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This paper seeks to examine the relationship of a network of social support for midlife women with their attitudes toward work‐family balance and work outcomes, including job satisfaction, organisational commitment, and career accomplishment.

A total of 1,089 women between the ages of 35 and 50 across three organizations were surveyed and then 72 of them interviewed.

Results indicate that the women generally received more personal social support than work‐based social support and more instrumental than expressive support from all sources. Work‐based social support was positively associated with job satisfaction, organisational commitment, and career accomplishment; personal social support was also associated with job satisfaction and organisational commitment. Work‐family balance may partially mediate the relationship between social support and work outcomes.

Much of what is known about work‐life issues centers on the work‐family conflicts of younger women with children. Perceptions are explored of work‐life balance among women at midlife, an understudied population with significant work and personal responsibilities. This study contributes to research by examining the relationships among the full network of social support, work‐family balance, and work‐related outcomes, as well as the nature of this support for working women. The combination of quantitative and qualitative methods provides substantive insights into the complexity of these relationships for women at midlife.

This paper examines whether employee-driven practices of reverse mentoring and job crafting lead to work engagement and, in turn, to higher levels of prospective mental and physical health.

Integrating social exchange theory and the job demands and resources model as theoretical frameworks, survey data were collected from 369 Indian software developers to test the research model. Latent variable structural equation modeling was used to empirically test the hypothesized associations.

The findings reveal that both reverse mentoring and job crafting are significantly associated with work engagement. Work engagement fully mediated the negative relationship between 1) reverse mentoring and mental ill-health and 2) job crafting and physical ill-health, while it partially mediated the negative relationship between 1) reverse mentoring and physical ill-health and 2) job crafting and mental ill-health.

The results demonstrate that by implementing the practices of reverse mentoring and job crafting, managers can achieve desired levels of engagement among employees and sustain organizational productivity by promoting employee health and well-being.

This study is one of the early attempts to empirically demonstrate the associated health outcomes of reverse mentoring and job crafting.

The purpose of this paper is to address the idea of “opting out” for married professional women by presenting a conceptual investigation into the impact that a woman's identity and social networks have in shaping her decisions surrounding career exit. A model is developed and intended to help researchers in this area move beyond existing frameworks when attempting to explain and predict women's career exit.

Research from the identity, social networks, turnover, and careers literatures was analyzed and integrated to put forth a new theoretical lens, represented by the conceptual model developed in this paper, that helps to explain married professional women's career exit.

Development of the model reveals a complex, reciprocal relationship between a woman's identity and her social network and depicts how these factors act in concert to shape women's decisions regarding career exit or “opting out.” This model also highlights the importance of structural constraints shaping a woman's social network, moderators impacting the relationship between a woman's identity and career exit behaviors, and outcomes of career exit.

Although identity is a fundamental element of career development and relationships with others serve as an origin of self and source of self‐understanding, the integration of these perspectives has been conspicuously absent from research on women's career exit. Examining the convergence of identity and social networks and the reciprocal relationship these constructs have on career phenomena advances our knowledge of why married professional women choose to “opt out” or exit their careers.

The purpose of this study is to explore the different contributions of work and non‐work relationships that comprise individuals' developmental networks to career success.

A multi‐method approach provides a rich understanding of how work and non‐work developmental relationships combine to support individuals' careers. Survey data were analyzed from 254 working adults who were also part‐time MBA students. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 37 participants.

Quantitative results indicate that non‐work developers provide more overall support than work developers. Support from non‐work developers is positively associated with career satisfaction and life satisfaction. In contrast, support from work developers is positively associated with salary level and career satisfaction. Qualitative data indicate differences in the sub‐functions and quality of support offered by work versus non‐work relationships, particularly in terms of role modeling.

Developmental relationships from different domains emphasize different sub‐functions of support and differentially affect career outcomes. While broad functions – career support, psychosocial support, and role modeling – are identifiable across domains, non‐work relationships provide some distinct sub‐functions from work relationships.

Practicing managers should develop and maintain developmental networks that extend beyond the boundaries of their current organization. Human resource professionals will want to consider how well their initiatives encourage individuals to enlist a variety of potential developers into their networks.

The findings indicate that non‐work relationships are a critical part of developmental networks and individuals' career success.