in the U.S. automotive industry. By examining the variation of flexplace policy availability, we unpack the logics of employee use/non-use of flexplace. We argue that different assumptions of the ideal worker norm undergird flexplace availability, which in turn create different rules of engagement and use. This study offers an analytical model to extend our theorizing on the availability/use gap. Examination of ideal worker norms allows insight into how employees struggle to decipher signals on permissible flexplace use. The findings capture dynamic and interrelated relationships to uncover the constraints of policies and the power of the workplace context.
... Cabe mencionar que durante la última década la discusión respecto a la conciliación trabajofamilia se ha hecho presente en el plano académico (Allen et al., 2015;Darcy et al., 2012;Kossek et al., 2011) y en el plano político, acompañada de diversas políticas públicas enfocadas en facilitar dicho proceso en pos de generar ambientes laborales que contribuyan a la mejora de la calidad de vida de las personas (Gaete, 2018). ...
Antonio Bolívar, como director de la tesis, origen de este trabajo, hace una presentación de la principales temáticas del género y de la mujer en la dirección escolar. Este apartado Carlos E. Beca da cuenta de las características y evolución histórica de la dirección escolar en Chile desde los último XX años que han condicionado el quehacer de los directores y las directoras. Además, Andrea Carrasco presenta un marco conceptual que permite comprender el rol de las mujeres profesionales, la lucha por sobreponerse a los limites sociales, profesionales y personales que han enfrentado en sus trayectorias de vida.
En la Segunda Parte, se presentan a continuación cuatro historias de mujeres: madres, esposas, parejas, hijas, amigas, colegas, profesoras que fueron capaces de atravesar “el techo de cristal” y transformarse en directoras escolares. Todas lucharon contra la cultura androcéntrica del sistema educativo en el que estaban inmersas -un sistema lleno de estereotipos que desvalorizan su rol y condición de mujeres- y lograron convertirse en directoras de sus establecimientos educacionales
... In addition, we also found a direct and negative association between supervisor support and WFC (H3a), which was higher in the case of women (H8a); and an equivalent association for men and women between organisational support and WFC (H3b; H8b). These results align with past research and indicate that organisational support for workfamily conciliation, that is, perceptions that the employer cares about the employee's ability to effectively perform family and work-related roles, reduces WFC for both genders (Kossek et al., 2011a(Kossek et al., , 2011b. Moreover, a more supportive supervisor also lowers the conflict in balancing work-family roles (Hammer et al., 2009;Thomas & Ganster, 1995). ...
Dual-earner couples with adolescent children face increased challenges to manage work and family roles. This study aims to analyse the effect of two types of organisational support (supervisor's support and organisational culture) on work-family conflict (WFC) and psychological detachment from work, according to a couple-dyadic model. More specifically, we propose a model in which WFC acts as a mediator for the relationship between organisational support and psychological detachment. A sample of 198 dual-earner couples with at least one adolescent child (aged 13-18 years) participated. We analysed actor, partner and gender effects using the Actor–partner interdependence mediation modeling and found that the association between supervisor support and WFC is stronger for women, while the association between supportive organisational culture and WFC manifests with the same intensity for men and women. In the case of men, it is the supportive organisational culture that is associated with psychological detachment through WFC, while in the case of women, it is the supervisor's support that is associated with psychological detachment, also through WFC. No partner effects were found. Our results highlight the need for organisations to implement work-family balance measures that take dyadic interactions and gender differences into account.
... The present study examined work-to-family positive spillover (WFPS) that is, employees' experiences at work leading to better family experiences (e.g., Hanson et al., 2006). Kossek et al. (2011) argued that leaders can empower employees to manage their own work-family interface; and thus our model of spillover starts with empowering leadership. There is a small amount of previous research reporting empowering leadership to be related to positive or negative spillover, but the relationship is weak (Kim & Beehr, 2020;Kwan et al., 2020), and the weak strength of the correlations is consistent with the prospect that mediators explain the relationship, rather than there being a direct relationship. ...
The present study examines a serial mediation model based on conservation of resources theory, in which empowering leadership predicts the nature of work-family interfaces via work engagement and work reflection. The examination of work reflection extends prior research on the work-family interface and allows for testing the effects of resources created in the workplace (e.g., empowering leader behaviors and work engagement) on family life. Three waves of data over a six-month time period were obtained from 274 full-time U.S. employees. Structural equation modeling and bootstrapping assessed the mediating effects of work engagement and reflection about work. The results generally supported the mediation model, but mainly for positive reflection. It showed that empowering leaders led to subordinates experiencing positive work-to-family spillover because they promoted subordinates’ work engagement and positive reflection
about their work experiences. Although work engagement also led to less negative work reflection, that mediator did not have additional unique effects on work-to-family spillover. Only indirect effects through engagement and positive reflection were found; there were no direct effects. Overall, the study contributed to understanding the underlying cognitive mechanisms explaining the positive link between empowering leadership and work-family facilitation.
... These could be owing to the fact that younger workers are likely required to undertake more difficult work compared to their seniors [22]. Additionally, previous studies have reported that well-being and mental health increases with age [23]. ...
Background
Although occupational exposure to noise and vibration is common, its effect on psychological wellbeing is poorly understood. This study investigated the relationship between occupational exposure to noise and vibration and anxiety among Korean workers.
Methods
Data from the 5th Korean Working Conditions Survey, conducted in 2017, were used. Participants were classified into four groups according to their level of exposure, and anxiety was assessed using a self-report questionnaire. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the significance of the association between exposure and anxiety.
Results
Overall, 45,241 participants were enrolled in this study. The likelihood of anxiety increased, in both males and females, when exposed to both occupational noise and vibration (males: odds ratio (OR) = 2.25, confidence interval [CI] = 1.77–2.87; females: OR = 2.17, CI = 1.79–2.61). The association between the varying degrees of noise, vibration, and combined exposure showed a dose–response relationship among males.
Conclusions
This study revealed that occupational noise and vibration exposure is associated with anxiety. These results suggest that more detailed regulations regarding occupational noise and vibration should be developed and implemented to ensure a safer environment for workers.
... Because the omission of these paths does not account for a meaningful decrement in the fit of Model 3, the desire for greater parsimony warrants their exclusion from the model. Path coefficients for all models are presented in Table 8. (Kossek et al., 2011). In support of bivariate relationships implied by Greenhaus and Allen's (2011) model, we found that extraversion, psychological capital, several job resources (except family-friendly policies), and bidirectional enrichment positively related to balance, whereas neuroticism, job demands, and bidirectional conflict negatively related to balance. ...
We conducted a meta-analysis examining antecedents of work-family balance, including personal characteristics, work demands, and work resources, as well as bidirectional conflict and enrichment. Bivariate results across 130 independent samples (N = 223,055) revealed that personal characteristics linked to more negative affect (i.e., neuroticism) and work demands (i.e., work hours, work overload, and job insecurity) were negatively associated with balance, whereas personal characteristics linked to more positive affect (i.e., extraversion and psychological capital) and work resources (i.e., job autonomy, schedule control, and workplace support) were positively related to balance. Family-to-work enrichment (FWE) was more strongly related to balance than was family-to-work conflict (FWC), and work-to-family conflict (WFC) was more strongly related to balance than was FWC. Finally, integrating tenets of JD-R theory, we examine two pathways (i.e., strain and motivation) through which antecedents relate to balance using meta-analytic structural equations modeling (MASEM). In the strain pathway, neuroticism and job overload were negatively related to balance indirectly through higher WFC. In the motivation pathway, extraversion and job autonomy were positively related to balance indirectly through higher WFE. Work social support related positively to balance through higher WFE as well as lower WFC. We discuss theoretical and practical implications.
