The passage of time in work-family research: Toward a more dynamic perspective

Effects of strain on boundary management: findings from a daily diary study and an experimental vignette study

Introduction

Transformations in the work-nonwork interface highlight the importance of effectively managing the boundaries between life domains. However, do the ways individuals manage the boundaries between work and nonwork life change from one day to the next? If so, which antecedents may explain these intra-individual fluctuations in boundary management? Drawing on boundary management, spillover, and resource theories, we investigate daily changes in segmentation preferences and integration enactments as a function of experiencing strain in work and nonwork life. Assuming that changes in segmentation preferences reflect an individual's strategy to regulate negative cross-role spillover, we suppose that strain increases individuals' segmentation preferences; at the same time, however, it could force individuals to enact more integration.

Methods

We test our assumptions with data from two studies with different methodological approaches. The first study uses a daily diary research design (Study 1, 425 participants with 3,238 daily observations) in which full-time professionals rated strain in work and nonwork life, segmentation preferences, and integration enactments every evening for 10 workdays. The second study uses an experimental vignette research design (Study 2, 181 participants), where we experimentally manipulated strain in work and nonwork life and investigated causal effects on participants' hypothetical segmentation preferences.

Results

The results of multilevel modeling analyses in Study 1 show that segmentation preferences and integration enactments fluctuate from day to day as a function of strain. More specifically, strain is related to preferring more segmentation but enacting more integration. Study 2 replicates the results of Study 1, showing that strain causally affects segmentation preferences.

Discussion

This two-study paper is one of the first to address daily fluctuations in segmentation preferences and integration enactments, extending our knowledge of temporal dynamics in boundary management. Furthermore, it demonstrates that strain is an antecedent of these daily fluctuations, offering starting points for practical interventions.

Opening the doors for spillovers: a contingency view of the effects of work from home on the work-home interface

Why do employees experience work from home (WFH) differently? We draw on boundary theory to explain how WFH influences employees' work-home interface. WFH intensity increases negative spillovers (i.e., work-to-home conflict and home-to-work conflict) and positive spillovers (i.e., work-to-home enrichment and home-to-work enrichment) between the work and home domains. Negative spillovers can be mitigated through high-quality work equipment and beneficial spatial conditions at home. Domain centrality predicts who can benefit from increased WFH intensity. We test our theory with a sample of 545 employees, obtained through a two-step random sampling procedure in the city of Munich/Germany during the COVID-19 pandemic. We find that WFH intensity increases work-to-home conflict and home-to-work enrichment, affecting employees' relationship satisfaction and job satisfaction. High-quality work equipment mitigates the detrimental effects of WFH. Employees with a high family centrality can reap benefits of more WFH because they experience more home-to-work enrichment. The simultaneous desirable and detrimental effects of WFH intensity can partly explain why studies have found heterogenous WFH experiences among employees.

The Relationship Between Work-to-Family Conflict and Conspicuous Consumption: An Identity Theory Perspective

Purpose

The adverse effects of work-to-family conflict in occupational health fields have been widely concerned. However, we do not yet know whether and how work-to-family conflict affects people's consumption behavior. This study used identity theory as the conceptual framework to test the hidden link between work-to-family conflict and conspicuous consumption, the possible underlying mechanism of status anxiety, and the boundary condition of work-family centrality.

Methods

We conducted two quantitative studies to test the hypotheses. Study 1 used a cross-sectional survey (N = 486) to test the relationship between work-to-family conflict and conspicuous consumption and the mechanism of the relationship. Study 2 used a 10-day daily diary survey (N_between = 100, N_within = 776) to duplicate the results of Study 1 and further test the moderating effect of work-family centrality.

Results

We found that work-to-family conflict was positively related to conspicuous consumption, and this relationship was mediated by increased status anxiety. Moreover, this mediating effect was more substantial for employees with lower work-family centrality.

Conclusion

This research is the first to link work-to-family conflict and conspicuous consumption theoretically and empirically. The findings supported identity theory, adding new knowledge to the consequences of work-to-family conflict and contributing to organizations' prevention and intervention programs on behavioral health issues in work-family conflict.

Developing and Testing a Model of Dynamic Changes in Work-School Conflict and Workplace Deviance Over Time

Work-school conflict is a major stressor for many college students who have paid jobs while in college. Although work-school conflict experience is dynamic, the extant research has predominantly cast it and its consequences as between-person phenomena from a static perspective, ignoring its inherent temporal nature. As a result, little is known about the intra-individual changes in work-school conflict and their associated consequences as implied by the related theory. Drawing on the stressor-emotion model of counterproductive work behavior, we conducted a longitudinal weekly diary study to examine how work-school conflict change can predict changes in negative emotions and workplace deviance (i.e., the change-to-change effects). We also tested core self-evaluation, time management skill, and financial well-being as moderators of the proposed mediated relationship. Results from latent change score modeling showed that upward work-school conflict change had a positive relationship with upward workplace deviance change via upward changes in negative emotions. Further, time management skill and financial well-being weakened the indirect relationships between upward work-school conflict change and upward workplace deviance change. However, the moderating nature of core self-evaluation on the indirect relationship contrasted with our hypothesis. Implications for theory and future research are discussed along with implications for organizations and college institutions.

