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1 – 10 of over 6000Sana Shabir, Omar Fayaz Khan and Abdul Gani
The turn of the twenty-first century witnessed significant shifts in the global work environment that led to employees’ personal and professional lives witnessing dynamic…
Abstract
Purpose
The turn of the twenty-first century witnessed significant shifts in the global work environment that led to employees’ personal and professional lives witnessing dynamic transformations. Work-life interference has become the norm rather than the exception for most employees, who, of late, experience more significant interference in balancing work obligations and family responsibilities. This study aims to examine the bi-directional interference experienced by working women in India’s health-care sector.
Design/methodology/approach
For this study, 850 questionnaires were distributed to selected health-care workers in Northern India. After eliminating the invalid questionnaires, 782 valid questionnaires were retained and used for further analyzes.
Findings
The study results revealed that working women in a collectivistic culture such as India experience higher work interference on personal life than personal life interference on work in the health sector. However, women health-care workers with higher support from their employers, families and colleagues experienced lower interference levels. Therefore, health organizations need to put a system in place to ensure the least interference in women employees’ personal lives by providing both emotional and institutional support.
Originality/value
This study undertakes to conceptualize the bidirectional nature of the work-life interface among India’s health-care workers. The findings would direct employers, employees and the practitioners involved in the health-care sector to execute policies and practices that attempt to facilitate work-life integration among the workers and generate positive organizational outcomes.
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Lars G. Tummers and Babette A.C. Bronkhorst
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of leadership on work-family spillovers. Specifically, we analyze the relationships between leadership (leader-member exchange…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of leadership on work-family spillovers. Specifically, we analyze the relationships between leadership (leader-member exchange (LMX) with one negative work-family spillover effect (work-family interference) and one positive work-family spillover effect (work-family facilitation). The authors hypothesize that LMX influences work-family spillover via different mediators, rather than one all-encompassing mediator, such as empowerment.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors hypothesize that a good relationship with your supervisor (high LMX) diminishes work pressure, which in turn reduces work-family interference. Furthermore, the authors expect that a good relationship with your supervisor positively relates to the meaningfulness of work, as you could get more interesting work and more understanding of your role within the organization. In turn, this will increase work-family facilitation. These hypotheses are tested using a nation-wide survey among Dutch healthcare professionals.
Findings
Findings of structural equation modeling (SEM) indeed indicate that high-quality LMX is negatively related to work-family interference, and that this is mediated by work pressure (53 percent explained variance). Furthermore, the authors found that a good relationship with your supervisor is positively related to meaningfulness of work, which in turn positively correlates to work-family facilitation (16 percent explained variance).
Originality/value
The added value of the paper lies in introducing two mediators – work pressure and meaningful work – which worked adequately both theoretically and empirically, instead of the sometimes problematic mediators empowerment and stress; a focus on healthcare professionals; and using sophisticated techniques to test the model (SEM with bootstrapping).
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Robert J. Blomme, Jenny Sok, Arjan van Rheede and Debbie M. Tromp
The relationship between work and family has long been the subject of lively debate in the political, public, and academic arena. Employers in the hospitality industry should…
Abstract
The relationship between work and family has long been the subject of lively debate in the political, public, and academic arena. Employers in the hospitality industry should carefully consider the work–family balance of their employees because maintaining a good balance will result in lower costs, lower sick rates, and lower staff turnover. The term “balance” refers to the way in which work interferes with life at home and how home life interferes with work. It includes both the positive and negative effects that work has on the family domain and vice versa. As research on the psychological contract approach to the employment relationship is scarce with regard to work–family interference, it became the subject of this study. The results demonstrate that psychological contract measures, in particular time commitment, can explain work–family conflict, while job content can explain work–family enrichment. In addition, the study revealed that with the appearance of gender as a moderator, different additional factors may play a role in work–family enrichment and work–family conflict. Furthermore, it revealed that family structure is not a predictor for work–family interference. This paper discusses managerial implications and offers recommendations for further research.