... When the boundary between work and life blurs, or there is an integration of domains, a conflict between work and life might occur. As working from home has become a popular-and, at this point in history, necessary-option for many organizations (Eaton, 2003), researchers have noted a blurred boundary between work and family for employees choosing to work from home (Kossek et al., 2011). Although the P2P accommodation sector offers a unique (and perhaps extreme) context for examining work-life integrations and work-family border theory, most existing studies have been performed in organizations or general business contexts, and there is limited application in hospitality and tourism disciplines. ...
Being a peer-to-peer accommodation host (P2P host) has become a popular career choice in China due to its believed advantages in balancing work and life. This option, however, has blurred the boundary between work and life and has been known to elicit a series of negative consequences in both domains. Building on boundary theory and conservation of resources theory, this study proposed and examined how work-life integration can influence P2P hosts’ perceived work-family conflict, role overload, emotional depletion, and social exchanges with customers. Using data collected from 304 P2P hosts in China, the findings of the study found that work-life integration can lead to higher levels of role overload, work-family conflict, and emotional depletion of hosts, which in turn affect their social exchange with customers.
... Thus, it pushes the employees to move out for work instead of staying online (Troup and Rose, 2012). In a divergence from the present findings, some previous studies have reported that online work provides greater flexibility and helps to make a balance between work and family responsibilities (Ng and Khoo, 2000;Kossek, 2011;Subramaniam et al 2015;Srivastava et al 2015). The present study has clearly shown the various problems and challenges encountered by teachers while teaching online. ...
Education is the fundamental need for achieving equality in society and promoting national development. For every child between 6 and 14 years of age, the ‘Right to Education’ is a fundamental right in India. Higher education has a vital role in human and societal well-being and for the development of the country. India has the third-largest educational system in the world, which is changing in terms of digitalization. Digitalization is crucial in the education sector to sustain itself in a competitive world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, digitalization was the only way to continue classes and studies. Educational Practitioners who were not that familiar with digital tools and technologies have faced a lot of challenges. This chapter throws light on challenges faced by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) educators in adopting digitalization and suggests some measures to alleviate the issues. Data was collected through telephonic interviews from eight educators working in HEIs. Thematic analysis was applied on interview transcripts, and five themes were identified: advantages of digital learning, benefits of traditional learning over digital learning, challenges of digitalization, measures to alleviate challenges, and prospects in digitalization.
... Work-related support: supervisor support and coworkers' support Kossek et al. (2011) identified two types of supervisor support: the instrumental support, where supervisors give tangible assistance to increase workers' performance and well-being, and emotional support, translated into expressions of concern about the Adm. Sci. 2021, 11, 103 5 of 14 worker's well-being. ...
Even though research has been showing that telework, under regular circumstances, could benefit the integration of work and family life, mandatory telework during the COVID-19 lockdown brought additional challenges, with potential to create conflicts between work and family spheres. Using regression analysis, this study examined the contribution of demographic and job-related variables to the prediction of work–family conflict among a sample of 213 workers who were involved in mandatory telework during the first lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The results revealed that role overload, after-hours work-related technology use, and low job autonomy accounted for the prediction of work–family conflict. Support from the supervisors and coworkers did not have an impact in easing the perception of work–family conflict but presented a moderation effect between after-hours work-related technology use and work–family conflict. Implications of the study for management practices related to telework, limitations of the study, and directions for future research are discussed.
... Work-related support: supervisor support and coworkers' support Kossek et al. (2011) identified two types of supervisor support: the instrumental support, where supervisors give tangible assistance to increase workers' performance and well-being, and emotional support, translated into expressions of concern about the Adm. Sci. 2021, 11, 103 5 of 14 worker's well-being. ...
... In some cases the demands that occur at work can hinder the fulfillment of family responsibilities (work-family conflict or work interfering with family), and vice versa demands by the family or the responsibility to take care of the family can interfere with the implementation of duties at work (family-work conflict or family interfering with work). The consequences that arise when a person experiences work-family conflict are negative effects such as symptoms of depression, stress, physical health, and tension (Kossek et al., 2011). Apart from stress, Germeys & Gieter (2017) stated that there are other effects caused by workfamily conflict, which can trigger counterproductive work behaviour. ...
Role theory is seen as a construct in the relationship of work-family conflict and work stress. In adult life, work and family are two things that must be done together. Family is the main reason to work for income, and work is a source of income to meet family needs. Stress is seen as an adaptive response to a situation that is being perceived as a challenge or a threat to one's health. Job stress is a feeling of pressure or pressure experienced by employees in facing their work. Under certain conditions, employees may feel less motivated to meet their expectations in socialising and meeting social norms, but are instead motivated to oppose these norms. Both work-family conflict and stress can affect the emergence of counterproductive work behaviour. The results showed that work-family conflict, especially work interfering with family, has an effect on stress. Conflicts in the work domain that interfere with family responsibilities can create stress for employees. The results also showed that stress has an effect on counterproductive work behaviour, thus supporting the research hypothesis. The stress felt by respondents is a strong reason for the occurrence of counterproductive work behaviour.
... Family and caregiving leave is intended to support equity, and particularly gender equity [9][10][11]. However, a persistent concern is how the actual use of this leave affects the advancement of women compared to men faculty [6,12]. Findings on use are notable for economics faculty. ...
Family and caregiving leave are increasingly important dimensions for careers in academic science, and for vital, sustainable institutional structures. These forms of leave are intended to support equity, and particularly gender equity. A key question is how the actual use of leave affects critical milestones of advancement for women—compared to men—in (1) time to tenure and (2) the odds of promotion to full professor. We address this question with descriptive statistics and event history analyses, based on responses to a survey of 3688 US faculty members in 4 scientific fields within a range of Carnegie institutional types. We find that leave that stops the tenure clock extends time to tenure for both men and women—the effect is gender neutral. Promotion to full professor is another matter. Being a woman has a strong negative effect on the likelihood of promotion to full professor, and women are especially disadvantaged in promotion when they used tenure leave years earlier. These findings have implications for a life-course perspective on gender and advancement in academic science, the roles of caretaking and leave, and the intended and unintended consequences of leave policies for equitable and sustainable university systems.
... Many complications arise and linked to work-family conflict such as employees who experienced work-family conflict (WFC) becoming less committed to work (Clarke & Holdsworth, 2017) and reduced individuals' productivity, performance (Fiksenbaum, 2014) and organization experienced decrease organizational productivity cycle, employee turnover and mental health distress (Erdamar & Demirel, 2014 Past studies have shown that, focusing on one role domain creates imbalances with the other domain, for instance, spending more hours at work, reduces time or limiting quality time spend with the family (Powell, Greenhaus, Allen& Johnson, 2018) are contributing to work-family conflict (WFC) (Erdamar & Demirel, 2014). According to Kossek et al., (2011) there was the disconnection between the organization and employee roles on what they could compromise to allow employees balancing responsibilities between work and home domain. Due to this, many countries worldwide are adopting FWA as a mean to gain more flexibility (Klindzic & Marić, 2019; Kottey & Sharma, 2016) for both organization and employee in UK, Italy Netherlands, Greece, Romania, Portugal (Gialis & Taylor, 2015), Japan, Australia, USA and Canada (International Labour Organization, 2011; OECD, 2012; Spreitzer, Cameron & Garrett, 2017).Since FWA anticipated the borderless boundaries environment in the situation which employees who are working remotely at home would find it hard to disassociate themselves from work while they are at home, hence this could jeopardize the family relationship (Kossek, 2016b). ...
