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The paper looks at the tensions and conflict between work and family life that arise from work intensification in higher education, in the particular context of Portuguese academe. Drawing on the concept of work‐family culture, the paper aims to discuss its influence on the level of work‐family conflict and the effectiveness of work‐family policies.

The study was conducted in a Portuguese university. Data were collected from 32 in‐depth interviews with faculty members from different backgrounds and affiliations.

The preservation of traditional gender roles in the family as well as a work‐family culture that is largely family‐unfriendly helps to understand the tensions and conflict between academic work and family life. These tensions are mainly felt by women particularly mothers of dependent children. The data also suggest that work‐family policies are fruitless unless they are supported by a positive work‐family culture.

Study limited to a single university.

The paper provides evidence of the cumulative effect of the traditional division of gender roles in the family and a negative work‐family culture in the organization in contributing to increasing levels of work‐family conflict, particularly in a context of work intensification.

The aim of this chapter is to investigate the context dependence of the implications of telework for work–family conflict. It examines whether and how the implications of telework for strain-based and time-based work–family conflict depend on work–family-supportive and high-demand workplace cultures. Based on a sample of 4,898 employees derived from a unique linked employer–employee study involving large organizations in different industries in Germany, multilevel fixed-effects regressions were estimated.

The results show that telework is associated with perceived higher levels of both time-based and strain-based work–family conflict, and that this is partly related to overtime work involved in telework. However, teleworkers experience higher levels of work–family conflict if they perceive their workplace culture to be highly demanding, and lower levels if supervisor work–family support is readily available.

Future research is required to investigate how the conclusions from this research vary between heterogonous employees and how work–family-supportive and high-demand workplace cultures interrelate in their implications on the use of telework for work–family conflict.

The findings show how important it is to implement telework in a way that not only accommodates employers’ interest in flexibilization, but that it also makes it possible to reconcile work with a family life that involves high levels of responsibility.

This is the first study which examines whether telework is either a resource that reduces or a demand that promotes work–family conflict by focusing on whether this depends on perceived workplace culture.

This paper aims to understand the antecedents and consequences of using the smartphone and/or tablet by professional accountants for business purposes outside of regular working hours. More specifically, this paper aims to test the direct relationships between, on the one hand, work intensification and the use of smartphone and/or tablet and work-family conflict (WFC) and on the other hand, the indirect effect of the use of smartphones and/or tablet between work intensification and WFC.

This research was based on a cross-sectional design and quantitative method. The structural equation method was used to test the direct effect of work intensification on smartphone and/or tablet use and WFC. As for the mediation effect of smartphone and/or tablet use between work intensification and WFC, it was tested by the method of indirect effects based on a bootstrap analysis. The statistical treatments were carried out with the AMOS software v.24.

The results of the study indicate that work intensification increases the use of smartphones and/or tablets outside of working hours and that this variable increases the intensification of WFC through a process of mediation.

This research does not take into account the moderating variables that can intervene in the model. For example, the duration of use of the smartphone, the origin of emails or messages (supervisors, customers and colleagues), the types of tasks performed outside working hours and the period of use (evening, weekend and holidays) could have significant effects on the different relationships tested in the model. Furthermore, we had all the positions held by the respondents (for example, chief financial officer, director, vice-president, partners, senior managers, management accountant, auditor, agents, analysts, accountants) grouped into one category and this may have an impact on results.

The results could be quite interesting for governments and organizations interested in advantage of the technology while reducing its disadvantages. In particular, it is important for accounting firms, which are big users of new technologies (e.g. Smart software and analytics). Indeed, both companies and professional accountants must clearly communicate their expectations regarding the use of technology for business purposes outside normal working hours.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the effect of work intensification and the use of smartphones and/or tablets, on WFC.

Based on the job demands and resources (JD-R) model and conservation of resources (COR) theory, this paper aims to develop and test a model that examines the moderating role of daily remote work hours and the mediating role of work–family conflict on the effects of excessive workload and time pressure on life satisfaction due to mandatory remote work arrangements.