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Mustafa Koyuncu, Ronald J. Burke and Jacob Wolpin
Although women continue to enter managerial and professional jobs in increasing numbers, they continue to be underrepresented at more senior levels of management. Several factors…
Abstract
Purpose
Although women continue to enter managerial and professional jobs in increasing numbers, they continue to be underrepresented at more senior levels of management. Several factors have been found to account for this, an important one being women's responsibilities for home and family functioning, often resulting in work‐family conflict (WFC). The purpose of this paper is to examine correlates and consequences of WFC among a sample of managerial and professional women working in Istanbul, Turkey.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 143 women, most working in the public sector, using anonymously completed questionnaires. About half were married and about half had children. WFC, both work interfering with family and family interfering with work (time‐, strain‐ and behaviour‐based) were measured by a scale developed and validated by Carlson et al., in a US study.
Findings
The respondents indicated relatively low levels of WFC. Levels of work interfering with family and family interfering with work were significantly and positively correlated. Hierarchical regression analyses, controlling for both personal demographic and work situation characteristics, showed that WFC generally predicted both work and psychological well‐being outcomes, work interfering with family being a consistently stronger predictor of these than was family interfering with work.
Research limitations/implications
Data collected at one point in time make it difficult to examine causality. In addition, most respondents worked in the public sector, raising the issue of generalizability to women managers and professionals in the private sector.
Practical implications
Practical implications are offered for individuals, families and workplaces to address work‐family issues.
Originality/value
This is one of the few studies of WFC among women managers and professionals in Turkey.
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Michael P. O’Driscoll, Paula Brough and Thomas J. Kalliath
A survey of employed workers was conducted at two time periods to assess relationships between work‐family conflict, well‐being, and job and family satisfaction, along with the…
Abstract
A survey of employed workers was conducted at two time periods to assess relationships between work‐family conflict, well‐being, and job and family satisfaction, along with the role of social support from work colleagues and family members. Levels of work‐to‐family interference (WFI) were found to be uniformly higher than family‐to‐work interference (FWI). However, at each time period FWI showed more consistent negative relationships with well‐being and satisfaction, indicating that family‐to‐work interference may have a greater bearing on employees’ affective reactions. There were few cross‐time relationships between work‐family conflict and these reactions, which suggests that the association of work‐family conflict with well‐being and satisfaction may be time‐dependent. Although there was some evidence that social support from work colleagues moderated the relationship of WFI with psychological strain and family satisfaction, family support did not display a consistent moderator influence. Instead, both forms of support tended to exhibit direct (rather than moderator) relationships with the outcome variables. Implications of the findings for research and interventions are discussed.
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Céline M. Blanchard, Maxime A. Tremblay, Lisa Mask and Mélanie G.M. Perras
The purpose of this paper is to test the relative contribution of work environment factors as well as individual difference variables on the degree of work interfering with family…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to test the relative contribution of work environment factors as well as individual difference variables on the degree of work interfering with family (WIF) and other mental health outcomes, namely, emotional exhaustion, life satisfaction, and family interfering with work (FIW).
Design/methodology/approach
Self‐report measures of the constructs of interest will be completed by a random sample of 539 health care professionals (Study 1: n=314; Study 2: n=128). In Study 1, it is hypothesized that work environment factors namely, work stressors and a supportive work environment characterized by perceived support from the supervisor, the organization, and co‐workers' supportive behaviors will be positively and negatively associated with WIF, respectively.
Findings
Findings document positive links between task‐related stressors and WIF and negative links between perceived support from the organization and WIF. In addition, both task‐related stressors and WIF are positive predictors of emotional exhaustion. In Study 2, the relative impact of two individual difference variables (i.e. time management and global self‐determination) on WIF and other mental health outcomes are examined, above and beyond the impact of the work environment factors. Task‐related stressors remainean important predictor of WIF and global self‐determination accounts for additional variance in this outcome variable.
Research limitations/implications
Theoretical and practical implications that may guide future theory and research in this domain are discussed.
Originality/value
Findings from both studies provide insight as to potential sources, namely work environment factors and individual difference variables, which may accentuate or mitigate the degree of WIF.
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Tess Schooreel, Kristen Michelle Shockley and Marijke Verbruggen
Previous research suggests that employees often make family-related career decisions (Greenhaus and Powell, 2012). The authors extend this idea and explore the concept of “home-to…
Abstract
Purpose
Previous research suggests that employees often make family-related career decisions (Greenhaus and Powell, 2012). The authors extend this idea and explore the concept of “home-to-career interference,” defined as the extent to which people perceive that their private life has constrained their career decisions to date. The authors expect that home-to-career interference has a negative impact on employees’ later career satisfaction via career goal self-efficacy and perceived organizational career support. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors collected quantitative data at three points in time, each six months apart in a Belgian telecommunications organization. Using the full information maximum likelihood path analysis approach, the authors performed analyses on a sample of dual-earner employees.