There have been major changes in current workforce competitiveness trends. The changes in workforce demographics particularly in the increase of dual-earner families and single-parents have resulted in increased multiple role conflicts. Working couples must cope with the problem of combining work and family responsibilities in their daily life. Many industries adopted the current trend of the flexible working environment into their organizations. This study explores the moderation effect of supervisor support between flexible working arrangements (FWA), the effect on work interference with family conflict (WIF) and family interference with work (FIW). The population for this study primarily focused on the organizations that adopt the flexible working arrangement such as flexible working time, working from home, and compressed work-week practices in Malaysia. The companies selected is based on the listing of global organizations practices FWA mentioned in Talent Corp Malaysia Flexible Working Arrangement collaboration with Malaysian Federation Employer report, 2015. The questionnaires were distributed through the Human Resource Department of each organization. The result demonstrated that there is relationship between FWA and WIF and there was moderation effect of supervisor support (SS) between FWA and WIF. However, the result showed no moderation effect of SS between FWA and FIW. This study supports the idea that supervisor support is a resource that helps employees to manage the occurrence of interference from work to family and to overcoming FIW, supports particularly from family members either siblings, parents and spouse is important. The implication of this study is that, work conflict issue requires the proactive effort and support not only from the organization in terms of supervisor support through FWA but also support within the family circle. Organizations approach in adopting FWA in their attempts to minimize WFC is recommendable but it should be applied across occupation and organizations as one of employee benefits policy.
... We argue that it is through role modelling that employees are more likely to acquire demonstrated behaviours and engage in work more vigorously, leading to expectations and perceptions being shaped and changed. For example, informational cues displayed by servant managers such as care and concern for their subordinates are more likely to shape employee behaviours (Pfeffer & Salancik, 1978), and such cues represent bridging elements between an organization and its employees (Kossek, Baltes, & Matthews, 2011, Kossek, Pichler, Bodner, & Hammer, 2011. Drawing on these cues, employees look up to and adopt the behaviours of those who hold power, status and competence; that is, those who set good role model examples for their subordinates (Bandura, 1986). ...
How does servant leadership trickle down to impact subordinates' work and non-work outcomes? This study sets out to investigate the mechanisms and boundary conditions associated with this question. In so doing, we integrate two sequential mechanisms (family-supportive supervisor behaviours and work engagement/self-care) and a contextual condition (servant leader's perceived organizational support) to address whether and how servant leaders shape subordinates' work performance and their satisfaction with work-family balance. Using matched supervisor-subordinate data (770 supervisors and 819 subordinates) collected from a group of companies in Chile, our results from multilevel analyses largely support our hypotheses. We contribute to servant leadership and research on family supportiveness by: 1) introducing and discussing two separate and sequential mediating mechanisms to explain the trickle-down effect of servant leadership; 2) emphasizing the role of perceived organizational support in establishing when the trickle-down effect occurs; 3) highlighting the need to bridge two separate bodies of research (namely those of servant leadership and family supportive supervisor behaviours) in developing interventions in organizations to help employees manage work-family issues.
... However, the question of the extent of that duty of care in specific circumstances immediately arises. For the most part, organisations clearly meet their duty of care towards families through standard HR practices: in the absence of calling, it makes theoretical and practical sense to conflate employees and their families, as is usual (e.g. Kelly et al., 2014;Kossek et al., 2011aKossek et al., , 2011b. However, this article claims that calling is a 'wildcard' that requires a more nuanced approach. ...
This conceptual article extends the literature on the disadvantages of calling. The article makes four main contributions. First, it argues that some of the burden of calling is shouldered not by called individuals or their employers, but rather by close family members. Second, it argues that calling influences work–life ideology, limiting a called person’s ability to exercise choice and self-manage their work–life boundary. Third, it introduces the novel notion of the sacrifice-reliant organisation, which relies on calling to achieve organisational goals. Fourth, the article argues normatively that organisations with called members have an enhanced duty of care towards families of its members that is commensurate with the extent to which they rely on calling to achieve their goals. Using ethics of care, it also develops guidelines on the extent and components of such an enhanced duty of care.
Purpose
This study aims to examine the relationship between discretionary human resource (HR) practices and job satisfaction, as well as the mediating role of job crafting in the relationship between discretionary HR practices and job satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 302 employees working in an information and communications technology (ICT) industry in Turkey. Structural equation modelling and bootstrapping procedure were used to test the hypothesized relationships.
Findings
The findings suggest that discretionary HR practices are significantly and positively related to employees' job satisfaction. The results also show that discretionary HR practices stimulates job satisfaction through job crafting.
Research limitations/implications
Because this study was conducted using a cross-sectional research methodology with data acquired from the same source, conclusions concerning the causality of the variables cannot be inferred. The findings in this study have significant implications for human resource practitioners and business owners who invest in their employees to enhance both employee and organizational performance. The findings show that investment in HR practices prompt employees to be more proactive in devising measures and ways of performing their jobs which increases their job satisfaction hence bringing about desirable and favorable organizational outcomes.
Originality/value
This study adds to the growing body of research on the relationship between HRM and job satisfaction by investigating at the predictive influence of discretionary HR practices as well as the mediating role that job crafting plays.
The main objective of this paper is to explore the perceptions and expectations of professors
regarding corporate social responsibility (CSR) education in Western Odisha and
investigate its role in job seekers' organizational attractiveness. This is a qualitative
research study of professors in business management/engineering institutes and universities
in Western Odisha. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 professors (3 professors, 2
associate professors, and 15 assistant professors). Purposive sampling was used to select
the professors engaged in teaching CSR courses.
The data were treated in Nvivo software and analyzed using thematic and matrix analysis.
The study reveals that the professors perceive CSR education as an essential factor for job
seekers making decisions. Results suggest that the present CSR courses and their teaching
pedagogy need to be revamped and revised by the educational institutes/universities,
considering the current requirements and expectations of the industry.
The findings also indicate a need for transformative learning for students to learn more
awareness of the needs and benefits of CSR education. And can sensibly choose socially
responsible companies for their career. Results indicate a change in how CSR is understood
by innovative and new pedagogy. Study findings have implications for academic advisors,
curriculum designers, teaching faculty, and industry practitioners. This paper is the first
attempt to explore the perceptions and expectations of the professors about CSR education,
considering Western Odisha as a case. The study addresses the gap in the present CSR
education, its course coverage, teaching-learning techniques, students' expectations, and
industry requirements.
Dual-earner couples with adolescent children face increased challenges to manage work and family roles. This study aims to analyse the effect of two sources of support (organisational and supervisor support) on work-family conflict (WFC) and psychological detachment from work, according to a couple-dyadic model. More specifically, we propose a model in which WFC acts as a mediator for the relationship between organisational and supervisor support, and psychological detachment. A sample of 198 dual-earner couples with at least one adolescent child (aged 13–18 years) participated. We analysed actor, partner and gender effects using the Actor–partner interdependence mediation modeling and found that the association between supervisor support and WFC is stronger for women, while the association between organisational support and WFC manifests with the same intensity for men and women. In the case of men, it is organisational support (i.e., broad source of support) that is associated with psychological detachment through WFC, while in the case of women, it is supervisor support (i.e., specific source of support) that is associated with psychological detachment, also through WFC. No partner effects were found. Our results highlight the need for organisations to implement work-family balance measures that take dyadic interactions and gender differences into account.
