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1 – 10 of over 57000Guodong Ni, Yaqi Fang, Xinyue Miao, Yaning Qiao, Wenshun Wang and Jian Xuan
This study aims to provide a new perspective and path to reduce the unsafe behavior of new generation of construction workers (NGCWs) in China. The purpose of this study is to…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to provide a new perspective and path to reduce the unsafe behavior of new generation of construction workers (NGCWs) in China. The purpose of this study is to explore the influencing mechanism of work-family balance on the unsafe behavior of NGCWs and test the mediating effect of job satisfaction and the moderating effect of group safety climate.
Design/methodology/approach
A theoretical model on the influencing mechanism of work-family balance on unsafe behavior of NGCWs was constructed through theoretical analysis. Research data were collected from 502 NGCWs via a questionnaire survey, and research hypotheses were testified with regression analysis.
Findings
The results show that work-family balance not only directly reduces NGCWs’ unsafe behavior but also indirectly reduces it through job satisfaction, which plays a partial mediating role. In addition to positively moderating the relationship between work-family balance and NGCWs’ unsafe behavior, group safety climate can also moderate the relationship between work-family balance and job satisfaction in a positive way.
Practical implications
This study provides practical implications for construction companies to reduce the unsafe behaviors of NGCWs from the perspective of work-family balance. Specifically, construction companies should adopt more flexible work rules, such as flexible organization and rotation systems, to increase their work autonomy. Meanwhile, construction companies need to improve the work environment and basic conditions for NGCWs, establish a reasonable salary system and provide attractive promotion opportunities to increase their job satisfaction. In addition, construction companies should provide active safety lectures and training, and supervisors should improve safety communication and interaction levels. Co-workers should remind workers about their safety attitudes and behaviors promptly. A good group safety climate will be created through the efforts of construction companies, supervisors and co-workers.
Originality/value
This study clarifies the influencing mechanism of work-family balance on the NGCWs’ unsafe behavior and further tests the partial mediating role of job satisfaction and the positively moderating effect of group safety climate on the influence relationship of work-family balance on job satisfaction and NGCWs’ unsafe behavior, which defines the boundary conditions of the relationship between work-family balance and NGCWs’ unsafe behavior, and promotes the effective integration of social exchange theory and theoretical system of influencing mechanism of construction workers’ unsafe behavior.
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Studies suggest that women in law appear dissatisfied with the practice of law due to the difficulties of balancing work and family. Little research has examined how the…
Abstract
Studies suggest that women in law appear dissatisfied with the practice of law due to the difficulties of balancing work and family. Little research has examined how the contextual characteristics of law firms affect women lawyers’ sense of life balance and career satisfaction, which is the focus of this study. I propose that if women in law firms can have children and be just as satisfied with their careers and have the same degree of life balance as women without children, then women practicing law can “have it all”. I show how contextual characteristics of law firms are important in understanding mothers’ and non-mothers’ work experiences.
Melissa Rector LaGraff and Heidi E. Stolz
Work–family balance is important for working parents, their children, and their family functioning. However, little research has considered how one’s sense of work–family balance…
Abstract
Work–family balance is important for working parents, their children, and their family functioning. However, little research has considered how one’s sense of work–family balance may influence parenting behavior. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether perceived work–family balance of fathers of infants predicts engagement behaviors and whether stress mediates this relationship. The sample (n = 64) completed a phone survey, and data analysis consisted of linear regression tests and path analysis models for mediation. Perceived work–family balance did not significantly predict overall father engagement, but did predict fathers telling stories to their infant more often (B = 0.91, t(55) = 2.22, p < 0.05) and dressing their infant more often (B = 0.70, t(55) = 2.05, p < 0.05). Although perceived work–family balance was found to have a significant negative effect on father stress (r = –0.48, p < 0.001), stress did not mediate the relationship between perceived work–family balance and the two engagement behaviors. Greater perceived work–family balance may encourage engagement in behaviors above and beyond the stereotypical fathering behaviors (e.g., playing) and basic caregiving behaviors (e.g., changing diapers). Limitations include a small sample size, cross-sectional nature of the data, and self-report measures. It is recommended future studies use longitudinal designs, larger samples that differ in family type, and include mothers. This study provides preliminary evidence that one’s perceived work–family balance may influence parenting behaviors; thus, workplace policies that increase work–family balance, through greater job flexibility, for example, could promote positive family outcomes and reduce stress.
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Purpose of This Chapter: >The study examines the importance and effect of working over office hours and lengthy commutes on work–life balance because both consume time away from…
Abstract
Purpose of This Chapter: >The study examines the importance and effect of working over office hours and lengthy commutes on work–life balance because both consume time away from the official working hours. The study utilized perceived organizational support to measure the moderating role of working over office hours, lengthy commutes, and work–family balance.