Findings
The results showed that employees’ home-to-career interference related negatively to their career goal self-efficacy and perceived organizational career support, which were, in turn, positively related to their career satisfaction.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the work-family literature by introducing the concept of home-to-career interference, by clarifying the mechanisms through which home-to-career interference relates to career satisfaction and by testing these relationships using a three-wave longitudinal design.
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Lindsey Trimble O’Connor, Julie A. Kmec and Elizabeth C. Harris
Discrimination against workers because of their family responsibilities can violate federal law, yet scholars know little about the context surrounding perceived family…
Abstract
Purpose
Discrimination against workers because of their family responsibilities can violate federal law, yet scholars know little about the context surrounding perceived family responsibilities discrimination (FRD). This chapter investigates both the types of caregiving responsibilities that put workers at risk of FRD and the organizational contexts that give rise to perceived FRD.
Methodology/approach
We identify features of FRD which make detecting it particularly difficult and theorize the mechanisms by which caregiving responsibilities and organizational contexts lead to perceived FRD. We draw on data from the 2008 National Study of the Changing Workforce for our empirical analysis.
Findings
Caregivers who provide both child and eldercare are more likely to perceive FRD than caregivers who provide one type of care, as are people who experience high levels of family-to-work interference and who spend more daily time on childcare. Certain family-friendly and meritocratic organizational contexts are associated with lower perceived FRD.
Research limitations/implications
We measure perceptions, not actual discrimination on the basis of family care responsibilities. Our research cannot pinpoint the factors which intensify or lessen actual discrimination, just perceptions of it.
Originality/value
By pinpointing the characteristics of organizations in which perceived FRD occurs, this chapter shows how organizations can create workplaces in which perceived FRD is less likely.
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Poonam Shripad Vatharkar and Meenakshi Aggarwal-Gupta
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between role overload (RO) and the work–family interface (work–life conflict and work–life enrichment) among bank…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between role overload (RO) and the work–family interface (work–life conflict and work–life enrichment) among bank employees and the moderating effects of personal life characteristics and commitments on this relationship. It aimed to bring out the importance of contextual factors in individual's interactions across various roles.
Design/methodology/approach
A structured questionnaire based on validated instruments was designed and administered to 279 employees from the banking sector in India. The instrument was adapted to the local language to ensure ease of comprehension.
Findings
RO was positively correlated with both work interference with personal life (WIPL) and personal life interference with work (PLIW), and negatively correlated with work–personal life enrichment (WPLE). Gender, number of children and age of the youngest child significantly moderated the relationship between RO and WIPL.
Research limitations/implications
This study was limited by the use of self-reported data and its cross-sectional nature. Future studies will need to include a larger sample with people from across the workplace hierarchy.
Practical implications
This paper provides valuable insight into the influence of personal life characteristics and commitments on RO and the work–family interface.
Originality/value
The banking sector is among the top 10 most stressful workplaces in India due to high work pressure and the threat of competition. These working conditions make it important to understand employee perceptions of RO and its impact on the work–family interface.
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L.E. Falkenberg, M.L. Monachello and L.C. Edlund
One of the major challenges for managing human resources in the 1990s is to appropriately respond to employees having to manage the dual responsibilities of home and work (Paris…
Abstract
One of the major challenges for managing human resources in the 1990s is to appropriately respond to employees having to manage the dual responsibilities of home and work (Paris, 1989). Balancing work and family has been considered a women's issue, with the question being whether women could handle both the home demands and the responsibilities of a paid job. Yet the entrance of women into the workforce has also required major role adjustments by their husbands. According to the traditional model of work, husbands prioritize work over family with the wife providing the necessary emotional and physical support to keep the husband in “good working order” (Pleck, 1977). In today's society, this model is no longer widely applicable, as men in dual earner families receive less emotional support than their single‐earner counterparts (Burke, & Weir, 1976; Keith, & Schafer, 1980) and tend to assume greater family responsibilities (Holahan, & Gilbert, 1979; Weingarten, 1978).