This study was conducted against the backdrop of the global-pandemic-induced change in work climate resulting in employees working from home (WFH). The current study investigated the relationship between work-from-home productivity (WFHP) and job satisfaction. Using a structured survey instrument, data were collected from 1158 respondents from a developing country, India. After checking the psychometric properties of the measures using the LISREL software of structural equation modeling (SEM), data were analyzed using Hayes’s PROCESS macros. The findings indicate that: (i) WFHP positively predicts (a) job satisfaction and (b) work–life balance (WLB), (ii) WLB positively predicts job satisfaction, and (iii) WLB mediates the relationship between WFHP and job satisfaction. The results also support that (i) work stress moderates the relationship between WFHP and WLB, (ii) work–personal life enhancement (WPLE) (second moderator) moderates the moderated relationship between WFHP and work stress (first moderator) in influencing WLB, (iii) emotional exhaustion moderates the relationship between WLB and job satisfaction, and (iv) WPLE (second moderator) moderates the relationship between WLB and emotional exhaustion (first moderator) in influencing job satisfaction. The first three-way interaction between WFHP, work stress, and WLB and the second three-way interaction between WLB, emotional exhaustion, and job satisfaction have been investigated for the first time, to the best of our knowledge. The conceptual double-layered moderated mediation model is a novel idea, and the results significantly contribute to the literature on WLB and job satisfaction. The implications for theory and practice are discussed. View Full-Text
Work and life boundary dynamics have been changed over the years. Two domains are no longer separated and are integrated. For the fulfilments of work and life demands, employees seek to use different flexible work arrangements for integration. This research investigates the impact of flexible work arrangements on the work-life integration of employees in the service industry. Gender was taken as an intervening factor. Survey was conducted on 446 employees of service sectors. Results show that when employees utilize the FWAs, are more effective in integration and experience fewer conflicts irrespective of gender. In the case of flexitime and part-time work, options are more effective in reducing stress. Study contribute to the work-life literature and results can be implemented to take managerial decisions and useful in future researches.
The purpose of this research is to find out and analyze the views of employees, the factors that become obstacles, strategies that can be taken to overcome them, and the application of flexible work arrangements in improving work-life balance. The research method used in this research is descriptive qualitative. The data collection technique was done by triangulation (observation, interview, and documentation). The results of this study indicate that in general the experience of employees with flexible working hours is included in the positive category, respondents who undergo flexible work arrangements mostly experience additional working hours which can reach 10 to 12 hours
This paper explores the effects of reduced load work arrangements (i.e. RLWAs) in a context where employees are seeking to balance their work-personal life while employers are reducing costs and staying competitive. We draw on the job-demands control theory and social information processing (SIP) theory to introduce two novel elements mainly to examine how and when the influence of RLWAs unfold: employee's perceived job autonomy as a mediating mechanism and role of social context (i.e., overall justice perceptions at workplace level) in shaping the consequences of RLWAs. We use a large representative data set acquired through WERS (2011)WERS (2011) in the United Kingdom. Our findings partially support our hypotheses by shedding light on how and under which conditions the effects RLWAs unfold on employee outcomes. We contribute to debates that emphasize the bridging role of perceived job autonomy in translating the impact of RLWAs on employees' outcomes and hence to keep employees motivated while allowing them to achieve better balance between work and non-work.
Work life Balance indicates achieving satisfying experiences in all life domains, by employing personal resources like energy, time and commitment. Satisfaction is possible with the good functioning at work and at home with a minimum of role conflict. Work life balance is very critical, essential as well as influential in case of female working class. Women's work very hard in comparison to men to maintain the balance between both the duties. Today's world has great opportunity for womens, as the career of women has become an important need for the fulfilment of economic instability in families. Economic situation as well as the personal needs of the family has forced the womens to overcome those requirements. Work life balance is an analysis and a global assessment of work and family resources to overcome the work and family requirements so that the individual could be able to discharge effective participation in both the domains. This paper promotes to focus the struggle and imbalances faced by the working women in their life
Employee wellness is an important aspect of human resource management system that has to be considered in the various phases of industrial revolution. It should be noted that during the industrial revolutions work has been transformed from handmade methods to machines. Work productivity improved, yet at the same time the number for those required for manual labour slightly reduced. In each of the revolutions the need to maintain employees remained significant. Therefore, it becomes imperative in the 4th industrial revolution even though managed heavily by machinery and technology to continue with employee wellness for effective productivity within organisations going forward. This chapter will deal with the employee wellness as a strategy that deals with enabling employee welfare. A healthy workforce enhances employee wellness.
Purpose
This study aims to examine the impact of flexible work arrangements (FWAs) on employees’ perceived productivity, quality of work and organisational commitment (OC) with a special focus on the United Arab Emirates. It also analyses the mediating effect of employee happiness on the relationship between FWA and employees’ perceived productivity, OC and perceived work quality.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative, non-experimental correlational study was used for this research project. The study yielded numerical data, which were analysed using a deductive approach. The analysis aimed at exploring the relationships between the constructs, which were viewed as variables; these relationships were considered correlations, mediation and moderation. The sample comprises employees currently working at different public and private sector organisations, representing all major service industries in the UAE. Nine questions were used to assess the flexibility at work and six out of the nine questions were used to measure the level of FWAs using the Likert scale.
Findings
FWA has a significant and positive association with the employees’ perceived productivity, quality of work and OC. It was confirmed that happiness plays a mediating role in the relationship between FWA and employee outcomes. The facility allows employees to manage their personal and professional lives with ease using their preferred work method. This ability promotes employee satisfaction. In conclusion, managers and employees around the world should view FWAs as a positive tool to enhance employee productivity and OC, particularly in an emergency like the Covid-19 pandemic.
Research limitations/implications
The participants’ honesty was a limitation, which could raise questions on the validity of this study. This limitation arises when the self-report method is used for data collection. Use of multiple instruments could be another limitation.
Practical implications
Organisational leaders can use FWAs to improve employee outcomes. When an organisation grants flexible work options to employees, it implies that the organisation trusts its employees to complete the task. This factor motivates all employees to work with dedication, which is particularly true if the employees are creative people and wish to work on their preferred time and place.
Originality/value
This study is significant because the findings will allow managers to assess the benefits of using FWAs to improve employee productivity, particularly in the service sector. It combines the aspects of perceived productivity, OC and perceived work quality, as well as employee happiness to assess the role of FWAs in organisations. The study also investigates the influence of FWAs in improving these employee outcomes. Based on the literature review, this study on FWAs is the first of its kind in the UAE, the country using a truly multinational workforce coming from more than 100 countries and cultures.
Many employees commonly deal with situations where their work and family lives are in conflict. Yet, scholarly understanding of how these episodic experiences influence employees’ cognitions (i.e., attributions) and emotions is still limited. Further, the emergent line of work-family research on attributions tends to adopt a variable-centric approach by investigating the effects of attributional dimensions in isolation, thus precluding a holistic view of how individuals form profiles of attributions in response to work-family conflict episodes. To advance the work-family literature, we employed an experience sampling design across 12 days to investigate profiles of attributions and the resultant discrete negative emotions (e.g., guilt, shame, regret, anger, frustration resentment) associated with work-family conflict in full-time employees with children. Multilevel latent profile analysis (MLPA) results revealed meaningfully different profiles of attributions that tended to occur in reaction to conflicts between work and family, with these profiles differing based upon direction of the conflict episode (i.e., work-interfering-with-family [WIF] versus family-interfering-with-work [FIW]). Further, these attributional profiles, especially those associated with FIW episodes, differentially related to distinct negative emotions. Overall, our findings contribute to a nuanced understanding of profiles of attributions following work-family conflict episodes, with critical implications for affective well-being.
