We propose a cybernetic model of job search and voluntary turnover that is based on the need to remain employable in a volatile economy. The model depicts the process by which individuals engage in ...ongoing cycles of job search activities that can increase the likelihood of voluntary turnover, which, in turn, provides opportunities to develop additional career competencies. We then examine the implications of the model for future research on the turnover process.
This study meta-analytically examined theoretically derived antecedents of both directions of work–family enrichment (sometimes labeled facilitation or positive spillover), namely, work–family ...enrichment and family–work enrichment. Contextual and personal characteristics specific to each domain were examined. Resource-providing (e.g., social support and work autonomy) and resource-depleting (e.g., role overload) contextual characteristics were considered. Domain-specific personal characteristics included the individuals' psychological involvement in each domain, the centrality of each domain, and work engagement. Results based on 767 correlations from 171 independent studies published between 1990 and 2016 indicate that several contextual and personal characteristics have significant relationships with enrichment. Although those associated with work tend to have stronger relationships with work–family enrichment and those associated with family tend to have stronger relationships with family–work enrichment, several antecedent variables have significant relationships with both directions of enrichment. Resource-providing contextual characteristics tend to have stronger relationships with enrichment than do resource-depleting characteristics. There was very little evidence of gender being a moderator of relationships between contextual characteristics and enrichment. Lastly, meta-analytic structural equation modeling provided evidence that a theoretical path model wherein work engagement mediates between several contextual characteristics and enrichment is largely generalizable across populations.
Despite the commonly held belief that a protean career orientation (PCO) enables employees to achieve more balance in their lives, little is known about the relationship between PCO and work–life ...balance. Using two waves of data collection separated by 2.5 years, this study examined the relationship between PCO and work–life balance among a sample of 367 college-educated employees in the United States. Analysis was conducted to empirically distinguish PCO from conceptually related constructs, and structural equation modeling was used to examine the process that explains the linkage between PCO and balance. We found that PCO was positively related to work–life balance. We also found support for the role of several resources (social capital, psychological capital, and perceived employability) that explain the relationship between PCO and balance. In particular, PCO was associated with extensive career planning activities that were related to the accumulation of three forms of career capital—human capital, social capital, and psychological capital. In turn, social capital and psychological capital were associated with high employability, which was related to greater work–life balance for individuals who take a whole-life perspective on their careers. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the findings and provide suggestions for future research.
Boundary permeability is the degree to which a boundary allows elements from another role domain, such as work, to enter the focal role domain, such as the home. The more extensively work-related ...elements enter the home domain, the more permeable the home role boundary. Based on a person-situation interactionist perspective, this research builds on prior theoretical and empirical work to better understand how three personal characteristics (home role identity salience, work role identity salience, and polychronicity) and two situational factors (pressure for precedence from the work and home domains) influence the permeability of the home role boundary. Findings from a two-wave employee survey indicate that home role identity salience and polychronicity are indirectly related to home role boundary permeability behavior through permeability preference, and that the relationship between permeability preference and permeability behavior is attenuated by pressure from one's manager to prioritize work over home.
•Polychronicity, a domain-free individual characteristic, predicts preference for boundary permeability.•Permeability preference mediates the relationship between individual characteristics and permeability behavior.•Situational pressures restrict the ability to achieve desired boundary permeability.•Examining both role identity saliencies in work-home interface research reduces omitted variable bias.
We define work-family enrichment as the extent to which experiences in one role improve the quality of life in the other role. In this article we propose a theoretical model of work-family enrichment ...and offer a series of research propositions that reflect two paths to enrichment: an instrumental path and an affective path. We then examine the implications of the model for future research on the work-family enrichment process.