Design / Methodology / Approach: An inferential statistics cross-sectional study collected data from 437 full-time employees of IT-BPM companies in 5 metropolitan cities in India. The study used the PLS-SEM to examine the hypotheses.
Findings: The results show a negative relationship between working over office hours and lengthy commutes on work–family balance. This study also found the moderating effect of perceived organizational support on working over office hours and lengthy commutes on the work–family balance. Also, the study revealed that half of the respondents spend three hours, and one-fourth of the respondents spend four and half hours working over office hours and lengthy commutes.
Research Limitations: This research is limited to IT-BPM companies in India. Nevertheless, the findings highlight the factors associated with IT-BPM employee work–family balance, and only two factors were identified.
Practical Implications: This study enhances the work–family balance’s theoretical and practical effects. The results provide a competitive benchmark for IT-BPM managers, administrators, and governing bodies of employee well-being.
Originality: To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first to adopt extrinsic variables in work–family border theory to measure the work–family balance of IT-BPM employees.
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Sumaira Rehman and Muhammad Azam Roomi
Increased participation of women in the labor force creates challenges for them to balance work and family obligations. The situation becomes more complicated in patriarchal…
Abstract
Purpose
Increased participation of women in the labor force creates challenges for them to balance work and family obligations. The situation becomes more complicated in patriarchal societies such as Pakistan due to women's stereotypical domestic roles, religious prescriptions as well as cultural norms and values. This study aims to explore different influencing factors on women's work and family roles in the unique Pakistani socio‐economic and cultural environment.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the interpretive phenomenological approach (IPA), this study explores different influencing factors on women's work and family roles in the unique Pakistani socio‐economic and cultural environment. The methodology helped to analyse data about challenges faced by women entrepreneurs to achieve work‐life balance as well as to have an insight about some of the techniques and effective strategies they use to balance work and family obligation.
Findings
The results show that among other motivational drivers to start their own businesses, achieving work‐life balance is one of the most significant ones. Their own businesses give them flexibility, control and freedom to juggle with their family and social responsibilities. Lack of sufficient time, gender bias, social and cultural norms as well as family responsibilities are the most significant challenges women face to achieve balance in a patriarchal Islamic society. Strategic planning, organising and delegating are the most effective strategies women use to cope with competing roles of work and family.
Originality/value
This ground‐breaking work in Pakistan on women entrepreneurs' work‐life balance may also inspire other women who want to start their entrepreneurial career.
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Barbara Beham and Sonja Drobnič
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…
Abstract
Purpose
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.
Design/methodology/approach
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.
Findings
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.
Research limitations/implications
The study used a cross‐sectional design and employees' self reports which may be problematic in drawing causal conclusions.
Originality/value
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.
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Min (Maggie) Wan, Yejun Zhang, Margaret A. Shaffer, Mingze Li and Guanglei Zhang
Drawing on job demands-resources theory (Bakker and Demerouti, 2017) and conservation of resources theory (Hobfoll, 1989), this study aims to investigate the roles of work task…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on job demands-resources theory (Bakker and Demerouti, 2017) and conservation of resources theory (Hobfoll, 1989), this study aims to investigate the roles of work task conflict and coworker support in the experience of daily work-family balance. In particular, this study theorizes work-family balance as a higher-order construct, including both psychological (work-family balance satisfaction) and social (work-family balance effectiveness) dimensions.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors tested the proposed model using daily diary survey data collected from 50 full-time corporate employees across five consecutive workdays in a week. The hypotheses were tested using multilevel modeling analyses.
Findings
Analyses show that work task conflict impedes employees’ work-family balance on a daily basis. Results also support the moderating role of coworker support, such that the negative relationship between work task conflict and work-family balance is weaker when coworker support is high.
Originality/value
This research contributes to the literature by considering work-family balance as a higher-order construct. Further, this research advances theoretical knowledge of the interpersonal predictors of work-family balance. This study also expands previous work by examining the dynamic relationships between interpersonal events and work-family balance.
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Lorena Ronda, Andrea Ollo-López and Salomé Goñi-Legaz
This paper aims to establish to what extent family-friendly practices and high-performance work practices are positively related to work–family balance and to identify the role…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to establish to what extent family-friendly practices and high-performance work practices are positively related to work–family balance and to identify the role played by job satisfaction and working hours as mediators of this relationship
Design/methodology/approach
We use data for a representative sample of almost 17,000 employees of dual-earner couples from European countries. To test the mediation mechanism implied by our hypotheses, we follow the procedure outlined in Baron and Kenny (1986). Given the nature of the dependent variables, ordered probit and regression models were estimated in the analysis.