This study explores the question of the generalizability of extant work-family research, most of which has been conducted in Western cultural contexts, to workers in African nations. We conducted a meta-analysis of African research (55 studies, N = 16,162), comparing means for work-family conflict (WFC) and enrichment (WFE) to those same means in Western studies, finding no difference. We also compared the magnitude of the relations between WFC and WFE and their common correlates (e.g., strain, support, and attitudes) in Africa with the West, finding some differences in effect sizes. We speculate these differences could be due to African contexts, specifically the influence of the family system, economic insecurity, and blurring of roles. We conclude with a caution against transporting Western work-family evidence to African workplaces without consideration of sociocultural factors.
Personal life and work are both very important aspects of life and in
today’s work environment these two domains tend to interfere with each other due to the increasing demand and advancement of technology. These interferences can result in the tension of managing both at a time and can be taken in good sense of having the freedom to do a task at a preferred time. This paper attempts to develop a scale to measure work-life integration. To develop the scale data were collected from the working professionals (n = 351).
Exploratory factor analysis results in 17 item scale with four constructs: work-life interference, family-work interference, work and family strain and work and family enrichment. The scale was validated with confirmatory factor analysis. The reliability of the scale was checked with Cronbach alpha and construct validity was verified with convergent and discriminant validity. The developed scale will be useful to measure work-life integration, and studies can be carried out with the association of other organisational and personal
variables. The proposed scale can be combined with functions like motivation, job satisfaction, and performance management.
One of the most crucial factors affecting development in the 21st century is the increased participation of women in the economy of a country and increased entrance to managerial positions. Even though such tremendous changes have taken place, the patriarchal social set up insists on women's responsibilities towards family and children. The domestic roles of women are not shared by men despite the fact that women have shared the economic and social responsibilities of men. This causes conflict among work and family roles, which ultimately affects the physical and psychological well-being of women managers. This chapter deals with the problems and challenges faced by women managers in higher education in India and how family support and suitable coping strategies help them maintain work-family balance.
Discussion focused on the nature of technology and the types of technological changes affecting work–life integration. Other dimensions of technological impact on work–life integration through its features and factors with specific reference to the service and non-service work environments were explored. Technology has influenced the work environment via the nature of leadership capabilities critical for the integration of work and life domains. Furthermore, an examination of how technology has impacted and influenced the integration of work and life domains was done. With the evolution of technology, work–life integration has metamorphosed at the individual, communal, and global levels; among other things, technology has not only provided an array of options for employees in their workplaces but has also encroached into their work, private, and family lives. The chapter concludes by discussing how the flexi-nature of the contemporary work environment has impacted work–life integration.
Organizations provide various forms of policies to help employees manage their work–life integration and work productivity. Some organizations overemphasize statutory policies but do not go the extra mile to establish discretionary policies. Policy development is only one factor in the work–life integration equation, the other factor being the provision of an environment that encourages the use of the policies. The result from a study of organizations in Lagos, Nigeria, showed that unless these factors occur in tandem, organizations do not derive the expected benefits of their investments in work–friendly policies. This situation was attributed to the role of organizational leaders who discourage the use of the policies. Two of such climates are lack of managerial support and career consequences of using the policies. These climates render the huge organizational investment in providing work–life friendly policies unproductive.
Work–life conflict is a ubiquitous challenge for employees juggling work and family roles, yet little research has examined individual strategies to manage and mitigate its negative effects. We direct attention in this literature to a common-yet-understudied practical strategy: humor. Further, we take next steps in this literature to distinguish between co-worker and employees’ own use of coping humor. Integrating benign violation theory with the transactional theory of stress and coping, we develop and test a theoretical model of how both individual and co-worker coping humor may buffer the negative effects of work–life conflict on stress and subsequent withdrawal. In Study 1, we conducted an experiment to examine the causal effects of humor on the stress appraisals arising from work–life conflict. In Study 2, we conducted a three-wave survey to replicate these findings and disentangle the contributions of individual coping humor and co-worker humor. We found opposing effects of individual coping humor and co-worker humor; we further replicated and unpacked the unexpected stress-amplifying effects of co-worker humor in a post-hoc exploratory Study 3. Overall, these results suggest that we need to consider where humor is situated in order to understand when humor mitigates the negative consequences of work–life conflict on stress and withdrawal.
Employee wellness is an important aspect of human resource management system that has to be considered in the various phases of industrial revolution. It should be noted that during the industrial revolutions work has been transformed from handmade methods to machines. Work productivity improved, yet at the same time the number for those required for manual labour slightly reduced. In each of the revolutions the need to maintain employees remained significant. Therefore, it becomes imperative in the 4th industrial revolution even though managed heavily by machinery and technology to continue with employee wellness for effective productivity within organisations going forward. This chapter will deal with the employee wellness as a strategy that deals with enabling employee welfare. A healthy workforce enhances employee wellness.
About 30 years ago, the Work in America (1973) report noted the countervailing trends of growing numbers of women juggling work and family (W-F) coupled with ambivalence over societal support of domestic and caregiving work. Kanter (1977) articulated the “myth of separate worlds” between work and family—the notion that workplaces often are designed as if workers do not have families that compete for their attention and identities during working time.
An examination of the literature on conflict between work and family roles suggests that work-family conflict exists when: (a) time devoted to the requirements of one role makes it difficult to fulfill requirements of another; (b) strain from participation in one role makes it difficult to fulfill requirements of another; and (c) specific behaviors required by one role make it difficult to fulfill the requirements of another. A model of work-family conflict is proposed, and a series of research propositions is presented.
The lives of women and men, the relationships that they establish, and their work have changed dramatically in the past 50 years, but the dominant theories driving research in these areas have not. In this article, the authors argue that the facts underlying the assumptions of the classical theories of gender and multiple roles have changed so radically as to make the theories obsolete. Moreover, a large body of empirical data fails to support the predictions flowing from these theories. Yet the development of new theory for guiding research and clinical practice has not kept pace. The authors attempt to fill this theoretical gap by reviewing the research literature and articulating an expansionist theory of gender, work, and family that includes four empirically derived and empirically testable principles better matched to today's realities.
This research investigates relationships between caregiving decisions and work-family outcomes-well-being, performance in work and family roles, and work-family conflict-occurring as a function of dependent type and work and family climates. We compared effects of caregiving decisions regarding place and provider for child and elderly dependents in climates encouraging or discouraging sacrifice and sharing concerns. Well-being and performance were lowest with in-home elder care by a family member, in work or family climates that discouraged sharing concerns.
Sociologists generally invoke a natural "scarcity" approach to human energy, stressing the overdemanding nature of multiple roles. In contrast, a seldom used "expansion" approach provides an energy-creation theory of multiple roles rather than a "spending" or "drain" theory. Empirical literature only partially supports the scarcity approach view that multiple roles inevitably create "strain." Moreover, human physiology implies that human activity produces as well as consumes energy. We need a comprehensive theory that explains both the scarcity and the abundance phenomenology of energy. Such a theory requires careful analytical distinctions between time, energy, and commitments. It is argued that particular types of commitment systems are responsible for whether or not strain will occur. A theory of scarcity excuses explains how strain or overload is generally rooted in one such system. Scarcity excuses get implicit support from scarcity theories, and a sociology of these theories suggests their ideological basis.
