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The purpose of this paper is to examine whether and how employed single-parents differ from parents in two-parent families in their experience of work-to-family conflict (WFC) and family-to-work conflict (FWC). Looking at job-related as well as family-related demands and resources, this research investigated to what degree these demands and resources contribute to differences in WFC and FWC, how their relevance in predicting conflicts varies between single parents and other parents and the role of compositional differences in work and family demands and resources.

Cross-sectional linear regression analyses were applied to analyze a random sample of employees in large work organizations in Germany. The sample included 3,581 parents with children up to the age of 25, of whom 346 were single parents.

The results indicated that single parents face more FWC, but not more WFC, than other parents. For all parents, job demands such as overtime, supervising responsibilities and availability expectations were associated with higher levels of WFC, whereas job resources such as job autonomy, support from supervisors and flexible working hours were associated with lower levels of WFC. In predicting FWC, family demands and resources played only a minor role. However, results provide only scant evidence of differences between single parents and other parents in terms of the effects of job and family demands and resources.

This study offers interesting insights into the diversity of WFC and FWC experiences in Germany. It provides first evidence of the impact of job and family demands and resources on both directions of work–family conflicts among employed single parents as a specific social group.

To examine the direct effects of work domain variables on family‐to‐work conflict (FWC), beyond their indirect effects via the mediating variable of work‐to‐family conflict (WFC), and sex differences in the effects of work role expectations and supervisor support on FWC.

A survey was conducted among 208 UK public sector employees. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis tested main and moderating effects of work domain variables and sex on FWC. To test for mediation, the procedure recommended by Baron and Kenny was used.

Work domain variables had a significant effect on FWC above and beyond the effects of family domain variables, and independent of WFC. The relationship between work role expectations and FWC was found to be significantly stronger for men than for women.

The cross‐sectional design of the study does not permit firm conclusions regarding causality, and the results may be influenced by common method bias.

In the face of evidence that organizations are causing the very phenomenon that hurts them, the responsibility to assist employees with reducing FWC is enhanced. Particularly for men, management of organizational expectations to work long hours and prioritize work over family is an area in which employers can and should play a key role if gender equity with regard to organizational work‐family climate is to be established.

This study indicates that organizational work demands may have more influence over the degree to which employees’ family lives interfere with their work than has previously been assumed, especially for men.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the relative influence of personality (locus of control) and situational control (job autonomy) on the experience of work‐to‐family conflict (WFC), family‐to‐work conflict (FWC), and positive work‐family spillover (PS).

Using data from the 2002 National Study of the Changing Workforce (n=3,504) and from O*Net, an independent database of occupational characteristic ratings, regression analysis was used to test direct effects, relative weights analysis was used to determine the relative influence of locus of control and job autonomy on work‐family outcomes, and mediation analysis was used to examine the mediating influence of perceived job autonomy.

Dispositional control (i.e. internal locus of control) was more strongly associated with the outcome variables than was situational control (i.e. objective job autonomy). As expected, internal locus of control was negatively related to WFC and FWC, and positively related to PS. Job autonomy, however, was unexpectedly related to higher levels of FWC and was unrelated to WFC and PS. Relative weights analysis revealed that situational vs dispositional control were differentially related to the outcome variables. Perceived job autonomy mediated the relationship between locus of control and WFC and PS.

The correlational design prevents conclusions about causality.

Knowing that both personality and job autonomy are important in understanding work‐family outcomes enables managers to intervene appropriately.

This study increases our understanding of the role of personality in relation to work‐family outcomes. In addition, it used a novel technique to partial the effects of situational and dispositional control, and used an objective measure of job autonomy.

This study aims to explore family incivility as a source of stress originating in the family domain and empirically examine its spillover effects on the workplace.

Through integrating the work–family interface model with conservation of resources (COR) theory, this study investigated the effect of family incivility as perceived by employees of the service industry on service sabotage, along with the mediating role of family-to-work conflict (FWC) and the moderating role of work–family centrality.

