Innovative Ideas on How Work-Family Research Can Have More Impact

The Measurement and Preliminary Application of the Concept of Family Centrality

Family centrality refers to value judgment regarding the relative importance of family in an individual's life. In contrast to bidirectional research in the field of work-family relationships, much work had been done about the work centrality, whereas few works of research discussed family centrality as an independent concept. Thus, the present study systematically discussed the concept of family centrality in Chinese culture and the preliminary validation of its measurement through two cross-sectional studies. In study 1, questionnaires were distributed to two sub-samples through convenient sampling; one included 185 participants (mean age of 35.51 ± 10.30) and other included 189 participants (mean age of 31.39 ± 6.82). In study 2, through convenient sampling, questionnaires were distributed to 351 participants with a mean age of 35.15 (SD = 9.44) years. Results of Study 1 supported that the Family Centrality Questionnaire (FCQ) has a single-factor structure with good reliability and validity. Additionally, family centrality and work centrality are two independent concepts that can be distinguished on conceptional and applicational levels. Results of Study 2 showed that family centrality had an indirect effect on life wellbeing through life involvement (β = 0.073, 95% CI [0.032, 0128]), and work centrality had an indirect effect on work wellbeing through work involvement (β = 0.089, 95% CI [0.046, 0.142]). Further, family centrality had a spillover effect on work wellbeing through work involvement (β = -0.079, 95% CI [-0.125, -0.42]), and work centrality has a spillover effect on life wellbeing through family involvement (β = -0.053, 95% CI [-0.095, -0.22]). Overall, the results showed that the FCQ can be used as a scientific measurement for future research.

Self-Regulation of Slippery Deadlines: The Role of Procrastination in Work Performance

We investigated the causes and impact of procrastination on "slippery deadlines," where the due date is ill-defined and can be autonomously extended, using the unique applied setting of grievance arbitration across two studies. In Study One, using 3 years of observed performance data derived from Canadian arbitration cases and a survey of leading arbitrators, we examined the effect of individual differences, self-regulatory skills, workloads and task characteristics on time delay. Observed delay here is a critical criterion, where justice is emphasized to be swift and sure. Multilevel Modeling established trait procrastination as a substantive predictor of observed delay, equivalent to the environmental contributors of expediting the arbitration procedure or grievance complexity. Also, despite substantive negative consequence of delay for both arbitrators and their clients, arbitrators who scored one standard deviation above the mean in procrastination took approximately 83 days to write their decisions compared to the 26 days for arbitrators one standard deviation below the mean. In Study Two, we conducted a replication and extension survey with a much larger group of American arbitrators. Consistent with Temporal Motivation Theory (TMT), trait procrastination was largely explained by expectancy, value, and sensitivity to time related traits and skills, which together accounted for majority of the variance in trait procrastination, leaving little left for other explanations. For example, perfectionism connection to procrastination appears to be distal, being largely mediated by each of TMT's core variables. Finally, procrastination was largely synonymous with a deadline pacing style, indicating that observed delay can be used as a proxy for procrastination as long as little or no prior work was done (e.g., a u-shaped pacing style is not synonymous). In all, our results indicate that procrastination is rampant in the workplace and has seriously detrimental effects.

Double-edged effects of ethical leadership in the development of Greater China salespeople's emotional exhaustion and long-term customer relationships

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present how ethical leadership has a double-edged effect to influence emotional exhaustion and long-term customer relationship developments of employees in a sales management context through a latent growth model (LGM).

Design/methodology/approach

To test the LGM, data were collected by surveying 407 salespeople of a retail travel agency with 814 customers in Greater China at multiple points over an eight-month period.

Findings

This study found that, as salespeople perceived more ethical leadership at Time 1, they were more likely to show increases in the work engagement development that increased the service performance development and increased the work–family conflict development over time. In addition, increases in service performance development influenced increases in customer relationship development and increases in work–family conflict development also influenced the emotional exhaustion development.

Originality/value

These findings help managers understand that enabling salespeople to use their full capabilities to their work by ethical leadership may bring not only high service performance but also negative factors that erode salespeople’s well-being.