Resign or carry-on? District and principal leadership as drivers of change in teacher turnover intentions during the COVID-19 crisis: A latent growth model examination

During the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers in the United States, an already at-risk occupation group, experienced new work-related stressors, safety concerns, and work-life challenges, magnifying on-going retention concerns. Integrating the crisis management literature with the unfolding model of turnover, we theorize that leader actions trigger initial employee responses but also set the stage for on-going crisis response that influence changes in teachers' turnover intentions. We apply latent growth curve modelling to test our hypotheses based on a sample of 617 K-12 teachers using nine waves of data, including a baseline survey at the start of the 2020-2021 school year and eight follow-up surveys (2-week lags) through the Fall 2020 semester. In terms of overall adaptation, teachers on average, experienced an increase in work-life balance and a decrease in turnover intentions over the course of the semester. Results also suggest that district and school leadership provide unique and complementary resources, but leader behaviours that shape initial crisis responses do not similarly affect employee responses during crisis, contrary to theory. Instead, teachers' adaptive crisis response trajectories were triggered by continued resource provision over the semester; increasing provision of valued resources (i.e., continued refinement of safety practices) and improvements in work-life balance prevented turnover intentions from spiralling throughout the crisis. Crisis management theory and research should continue to incorporate temporal dynamics and identify factors that contribute to crisis response trajectories, using designs and analyses that allow for examination as crises unfold in real time.

Spillover and crossover effects of social support through work-family balance: a time-lagged analysis in Italian dyads

Purpose

Building on the spillover-crossover model (Bakker and Demerouti, 2013), this study aimed to examine the processes through which three forms of social support at work (i.e. from coworkers, from supervisor and organizational family-friendly) were positively associated with an individual's level of work-family balance (spillover effect), and through this latter, with one's partner's family life satisfaction (crossover effect), via the partner's perception of family social support as provided by the incumbent person.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors sampled 369 heterosexual couples using a time-lagged design, surveying forms of social support at work and work-family balance at t1 and family social support and partner's family life satisfaction at t2. Data were analyzed through structural equation modeling.

Findings

The results showed that coworkers’ support and organizational family-friendly support positively predicted work-family balance. Furthermore, work-family balance mediated the associations between organizational family-friendly support and coworkers’ support with instrumental family social support. Moreover, only emotional family social support positively predicted partner's family life satisfaction.

Originality/value

The authors simultaneously examined the direct and indirect associations of three concurrent forms of social support at work with one's work-family balance (spillover effect). Moreover, in line with the spillover-crossover model, the authors adopted a systemic approach and assessed how one's work-family balance is associated with emotional and instrumental family social support as perceived by one's partner and the latter's family life satisfaction (crossover effect).

Work-family conflict and depressive symptoms among dual-earner couples in Germany: A dyadic and longitudinal analysis

This study contributes to the existing literature by testing the longitudinal effects of both types of work-family conflict (i.e., work-to-family conflict [WTFC] and family-to-work conflict [FTWC]) on depressive symptoms, using data from three waves of the German Family Panel (pairfam) survey collected over a four-year period. Using responses from 631 married or cohabiting heterosexual couples, the analyses are estimated using dyadic data analysis and auto-regressive and cross-lagged panel models. This analytical approach tests direct causation, reverse causation, and reciprocal relationships among WTFC, FTWC and depressive symptoms. The results suggest a reciprocal relationship with significant cross-lagged actor effects between WTFC (and FTWC) and depressive symptoms. However, there were no gender differences in the cross-lagged actor effects between men and women, and no significant partner effects. These results highlight the bidirectional nature of the relationship between work-family conflict and depressive symptoms, which has several implications for research and practice.

What Are Work-Related Predictors of Post-COVID-19 Home and Family Work Roles? A Cross-Sectional Survey

OBJECTIVE

To determine the extent to which pre-and post-COVID-19 work-related factors can explain post-COVID-19 home and family work roles.

METHODS

This study was a cross-sectional survey. The primary outcome measure was the Home and Family Work Roles Questionnaire. Descriptive statistical methods and multiple regression analyses were run. The significant predictors were further probed in a one-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) model with a Tukey posthoc correction.

RESULTS

In our sample of 1447 participants, the two significant predictors of post-COVID-19 home and family work roles were pre-pandemic paid job status (F [3, 1401] = 5.66, P < 0.001), and pre-COVID-19 home and family work roles (F [1, 1401] = 2509.26, P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Greater pre-pandemic home and family role responsibilities, full-time and part-time employment pre-COVID-19 were associated with greater post-COVID-19 home and family responsibilities.