Hierarchical regression analysis was used to analyze data from 400 professionals working in the IT sector in Turkey. Scales developed by previous researchers were used to measure excessive workload, time pressure, work–family conflict and life satisfaction. While these four variables were measured with 19 statements, daily remote work hours were determined with a single question. The collected data were validated using confirmatory factor analysis, and the hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling. Furthermore, the reliability and validity of the data were confirmed. Finally, PROCESS was applied to examine moderated mediation.

According to the analysis results obtained from the above sample data, daily remote work hours moderate the mediating role of work–family conflict in the relationships between (1) excessive workload and life satisfaction and (2) time pressure and life satisfaction. In other words, the findings show that job-related demands arising from workload, time pressure and remote work hours prevent employees from meeting their family obligations, thereby increasing work–family conflict and ultimately affecting life satisfaction.

The study can help employers, managers, human resource professionals, policymakers and researchers increase employees' life satisfaction due to the changes in job demands experienced by employees in companies that have transitioned to remote work practices. It can provide new approaches for dealing with dissatisfaction arising from work-related conflicts in Turkey's changing environment. The results can greatly facilitate the Turkish companies' efforts to create more innovative work arrangements and make an outstanding contribution to improving employee performance in Turkey's transition to remote work practices by focusing on reducing workload, time pressure and long working hours and creating employee-centered remote work models.

As per World Health Organization, the world will face frequent pandemic in the coming years, and thus organizations should be aware of remote work practices that will become widespread. This study provides a new perspective on the impact of employees' changing job demands on work–family conflict and life satisfaction during organizations' transition to new work arrangements in the face of the social crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic. The study also contributes to closing the research gap between job demands, work–family conflict and life satisfaction.

This study analyzes the effects of gender and occupational status differences on parents’ work-to-family conflicts, comparing COVID-19 pandemic and pre-pandemic periods. It is examined whether this association is mediated by parents’ telework. Theoretically, we use the work/family border theory and flexible resource versus greedy role perspectives to shed light on the gender- and status-related use of telework and illustrate the influence of flexible working practices on parents’ work-to-family conflicts. Using moderated mediation analysis combined with bootstrapping, we analyze data from two waves of the German Family Panel (pairfam), covering pre-pandemic (2017/18, 2019/2020) and pandemic periods (2020) (N = 3,315). Our results show higher work-to-family conflicts for parents with higher occupational status as well as teleworking parents. Furthermore, we find supporting evidence for the mediation from occupational status to work-to-family conflicts via telework, with a slightly stronger relationship among mothers than fathers. Under the consideration of the pandemic, the mediating effect was only provable for mothers but not for fathers. However, the mediating effect of telework does not strengthen under the pandemic conditions. Our findings support the greedy role perspective, in particular for employees with higher-status occupations, and the assumption of a negative influence of work–family integration through telework for work-to-family conflicts.

This study had three aims. First, to examine the validity of the workaholism triad as compared to the workaholism dyad. Second, to test the relationship between workaholism and work‐family conflict. Third, to explore the three‐way relationships between worker type, work‐family conflict (WFC) and supervisor support and flexible work schedules.

Participants consisted of 169 workers employed in the legal industry. The sample used was respondent‐driven and questionnaires were self‐administered. Workaholism was operationalised using two dimensions of the Spence and Robbins WorkBat: first, drive to work and second, work enjoyment, which produced four worker types (workaholics, enthusiastic workaholics, relaxed workers and uninvolved workers).

Support was found for McMillan et al.'s dyad conceptualisation of workaholism as opposed to Spence and Robbins' triad model. Specifically it was found that the work involvement subscale had low internal reliability and an unreliable factor structure. Results demonstrated that worker type was significantly related to WFC. Specifically, workaholics and enthusiastic workaholics experienced significantly more WFC than relaxed and uninvolved workers. Regarding the three‐way relationships, it was found that worker type moderated the relationship between schedule flexibility and WFC. Specifically, it was found that enthusiastic workaholics, in contrast to their workaholic counterparts, experienced declining WFC with access to flexible scheduling. Supervisor support was not significant.

The current study suggests that blanket policies, designed to promote work‐life balance, are unlikely to be effective for all employees. Indeed, it appears that although both workaholics and enthusiastic workaholics experience high levels of WFC, these two worker types may require different support mechanisms in order to achieve greater work‐life balance.