Flexible work schedules such as flextime, telework, or compressed work weeks, are examples of increasing variation in the timing and duration of work hours, and the location of work. While standard work schedules have traditionally been the norm in organizations; growing numbers of employers are experimenting with a wide range of flexible work schedules at the same time as they are transforming employment systems and work processes across time zones and cultures. The increasing proliferation of flexible and more varied work schedules for organizational members is not only a U.S., but a global employment phenomenon (Jacobs, Gerson, & Gornick, 2004).
An examination of the literature on conflict between work and family roles suggests that work-family conflict exists when: (a) time devoted to the requirements of one role makes it difficult to fulfill requirements
of another; (b) strain from participation in one role makes it difficult to fulfill requirements of another; and (c) specific behaviors required by one role make it difficult to fulfill the requirements of another. A model of work-family conflict is proposed, and a series of research propositions is presented.
This paper critically reviews the theoreticalframeworks currently used to explain the processes through which work and family are linked, i.e., segmentation, compensation, and spillover. In the literature, these processes are treated as competing explanations, even though evidence and logic suggests that all three operate to link work and family. Moreover, it is likely that other processes also link the two. Most notably, workers may limit their involvement in work, or in family life, so that they can better accommodate the demands of the other. Clarified causal models and suggestions for advancing knowledge in this area are presented and discussed. It is argued that a fuller understanding of the processes linking work and family life is necessary to adequately evaluate the effectiveness of the family supportive policies currently being implemented by many U.S. firms, as well as to identify additional strategies for helping workers find satisfaction in both their work and personal roles.
Although many employers have adopted policies to support the integration of work with personal and family life, expected positive gains due to enhanced workplace inclusion are not always realized. One reason for this gap is that practitioners and researchers often overlook how variation in how policies are implemented and used by different employee stakeholder groups fosters a culture of inclusiveness. We discuss four ways in which work-life policies are implemented differently across and within organizations that can affect the degree to which policies are seen as promoting inclusion or exclusion. They are: the level of supervisor support for use, universality of availability, negotiability, and quality of communication. These implementation attributes affect whether an adopted policy is seen as leading to fulfilling work- life needs and signaling the organization's support for individual differences in work identities and life circumstances, thus affecting levels of inclusiveness. Implications for HR practitioners are discussed.
The goal of this article is to increase knowledge about the ways that front-line managers use scheduling practices to implement labor flexibility in low-skill, hourly jobs. Data come from a comparative study of 88 non-production jobs in 22 work sites in four industries (hospitality, retail, transportation, and financial services). The focus is on scheduling practices in part-time and full-time standard jobs that allow front-line managers to vary the number of hours employees work each week, the distribution of employees' hours across a week, and the number of employees scheduled for any hours week-to-week. The findings provide insight into the daily accountability requirements that press front-line managers to make quick adjustments to work schedules and the specific scheduling practices that enable them to do so. The discussion considers the extent to which these scheduling practices, like other labor flexibility practices, are implemented in ways that protect some workers from instability at the expense of others.
This paper uses both qualitative and quantitative methods to examine the relationship between work-family conflict and six work outcomes: performance, turnover, absenteeism, organizational commitment, job involvement, and burnout. Also reviewed are studies on the effects of employer (work-family) policies aimed at reducing such conflict. Policies to aid employees in managing work and family roles can be expensive, and studies show that they are often marginally effective. The review shows that relationships between work-family policies and organizational effectiveness is mixed and their connection to work-family conflict often under-examined. Work-family conflict is a critical link that may shed light on policy impacts. Suggestions on how future studies can build bridges between practitioners and academics and more clearly examine organizational effectiveness links are provided.
This monograph reviews 190 work–family studies published in IO/OB journals from 1980 to 2002. The results of a content analysis are presented which catalog these articles with respect to the study focus, nature and direction of the proposed effects, and predictor, criterion, and mediator variables examined. Then a narrative review of the articles is presented, organized in terms of the following topical areas: (1) work–family conflict, (2) work role stress, (3) work–family assistance, (4) work schedules, (5) job-related relocation, (6) career and job-related outcomes, (7) gender and the relationship between work and family domains, (8) dual-earner couples, and (9) relationships among life domains. The review concludes with a discussion of recurring themes in the literature and the identification of blind spots in the IO/OB perspective on work and family. Specific suggestions for future research are also provided.
An important consideration in understanding issues of immigration, and their linkages with work-family concerns, relates to how immigration is defined, how subgroups of immigrants are classified, and key social policies that are oftentimes referenced when discussing issues relating to immigration. I provide a brief overview of these conceptual concerns below. Emigrants Individuals who leave their country and then reside in another country for more than 3 months are emigrants from the perspective of the country of origin (Brochmann, 1999). Definition and usage in scholarly work: The term "immigrant" in scholarly work is used more loosely than its legal definition. For instance, Brochmann (1999) defines both emigrants and immigrants as those who live in a foreign country for more than 3 months. In many other studies, "immigrants" is often used to refer to non-tourist foreigners in a broad sense. Most commonly, the term "immigrant" is considered self-evident and left undefined. Immigrant subjects in social research range from legal and temporary migrant workers to undocumented immigrants and transnational immigrants. Despite variations in legal status and migration purposes, the term "immigrant" is broadly used to describe these groups. "Immigrants" in scholarly work thus refers to all foreign-born residents.
Meta-analytic techniques were used to estimate the effects of flexible and compressed workweek schedules on several work-related criteria (productivity/performance, job satisfaction, absenteeism, and satisfaction with work schedule). In general, the effects of both schedules were positive. However, the effects of both flextime and compressed workweek schedules were different across the outcome criteria (e.g., compressed workweek schedules did not significantly affect absenteeism). Thus, the level of positive impact associated with either schedule is dependent on the outcome criterion under consideration. Further, several variables were found to be moderators of flexible work schedules. For example, highly flexible flextime programs were less effective in comparison to less flexible programs, and the positive benefits of flextime schedules were found to diminish over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The positive psychology movement seems to have stimulated new research and applications well beyond the discipline of traditional psychology. Among various areas of inquiry, research and scholarship about positive organizations has received considerable attention from both researchers and practitioners. The current review examined the scholarly literature published between 2001-2009 on positive organizational psychology to provide a detailed picture of the current state of the field. This review sought to discover the overall growth rate, trends, and prevalent topics in the literature. It also aspired to provide an understanding of the empirical evidence for each topic through in-depth reviews. The findings suggest there is a growing body of scholarly literature and an emerging empirical evidence base on topics related to positive organizations. Strengths, limitations, and implications of building a practical knowledge base for making significant improvements in the quality of working life and organizational effectiveness are discussed.
A longitudinal study of hospital-based health care professionals (N = 151) examined psychological states as a function of demands and resources in the workplace and at home. It found over the study interval (3 months) evidence of spillover relationships from the work to home environment, and to a lesser extent, evidence of spillover from home to work A structural equation model focused on change, by including only relationships that enhanced the prediction of each measure beyond its inherent consistency across the study interval. Further, it considered relationships across the work and home domains in the context of relationships within each domain, so that spillover relationships were always in addition to domain-specific relationships. The analysis found health care workers' sense of professional efficacy to have the most wide-ranging relationships, with links within the work domain, the home domain, and the boundary between these two domains. The results suggest that in contrast with the lagged relationships of accomplishment with other constructs, the relationship of emotional exhaustion with dysfunctional coping responses occurs within an immediate timeframe. The results are discussed in terms of an integrative model of work and family stress. The discussion makes suggestions for further research in this area.