Predicting Work-Life Conflict: Types and Levels of Enacted and Preferred Work-Nonwork Boundary (In)Congruence and Perceived Boundary Control

In 2020, everyday life changed dramatically for employees worldwide as a result of the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, where an estimated 558 million employees started working from home. The pandemic, therefore, marks a fundamental shift of individuals’ work-nonwork boundaries, which can impact work-life conflict. In particular, the interplay between individuals’ enacted boundaries (degree to which they separate/segment or blend/integrate work-nonwork), preferred boundaries (degree of preferred segmentation or integration of work-nonwork), and perceived control over work-nonwork boundaries, may relate to work-life conflict. This study, the first to the best of our knowledge, examines whether different types and levels of work-nonwork boundary (in)congruence matter for work-life conflict, and whether perceived boundary control moderates these relationships. Boundary (in)congruence represents the degree of (mis)fit between enacted and preferred segmentation or integration. Several types of (in)congruence are distinguished: “segmentation congruence” (enacting and preferring segmentation); “integration congruence” (enacting and preferring integration); “intrusion” (enacting integration but preferring segmentation) and “distance” (enacting segmentation but preferring integration). Data from 1,229 managers working in public and private organizations in Sweden was analyzed using polynomial regression analysis with response surface modeling and moderation analysis in SPSS Process. Findings showed that “integration congruence” was related with higher work-life conflict than “segmentation congruence.” Moreover, a U-shaped relationship between incongruence and work-life conflict was found: the more incongruence, the more work-life conflict. Specifically, “intrusion” was related to higher work-life conflict than “distance.” Finally, boundary control mitigated the effect of incongruence (especially “intrusion”) on work-life conflict. From our findings, we may conclude that work-life conflict is impacted differently depending on the type and level of boundary (in)congruence. Particularly enacted and/or preferred integration may be problematic when it comes to work-life conflict, rather than just (in)congruence per se. Moreover, boundary control can be viewed as a key factor in combating work-life conflict, especially among individuals who enact integration, but prefer segmentation. Taken together, our study contributes new and substantial knowledge by showing the importance for research and HRM-policies that take into account different types and levels of boundary (in)congruence, as these are associated with different levels of work-life conflict, which, in turn, are moderated by boundary control.

Daily Work-Family Conflict and Burnout to Explain the Leaving Intentions and Vitality Levels of Healthcare Workers: Interactive Effects Using an Experience-Sampling Method

There is an intensification of work in global health systems, a phenomenon that could increase work-family conflict, exhaustion, and intentions to leave among healthcare workers. The main objective of this study is to analyze if daily work-family conflict and burnout could explain the daily leaving intentions and vitality of healthcare workers. This is a diary study, which employs an experience-sampling methodology (ESM). A total of 56 physicians, nurses, and nursing aides from intensive care and nephrology units filled out various quantitative scales during 5 working days (56 × 5 = 280 observations). Multilevel hierarchical analysis showed that daily work-family conflict and burnout were significantly associated with higher daily intentions of leaving the profession, and with lower levels of daily vitality. In addition, those workers who experienced more work-family conflict and depersonalization on a daily basis were those who showed more intentions to leave and less daily vitality, showing an interactive effect. The results highlight the importance of examining the psychosocial risks experienced by healthcare workers by employing experience-sampling methodologies, which could help us to deepen our understanding of the proximal antecedents of their intentions to leave and their psychological well-being.

An examination of the temporal order of helping behaviours and emotional exhaustion

An emerging body of research has investigated the relationship between helping (as a type of organizational citizenship behaviour) and emotional exhaustion (as an aspect of employee health). Research has demonstrated a significant relationship between helping and emotional exhaustion, but the theoretical arguments for the causal direction vary across studies. Specifically, some researchers have conceptualized helping as an outcome of emotional exhaustion, while others have regarded helping as a predictor of emotional exhaustion. This lack of theoretical clarity in directionality hinders the field's ability to summarize existing empirical findings cohesively and elucidate theoretical mechanisms. Therefore, this study attempts to clarify the theoretical directionality between helping and emotional exhaustion using four waves of data collected at 6-month intervals. Autoregressive cross-lagged analyses with auto-correlations revealed that more helping was associated with less future emotional exhaustion from Wave 1 to Wave 2, but from Wave 2 to Wave 3, the directionality reversed, as less emotional exhaustion significantly predicted more future helping, and from Wave 3 to Wave 4, both prediction directions were no longer significant. The findings suggest that helping and emotional exhaustion reciprocally affect each other, though the reciprocal pattern may disappear across time. The present study sheds light on the theoretical relationship between helping and emotional exhaustion, and provides theoretical and practical implications.

Unpacking the Meaning of Work for Individuals Living With Serious Mental Illness

Individuals diagnosed with serious mental illnesses continue to experience work-related disparities despite the existence of evidence-based practices. Understanding the meaning of work among these individuals is key to developing interventions grounded in career development theory and practice. This qualitative inquiry adapted a consensual qualitative research approach and utilized a participatory component to conduct an in-depth exploration of the meaning of work among a national sample of young adults and older adults living with serious mental illness. The psychology of working perspective was applied to the results after analyses. Results revealed categories that clustered within four overarching domains pertaining to work as central to survival, social connectedness, self-determination, and mental health recovery as proposed by the theory. Implications for services, research, and policy are discussed.