Despite their apparent conceptual linkage, the relationship between workaholism and work‐family conflict has not been explored in the literature to date. The current study contributes to the field of organisational behaviour both through proposing an additional dispositional antecedent to WFC (i.e. workaholism) and through uncovering an additional consequence of workaholic behaviour patterns (i.e. WFC).

This paper seeks to identify the adaptive strategies of couples in which at least one spouse/partner is employed in a professional role in the Australian construction industry.

Most studies of work‐family balance identify the determinants and outcomes of work‐family conflict for individual employees. However, there is a growing recognition that analyses or work hours and coping strategies require a couple‐level analysis. The reason for this is that couples lead “linked lives” in which the work circumstances and experiences of one spouse/partner inevitably impact on the other spouse/partner. Quantitative and qualitative data are combined to reveal the adaptive strategies used by workers in the Australian construction industry in juggling their work and non‐work lives.

The results reveal that standard construction industry work practices present significant challenges for dual earner couples. Adaptive strategies are highly gendered, most frequently involving wives or female domestic partners reducing their involvement in paid work.

The intensification of work and demographic shifts have created a “time squeeze” for many families who juggle two paid jobs with their family goals and responsibilities. Failure to provide regular (and reasonable) hours of employment in the construction industry is likely to discourage the entry of young male and female employees, particularly those who desire a more “hands on” experience of parenting.

The analysis of “within‐couple” adaptive strategies builds on previous individual level analyses of work‐life balance in construction and suggests that long and inflexible work hours promote adaptive strategies based upon a gendered “breadwinner‐home‐maker” model.

The paper seeks to examine the relationships between various work demands and resources and satisfaction with work‐family balance in a sample of German office workers. Work‐to‐family conflict is expected to mediate several relationships between dependent and independent variables.

A sample of 716 office workers from two service sector organizations in Germany participated in a comprehensive online survey. Hierarchical multivariate regressions were used to test the predicted relationships.

Perceived high organizational time expectations, psychological job demands and job insecurity were found to be negatively related to employees' satisfaction with work‐family balance. Work‐to‐family conflict partially mediated those relationships. Social support at work and job control revealed positive relationships with satisfaction with work‐family balance, but contrary to predictions this association persisted after controlling for work‐to‐family conflict.

The study used a cross‐sectional design and employees' self reports which may be problematic in drawing causal conclusions.

The majority of studies in work‐family research look at either work‐family conflict, or more recently, at work‐family facilitation/enrichment, but little research has been conducted on employees' overall assessment of satisfaction with work‐family balance. By investigating relationships between various work demands and resources and the mediating role of work‐to‐family conflict in a sample of German office workers, the study extends previous research and contributes to the work‐family literature by clarifying the relationship between work‐to‐family conflict and satisfaction with work‐family balance.

Little is known about temporal trends in the intensification of work in America, or its determinants. This study analyzed two representative samples of the American labor force, and found that the pace of work increased significantly between 1977 and 1997. In a decomposition analysis, two-thirds of the increase in work intensification was attributable to objective economic changes, in particular job complexity and the length of work schedules. Future research should further explore the role of technology in quickening the pace of work, but not ignore the possibility that the demands of family life also affect perceptions of work intensification.

The aim of this paper is to examine the effects of burnout and supervisory social support on the relationship between work‐family conflict, and intention to leave of cancer workers in an Australian health care setting.

Data collected from a public hospital of 114 cancer workers were used to test a model of the consequences of work‐family conflict. The strength of the indirect effects of work‐family conflict on intention to leave via burnout will depend on supervisor support was tested by conducting a moderated mediation analysis.

Path analytic tests of moderated mediation supported the hypothesis that burnout mediates the relationship between work‐family conflict (i.e. work‐in‐family conflict and family‐in‐work) and intention to leave the organisation and that the mediation framework is stronger in the presence of higher social supervisory support. Implications are drawn for theory, research and practice.

This study applies the innovative statistical technique of moderated mediation analysis to demonstrate that burnout mediates the relationship between work‐family conflict and intention to leave the organisation and that the mediation framework is stronger in the presence of lower social supervisory support. In the context of the continued shortage of many clinician groups theses results shed further light on the appropriate course of action for hospital management.