The longitudinal, multisource, multimethod study presented herein examines the role of employees' work-family integration in the spillover of daily job satisfaction onto daily marital satisfaction and affective states experienced by employees at home. The spillover linkages are modeled at the within-individual level, and results support the main effects of daily job satisfaction on daily marital satisfaction and affect at home, as well as the moderating effect of work-family integration on the strength of the within-individual spillover effects on home affect. That is, employees with highly integrated work and family roles exhibited stronger intraindividual spillover effects on positive and negative affect at home.
This review examines the relationship among work–family (w-f) conflict, policies, and job and life satisfaction. The meta-analytic results show that regardless of the type of measure used (bidirectional w-f conflict, work to family, family to work), a consistent negative relationship exists among all forms of w-f conflict and job–life satisfaction. This relationship was slightly less strong for family to work conflict. Although confidence intervals overlap, the relationship between job–life satisfaction and w-f conflict may be stronger for women than men. Future research should strive for greater consistency and construct development of measures, examination of how sample composition influences findings, and increased integration of human resources policy and role conflict perspectives, including whether a positive relationship between w-f policies and satisfaction is mediated by w-f conflict. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
We define work-family enrichment as the extent to which experiences in one role improve the quality of life in the other role. In this article we propose a theoretical model of work-family enrichment and offer a series of research propositions that reflect two paths to enrichment: an instrumental path and an affective path. We then examine the implications of the model for future research on the work-family enrichment process.
Researchers report on a 3-sample study that developed and validated short, self-report scales of work–family conflict (WFC) and family–work conflict (FWC). Using conceptualizations consistent with the current literature, the researchers offer content domains and definitions of the constructs. Advocated procedures were used to develop the scales and test dimensionality and internal consistency. Estimates of construct validity are presented by relating the scales to 16 other on- and off-job constructs. Mean-level difference tests between WFC and FWC also provide evidence of validity.
Previous research has demonstrated that the use of general behaviors specified by a life-management strategy entitled Selection,
Optimization, and Compensation (SOC) reduces, if only to a small extent, the perceived amounts of the main antecedents (i.e.,
job/family stressors) of work-family conflict. The results of the current study demonstrate that several variables that impact
the amount of resources demanded of, or resources available to, an individual (e.g., supervisor support) moderate the relationship
between SOC behaviors and job/family stressors. Specifically, SOC strategies are more effective than previously thought at
reducing job/family stressors for precisely those individuals in the most demanding situations.
The present study examines global employee perceptions regarding the extent their work organization is family-supportive (FSOP). Data gathered from 522 participants employed in a variety of occupations and organizations indicated that FSOP responses related significantly to the number of family-friendly benefits offered by the organization, benefit usage, and perceived family support from supervisors. FSOP responses also explained a significant amount of unique variance associated with work–family conflict, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intentions above and beyond the variance explained by the number of family-friendly benefits available by the organization and supervisor support. Results indicated that FSOP mediates the relationship between family-friendly benefits available and the dependent variables of work–family conflict, affective commitment, and job satisfaction. FSOP also mediated the relationship between supervisor support and work–family conflict. The results underscore the important role that perceptions of the overall work environment play in determining employee reactions to family-friendly benefit policies.
Despite the positive press given to flexible work arrangements (FWA), empirical research investigating the link between the availability of these policies and work–family conflict is largely equivocal. The purpose of the present study was to begin to reconcile these mixed results through more precise measurement and the examination of moderators. Using a sample of employed women, we found that FWA relate more highly to work interference with family (WIF) than to family interference with work (FIW) and that temporal flexibility (flextime) has a stronger relationship with WIF than does spatial flexibility (flexplace). Additionally, we found family responsibility significantly moderated these relationships, such that the relationship was stronger for those with greater family responsibility. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.
This paper is a comprehensive meta-analysis of over 20 years of work-family conflict research. A series of path analyses were conducted to compare and contrast existing work-family conflict models, as well as a new model we developed which integrates and synthesizes current work-family theory and research. This new model accounted for 40% of the variance in job satisfaction, 38% of the variance in family satisfaction, and 35% of the variance in life satisfaction. In a critical examination of work-family linkages, a series of analyses excluding work-family conflict constructs and pathways resulted in a well-fitting and more parsimonious model that still accounted for 39% of the variance in job satisfaction, 37% of the variance in family satisfaction, and 33% of the variance in life satisfaction. Results indicate that direct effects drive work-family conflict models while indirect effects provide little incremental explanation in regards to satisfaction outcomes.
We examine professionals’ use of telecommuting, perceptions of psychological job control, and boundary management strategies. We contend that work–family research should distinguish between descriptions of flexibility use (formal telecommuting policy user, amount of telecommuting practiced) and how the individual psychologically experiences flexibility (perceived control over where, when, and how one works, boundary management strategies regarding separation between work and family roles). Survey and interview data were collected from 245 professionals in two Fortune 500 firms with telework policies. Employees who perceived greater psychological job control had significantly lower turnover intentions, family–work conflict, and depression. Boundary management strategies higher on integration were positively related to family–work conflict. Although we found a main effect for formal policy use and higher depression, an interaction existed where women users with children had lower depression. Formal use positively related to supervisor performance ratings. Future research should distinguish between descriptive use and psychological experiences of flexibility.
Although research has examined work-family issues and organizational support for employees’ family responsibilities, few studies have explored the work-life issues of single employees without children. The current study examines single employees’ perceptions of how their organizations support their work-life balance in comparison to employees with families. A multi-dimensional scale is developed assessing five dimensions of singles-friendly culture: social inclusion, equal work opportunities, equal access to benefits, equal respect for nonwork life, and equal work expectations. Employees with families perceived more equity in most of these facets than did singles. Managerial and professional employees with higher incomes also perceived their organizations as more singles-friendly. Finally, social inclusion predicted organizational commitment for single employees, and this effect was mediated by perceived organizational support. In contrast, more equal work opportunities were related to lower turnover intentions among childfree singles.
Times are changing for Americans in the workplace and at home. The US workforce not only looks different today than it did three decades ago as a result of increased participation by women — but it is also different in more subtle, less visible ways. In this chapter, we identify emerging trends showing that women are, for the first time, on a par with men in their desire to advance to jobs with more responsibility, while converging gender roles at work and at home have left men experiencing more work-family conflict than women.
The process of people's investment in work and family roles is poorly understood. Traditionally, investment in such roles has been considered the product of utilitarian motives. An alternative perspective, derived from social identity theory, suggests that identity salience determines this investment. Proponents of the two approaches differ in describing sources of work-family conflict and methods of achieving work-family balance. Despite the competing predictions of the two approaches future research on the moderating effects of gender, life stage, and culture may prove fruitful for researchers who wish to elaborate upon an integrated model.
We examine one potential reason for the persistence of the glass ceiling: bosses' perceptions of female subordinates' family-work conflict. Person categorization and social role theories are used to examine whether bosses (both male and female) perceive women as having greater family-work conflict and therefore view them as mismatched to their organizations and jobs. The results support our model: bosses' perceptions of family-work conflict mediated the relationships between subordinate sex and perceptions of person-organization fit, person-job fit, and performance. Both types of fit were related to promotability (nomination for promotion and managerassessed promotability). We discuss implications for practice and future research.