Findings
The results show that, in general, family-friendly practices and high-performance work practices increase work–family balance and that these positive relationships are partially mediated by job satisfaction and working hours. While both family-friendly practices and high-performance work practices increase job satisfaction, only the first increase working hours. Moreover, job satisfaction increases work–family balance, while working hours reduces it. The net effect of these opposing forces on work–family balance is positive.
Research limitations/implications
The use of secondary data posits some constraints, such as the type of measures and the failure to control for a higher number of family-friendly practices and high-performance work practices. Additionally, the non-longitudinal nature of the data set implies that some relationships cannot be considered causal in the intended direction.
Practical implications
Managers should implement family-friendly practices and high-performance work practices, as, in general, they increase work–family balance. A significant portion of this positive effect is channeled through job satisfaction and working hours.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to understanding the relationship between different subsets of human-resources management practices and work–family balance, proposing a model that aims to disentangle the mediating mechanisms through which this relationship occurs.
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Jill R. Helmle, Isabel C. Botero and David R. Seibold
The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors that influence perceptions of work-life balance among owners of copreneurial firms. Research on work-life balance in the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors that influence perceptions of work-life balance among owners of copreneurial firms. Research on work-life balance in the context of family firms has focussed on the effects that perceptions of balance can have on the emotional well-being of business owners and performance of the firm. Less attention has been given to understanding the factors affecting an owner's perceptions of work-life balance. This paper not only explores the antecedents of perceptions of work-life balance but does so with copreneurs, or couples who own and manage a firm.
Design/methodology/approach
Data for this study were collected using surveys. In all, 210 copreneurs with businesses in nearly 20 industries answered questions about their perceptions of work-life balance, work-life conflict (WLC), life-work conflict, communication practices, characteristics of their jobs, and spousal support.
Findings
WLC was negatively related to perceptions of work-life balance. Job involvement, flexibility at work, and permeability of communication were significantly related to perceptions of WLC. Interestingly spousal support did not affect individual perceptions of life-work balance, but had a direct influence on perceptions of work-life balance.
Research limitations/implications
The sample was not randomly selected, and participants were surveyed at only one point in time. Notwithstanding these limitations, the findings have implications for advancing research and theory in the areas of family business, work-life issues, and communication. While the paper focus on copreneurial firms, the findings may have implications for family firms and co-founded ventures.
Practical implications
The potential benefits of copreneurs’ increased awareness of these findings (from readings or through coaching) are important given prior research demonstrating that family to work conflict and work to family conflict affect the emotional well-being of family business owners, their satisfaction with work, and firm performance.
Originality/value
This project offers two important contributions to research in family firms. First, it focusses on copreneurial firms as a unique type of family firm which has the potential to shed light on the differences between family firms. Second, results from this study provide a picture of the predictors of work-life balance for couples who are firm owners.
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Linh-Chi Vo, Mary C. Lavissière and Alexandre Lavissière
This paper contributes to the social pillar of sustainable supply chain management. It does so by investigating how women managers in the maritime sector handle work-family…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper contributes to the social pillar of sustainable supply chain management. It does so by investigating how women managers in the maritime sector handle work-family conflict, thereby acting as institutional entrepreneurs to create a work-family balance logic. The maritime sector is a male-dominated supply chain management environment, which suffers from a talent gap of a lack of women executives. One reason for this problem is work-family balance issues that deter women from staying in the workforce.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors interviewed 35 women working as port managers in different developing countries. The authors analyzed their strategies in coping with the conflict between family and work to create a work-family balance logic.
Findings
The authors found four different types of strategies to handle work-family conflicts. Responses showed that women executives in this sector can be institutional entrepreneurs. Based on the findings, the authors were able to confirm and contribute to the existing model proposed by Silva and Nunes (2021) on sustainable supply chain logic. The authors also provided recommendations for these women as institutional entrepreneurs and for policymakers to retain women talent in the supply chain management.
Research limitations/implications
The research focuses on a specific supply chain management sector, which is the maritime sector. It also relies exclusively on interview data.
Practical implications
The authors propose recommendations to develop a work-family balance logic and retain talented women in the supply chain industry based on monitoring equality and supporting their need for a work-family balance, both in the short and long terms.
Originality/value
The authors interviewed women executives in one of the most male dominated sectors. The authors studied their ability to cope with work-family conflicts and identified four ways to create a work-family balance logic. These findings enabled us to show the contribution and limits of women executives as institutional entrepreneurs for work family balance logics in male dominated sectors.
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