Life enrichment for workers in contemporary China

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify key antecedents of work-family enrichment (WFE) for Chinese workers in China. The paper adopts the Chinese cultural perspectives (i.e. philosophy of Confucian: Chinese family orientation and collectivism) as well as traditional Chinese philosophies of life as a whole.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a conceptual paper. Therefore, this section does not apply.

Findings

The key antecedents of Chinese WFE have been identified and presented in the conceptual framework. Testable propositions have also been developed and presented in this paper.

Practical implications

The conceptual framework showing the identified key antecedents of Chinese WFE highlights the necessity for the corporate leaders to rethink the ways to promote well-being and productivity of Chinese workforce in China. Meanwhile, managers should rethink about WFE among Chinese employees and regard employees as a whole person rather than just a worker with certain skills or abilities.

Originality/value

This is the first paper to propose the concept of life enrichment by examining the antecedents of WFE particularly from the Chinese philosophical and cultural perspective.

A conservation of resources view of personal engagement in the development of innovative behavior and work-family conflict

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine how personal engagement (PE) may be related with work-family conflict (WFC) and innovative behavior (IB) at the same time.

Design/methodology/approach

This study tested the proposed model using a longitudinal data with 1,501 employees from R&D departments in information technology industry of Greater China at multiple points (Time 1 to Time 3) in time over a ten-month period.

Findings

This study exhibits how charismatic leadership style, colleague support (CS), and self-esteem (SE) are capable of predicting the PE, which, in turn, positively related to the IB and the WFC.

Research limitations/implications

The present study proposed a model of the PE, but there are other variables that might also be important for the PE.

Practical implications

These finding suggests that managers not only must inspire and enable employees to apply their full energy to their work (e.g. PE), but must also alleviate the WFC.

Originality/value

The study drawn from Kahn’s (1990) engagement theory and conservation of resources view to explain how the leadership style, CS, and SE can increase PE, which, in turn, increase positive organization behavior (IB) and negative organization behavior (WFC) at the same time.

Beyond Work-Life "Integration"

Research on the work-family interface began in the 1960s and has grown exponentially ever since. This vast amount of research, however, has had relatively little impact on workplace practice, and work-family conflict is at an all-time high. We review the work-family research to date and propose that a shift of attention is required, away from the individual experience of work and family and toward understanding how identity and status are defined at work. Several factors enshrine cherished identities around current workplace norms. The work devotion schema demands that those who are truly committed to their work will make it the central or sole focus of their lives, without family demands to distract them. Importantly, the work devotion schema underwrites valued class and gender identities: Work devotion is a key way of enacting elite class status and functions as the measure of a man--the longer the work hours and higher the demand for his attention, the better. Advocating change in the way work is done and life is lived meets resistance because it places these cherished identities at risk. Resistance to these identity threats keeps current workplace norms in place. This is why even the business case-which shows that current practices are not economically efficient-fails to persuade organizations to enact change. What is needed now is sustained attention to the implicit psychological infrastructure that cements the mismatch between today's workplace and today's workforce.

Work-home interference and work values in Greater China

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediating effects of work-home interference (WHI) on the relationships between work demand, work attitudes, and job performance, with a focus on the moderating effect of Chinese work values (CWV).

Design/methodology/approach

– A self-administered survey method was used. The sample comprised 1,032 employees from Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The moderated mediation framework was used to test the proposed model.

Findings

– The results showed that WHI mediated the relationships among work demand, job satisfaction, and affective organizational commitment (AOC), but did not mediate the relationship between work demand and job performance. CWV moderated the mediated relationships and exacerbated the mediation effects of WHI on the relationships between work demand and job satisfaction and AOC.

Research limitations/implications

– The use of a cross-sectional design prevented the drawing of causal inference. With the exception of job performance, the self-reported measures are all subject to the problem of common method bias.

Practical implications

– Organizations in Greater China could implement stress management programs to reduce the negative effects of work demands. HR practitioners and managers should understand what values their employees hold to provide the proper interventions for them.

Originality/value

– By integrating both the mediator (WHI) and a moderator (CWV), this study investigated how CWV, an individual-level cultural value, affects the influences of WHI. The results highlight the importance of incorporating culturally specific value constructs when examining the underlying mechanisms of WHI.