The results of a three-wave survey of 335 employees in China and 62 of their immediate supervisors demonstrated that family incivility was positively related to service sabotage, and FWC also mediated this relationship. Moreover, work–family centrality was found to strengthen the effect of family incivility on FWC, as well as the mediating effect of FWC on the relationship between family incivility and service sabotage.

This study not only enriched the work–family interface literature but also suggested new insights into sabotage behaviors by focusing on antecedents in the family domain.

By realizing that family incivility has detrimental effects on service employee behaviors, enterprises and managers should provide greater support for employees in managing family incivility and help them to maintain a better balance between work and family life.

This study appears to be the first empirical evidence linking a family stressor (i.e. family incivility) with a workplace behavioral outcome in the service industry (i.e. service sabotage).

Leveraging boundary theory and person–environment fit theory, the purpose of this paper is to propose a model that illustrates the process by which nonwork-related information and communication technologies (ICTs) usage during office hours affects family-to-work conflict (FWC) and work–family balance satisfaction (WFBS), and the moderating effect of family–work segmentation preference (FWSP) in that process.

Analyses using PROCESS were conducted to analyze the proposed relationships on survey-collected data.

Augmented ICTs usage led to greater perceptions of FWC, though the strength of this association was contingent on FWSP in that integration preference buffered ICTs usage’s detrimental effects. Moreover, ICTs usage was shown to exert an effect on WFBS through FWC. The results indicated a mediated moderation pattern such that the moderating role of ICTs usage and FWSP on WFBS was mediated by FWC.

By focusing on ICTs usage for family reasons at work, the study filled a formerly acknowledged gap in the research field regarding how nonwork-related ICTs usage at work affected work–life balance.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships between four general coping styles, work and family conflict, and work and family facilitation in a simultaneous equations framework

Data from the MIDUS study were analyzed using two‐staged least squares regression to incorporate the reciprocity between the work and family domains into the model. Hypotheses about direct action, advice seeking, positive thinking, and cognitive reappraisal as they affect work family (W‐F) and family‐work (F‐W) conflict were tested. The impact of the coping styles on work and family facilitation has not been studied before and was also included.

The efficacy of individual coping styles on conflict and the relationships between coping and facilitation were not uniform and varied depending on the source domain. Positive thinking was associated with higher W‐F and F‐W facilitation. Direct‐action was associated with lower F‐W conflict and higher F‐W facilitation. Reappraisal and advice seeking were associated with higher F‐W conflict, but advice‐seeking was related to higher W‐F facilitation. As expected, significant reciprocal effects for conflict were found; both W‐F and F‐W conflict are significant predictors of F‐W and W‐F conflict, respectively. And, an increase in F‐W conflict was predicted to have twice the impact of factors increasing W‐F conflict. W‐F facilitation was significant in predicting levels of F‐W facilitation; F‐W facilitation did not influence levels of W‐F facilitation.

The paper suggests the family domain should be the target for problem‐focused coping strategies, most likely because greater control can be exercised at home. Practical suggestions to help employees identify strategies to lower conflict and raise facilitation, thus promoting balance, are discussed.

For more than a decade, efforts to integrate the two major perspectives of work–family studies, namely, work–family conflict and work–family enrichment have started advancing not only in western context but also in non-western contexts as well. However, both conflict and enrichment emerging from the family front have often been neglected in previous studies. The purpose of this paper is to test the integration of two major work–family perspectives, that is, work–family conflict and work–family enrichment in an Indian context.

The current study involves a multi-sectoral survey of sales employees belonging to manufacturing, information technology, fast-moving consumer goods, pharmaceuticals and financial services using standard scales. The sample consisted of 330 sales employees working in some of the major firms coming under these sectors. Structural equation modelling (SEM) using analysis of a moment structures was used to test the integrated model. In addition, multi-group SEM was used to test the impact of select demographic variables on the integrated model.

Results of SEM suggested that for sales employees in Indian organizations, work–family conflict follows a matching domain principle, whereas, work–family enrichment follows both matching and cross-domain principles. Further, it was found that marital status and annual salary emerge as moderators in the integrated model.