In this paper we review empirical studies that relate aspects of work life to aspects of life outside of work. Specifically, we examine studies pertaining to two broad issues: (1) the association between social structures of the workplace (i.e., working conditions) and behaviors and attitudes of the worker toward life away from work; and (2) the association between social structures outside the workplace (i.e., living conditions) and behaviors and attitudes toward work. We conclude that the research reviewed supports the finding that moderate correlations exist between both pairs of variables. However, further research is needed to assess the strength and direction of these relationships, and to answer basic questions about the nature of these relationships.
The process of people's investment in work and family roles is poorly understood. Traditionally, investment in such roles has been considered the product of utilitarian motives. An alternative perspective, derived from social identity theory, suggests that identity salience determines this investment. Proponents of the two approaches differ in describing sources of work-family conflict and methods of achieving work-family balance. Despite the competing predictions of the two approaches, future research on the moderating effects of gender, life stage, and culture may prove fruitful for researchers who wish to elaborate upon an integrated model.
The assumption that multiplicity of roles produces a strong tendency toward role strain as a consequence of role conflict or role overload is disputed. The benefits of role accumulation tend to outweigh any stress to which it might give rise, thereby yielding net gratification. Four types of rewards derived from role accumulation are discussed: role-privileges; overall status security; resources for status enhancement and role performance; and enrichment of the personality and ego gratification. The importance of taking rights more fully into account in research and theory is emphasized. The possibility that barriers to role accumulation are a source of social instability is briefly assayed.
Positive organizational scholarship is the study of that which is positive, flourishing, and life-giving in organizations. Positive refers to the elevating processes and outcomes in organizations. Organizational refers to the interpersonal and structural dynamics activated in and through organizations, specifically taking into account the context in which positive phenomena occur. Scholarship refers to the scientific, theoretically derived, and rigorous investigation of that which is positive in organizational settings. This article introduces this new field of study and identifies some of its key contributions.
This study compared theoretical perspectives on the psychological and paid labor activity implications of mandating mothers initially on US welfare to participate in labor force ac- tivities. Data were collected that reflected these areas: government public policy interven- tions, family social ecology measures, mothers psychological and human capital, and community capital. A quasi-experimental design was used, and multiple source data was col- lected over time. In the initial part of the study, 144 welfare mothers and one of their chil- dren between 9 and 13 years were interviewed. Results indicated that having high levels of individual human and psychological capital and lower levels of family social ecological bar- riers predicted higher levels of maternal paid labor market activity and psychological well-being. Using archival records, additional analyses involved a 32-month review of state records for nearly 1200 mothers initially on welfare. Results revealed that the lower ones
Describes Karl E. Weick's role in developing organizational communication research and illustrates how others have adopted and utilized some of his pivotal concepts. Summarizes ways in which ongoing research has enhanced understanding of organizing as communicating, organizing as sense-making, and organizational culture. (SG)
An investigation into organizational conditions and situations conducive to satisfaction as well as the nature and prevalence of pressures arising from opposing and incompatible institutional demands. By means of the case-study method, interviews, and a nationwide survey the effects of these demands upon roles are examined. These effects are related to individual personality characteristics and interpersonal relations. (140-item bibliogr.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The Second Edition of this classic work, first published in 1981 and an international bestseller, explores the differences in thinking and social action that exist among members of more than 50 modern nations. Geert Hofstede argues that people carry "mental programs" which are developed in the family in early childhood and reinforced in schools and organizations, and that these programs contain components of national culture. They are expressed most clearly in the different values that predominate among people from different countries. Geert Hofstede has completely rewritten, revised and updated Cultures Consequences for the twenty-first century, he has broadened the book's cross-disciplinary appeal, expanded the coverage of countries examined from 40 to more than 50, reformulated his arguments and a large amount of new literature has been included. The book is structured around five major dimensions: power distance; uncertainty avoidance; individualism versus collectivism; masculinity versus femininity; and long term versus short-term orientation. --Publisher.
Simple, inexpensive programs that teach managers to be more supportive of their direct reports' work/life issues can generate big returns in employee health and satisfaction, according to a multiyear study of hundreds of frontline workers and dozens of supervisors.
In a secondary analysis of data from 220 women serving in the U.S. Air Force and their spouses, we examined the effects of job and family stressors on work-family conflict (WFC) and family-work conflict (FWC), focusing on the crossover of these experiences from one spouse to the other. We found positive relationships of WFC with both job and family stressors for wives and with job stressors for husbands. We also found that job and family stressors predicted FWC for wives, but not for husbands. Furthermore, spouse's support buffered the relationship between one's job stressors and the experience of WFC for wives but accelerated these relationships for husbands. Our findings support the bidirectional crossover of WFC from one spouse to another.
Two conflicting frameworks for understanding work–family conflict are proposed. According to the rational view, conflict is related linearly to the total amount of time spent in paid and family work. According to the gender role perspective, gender role expectations mute the relationship between hours expended and perceived work–family conflict, and gender interacts with number of hours worked and work–family conflict. Two measures of work–family conflict were used to assess, respectively, work interference with family and family interference with work. Two separate samples of employed people with families were used: a systematically selected sample of psychologists and a volunteer sample of managers. The results generally support (a) the usefulness of separate indicators of work–family conflict and (b) aspects of both the rational view and the gender role view.
This research tested a multilevel model examining the influence of work-family culture and supportive workplace relationships on work interference with family. Web-based survey data were provided by 792 information technology employees from 10 organizations. Random coefficient modeling was used to test a path model examining the relationships between work-family culture, leader-member exchange (LMX), coworker support, and work interference with family. The direct effects of LMX and coworker support on work interference with family were significant. The indirect effect of work-family culture on work interference with family was also significant. Results demonstrate the value of work-family culture in understanding supportive supervisory and coworker relationships and work interference with family and highlight the need to employ multilevel models to understand these relationships. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Using person-environment fit theory, this article formulates a conceptual model that links work, family, and boundary-spanning demands and resources to work and family role performance and quality. Linking mechanisms include 2 dimensions of perceived work-family fit (work demands–family resources fit and family demands–work resources fit) and a global assessment of perceived work-family balance. Work, family, and boundary-spanning demands and resources are associated with the 2 dimensions of fit, which combine with boundary-spanning strategies to influence work-family balance, which in turn affects role performance and quality. The model provides a framework for clarifying and integrating previous conceptualizations, measures, and empirical research regarding perceived work-family fit and balance as linkages between the work-family interface and outcomes. The article closes with suggestions for further work.
The overlap between measures of work-to-family (WFC) and family-to-work conflict (FWC) was meta-analytically investigated. Researchers have assumed WFC and FWC to be distinct, however, this assumption requires empirical verification. Across 25 independent samples (total N = 9079) the sample size weighted mean observed correlation was .38 and the reliability corrected correlation was .48. The pattern of external correlates for the two types of conflict was also examined. Both forms of conflict had similar (.41) reliability corrected correlations with measures of organizational withdrawal. WFC conflict correlated .41 (k = 15, N = 4714) with job stressors and .17 (k = 13, N = 3312) with non-work stressors whereas FWC conflict correlated .27 with job stressors and .23 with non-work stressors. Correlations between the two forms of work/family conflict and other variables such as organizational commitment, job and life satisfaction, and health were examined. Implications for the discriminant validity of the two types of conflict measures are discussed.