The present study confirmed that similar-domain relationships are stronger than cross-domain relationships, supporting findings from previous research with regard to work–family conflict. In addition, the results contradicted the studies conducted in western countries wherein the same domain effect is observed with respect to both types of enrichment, that is, work to family enrichment (WFE) and family to work enrichment (FWE). The present study confirms a similar and cross-domain relationship in the case of both types of enrichment. It means that both WFE and FWE have a positive impact on both jobs and family satisfaction.

Organizations so far have been trying ways to reduce stress to reduce work to family conflict. However, there is a need to incorporate policies that facilitate work–family enrichment. Such policies may focus more on support for both married and unmarried employees’ sales employees.

This study contributes to work–family literature by attempting to integrate both conflict and enrichment perspectives, which has rarely been done in the Indian context.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of four impression management (IM) tactics as mediators to help job incumbents manage the impressions others have regarding the spillover of the incumbent’s family domain onto the work domain.

The authors examined the data from 296 matched job incumbents and coworkers. The authors tested a structural equation model and alternative models to find the best fit and subsequently tested both direct and indirect effects.

The authors found that family-to-work conflict related to job-focused and supervisor-focused IM behaviors, and family-to-work enrichment related to self-focused, coworker-focused and supervisor-focused IM behaviors. Supervisor-focused IM served as a mediator to the job incumbent’s attitude (job satisfaction) while job-focused, self-focused and coworker-focused IM served as mediators to the job incumbent’s behavior (job performance).

The research is important in that just as employees do not “leave work at the office,” they also do not “leave family at home.” Instead, experiences in the two domains affect one another in ways that are beneficial and harmful. Understanding the role that IM plays in this process adds insight into the spillover of family onto work.

The authors extend both the work-family and IM literatures by looking at potential family domain antecedents to engaging in IM behaviors and their impact on work life.

The current longitudinal study investigated the within- and between-person variance in work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict among working mothers over time. It also examined the effects of a nonstandard work schedule and relationship quality on work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict using bioecological theory. Results of multilevel modeling analyses showed that there was significant within- and between-person variance in work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict. The linear and quadratic terms were significantly related to family-to-work conflict, whereas the quadratic term was significantly associated with work-to-family conflict. There was also a positive relationship between a nonstandard work schedule and work-to-family conflict, whereas relationship quality was negatively associated with family-to-work conflict. Future studies should consider diversity among working mothers to adequately predict work–family conflict. The current study provides important implications for employers to consider, concerning within-and between-person differences among working mothers, which could in turn allow for accommodations and help to decrease work–family conflict.

The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the situation (presence of young children, working hours, social and organizational support) and person-based factors (core self-evaluations) that influence work-family conflict (both work-to-family conflict (WFC) and family-to-work conflict (FWC)) and to examine the relative power of situational factors vs person-based factors in predicting work-family conflict.

Data were collected from 367 married working professionals from eight organizations in the manufacturing and services sector in India. Hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to test the hypotheses. Usefulness analysis was performed to reveal the unique contribution of the dispositional variables over the situational variables in predicting the variance in work-family conflict.

Personality factors accounted for more variance in FWC than in WFC, and situational factors accounted for more variance in WFC than in FWC.

Given the limitations associated with a cross-sectional design, caution is needed concerning the inferences drawn. Only a few variables are considered to assess the characteristics of the context.

Organizations should not view the resolution of work-family conflict as the sole responsibility of an individual because of the demonstrated influence of both dispositional and contextual factors on the presence or absence of such conflict. While individuals may strive to have better self-management skills and stay positive in adverse situations, employers may assist them in dealing with work-family demands by introducing need-based support.

The relative importance of situation-based and person-based variables in predicting work-family conflict has rarely been examined on a managerial sample in India. Research on personality-based antecedents of work-home interference is also in its infancy. A better understanding of the factors as they relate to both directions of work-family conflict may help to identify suitable approaches to managing conflict.