We review research on work-nonwork balance to examine the presence of the jingle fallacy-attributing different meanings to a single construct label-and the jangle fallacy-using different labels for a ...single construct. In 290 papers, we found 233 conceptual definitions that clustered into 5 distinct, interpretable types, suggesting evidence of the jingle fallacy. We calculated Euclidean distances to quantify the extent of the jingle fallacy and found high divergence in definitions across time and publication outlet. One exception was more agreement recently in better journals to conceptualize balance as unidimensional, psychological, and distinct from conflict and enrichment. Yet, over time many authors have committed the jangle fallacy by labeling measures of conflict and/or enrichment as balance, and disagreement persists even in better journals about the meanings attributed to balance (e.g., effectiveness, satisfaction). To examine the empirical implications of the jingle and jangle fallacies, we conducted meta-analyses of distinct operational definitions of balance with job, life, and family satisfaction. Effect sizes for conflict and enrichment measures were typically smaller than effects for balance measures, providing evidence of a unique balance construct that is not interchangeable with conflict and enrichment. To begin to remedy concerns raised by our review, we propose a definition of work-nonwork balance drawing from theory, empirical evidence from our review, and normative information about how balance should be defined. We conclude with a theory-based agenda for future research.
This study of full-time managers and professionals examined whether variables selected from theories of the psychology of gender as well as identity, boundary, and role theories explained effects of ...sex on work-to-family conflict and "positive spillover." Women experienced higher positive spillover than men, primarily because they were higher in femininity. Although women did not experience different levels of conflict than men, individuals who scored higher on measured family role salience, which was positively related to femininity, experienced lower levels of conflict. Role segmentation not only reduced conflict but also had the unintended consequence of reducing positive spillover.
Whether integrating work into home benefits or harms an employee's family role is a critical issue that has met with mixed findings in the extant literature. Work-home integration can be manifested ...in different ways. Unfortunately, prior research has tended to use global assessments of integration that may mask relationships between different types of integration and work-family outcomes. In 2 studies, the present research takes a step toward a more fine-grained analysis by focusing on the work-family consequences of affective rumination and problem-solving pondering, both of which represent psychological integration of work into home. In Study 1, using a between-person design with a 6-week time lag (NTime1 = 519, NTime2 = 231), affective rumination was positively related to work-family conflict and negatively to work-family enrichment, whereas problem-solving pondering was unrelated to work-family conflict and positively related to work-family enrichment. In Study 2, a within-person daily diary study over 1 workweek (N = 103), affectively ruminating more than usual was related to more work-family conflict than usual and to less enrichment than usual. Moreover, average affective rumination over 1 workweek was negatively related to average work-family enrichment. Problem-solving pondering was unrelated to work-family conflict and enrichment within persons, but was positively related to work-family enrichment between persons. Neither study supported the hypothesis that trait self-control would buffer the negative consequences of affective rumination. Overall, these results emphasize the importance of investigating the consequences of specific types of integrating work into home rather than overall tendencies of doing so.
We examined how demands and resources in a role relate to the quality of relationships in another role. In Study 1, 26 cohabiting dual-earner couples reported on five consecutive days about their ...work demands and work resources, emotional support they provided to the spouse, and relationship quality among family members. Dyadic data analysis revealed that husbands' work demands were negatively related to family relationship quality through reduced emotional support provided to their wives. Wives' work resources were positively related family relationship quality through enhanced emotional support provided to their husbands. In Study 2, we explored whether the same gender pattern existed in the home-to-work direction. Sixty-four coworker dyads reported on five days about their home demands and resources, emotional support provided to their coworker, and relationship quality among team members. For male employees, home demands were negatively related to team relationship quality through reduced emotional support they provided to their coworker. For female employees, home resources were positively related to team relationship quality through enhanced emotional support they provided to their coworker. The findings suggest that relative to men, women prevent role demands from reducing the support they provide in another role and use role resources to enhance the support they provide in another role, thereby strengthening relationship quality in that role.
This study examines the mechanisms by which family-supportive supervision is related to employee work–family balance. Based on a sample of 170 business professionals, we found that the positive ...relation between family-supportive supervision and balance was fully mediated by work interference with family (WIF) and partially mediated by family interference with work (FIW) such that having a supportive supervisor was associated with low WIF and FIW which, in turn, were related to high balance. Consistent with an enhancement perspective, the relation between family-supportive supervision and balance was stronger for employees in family-supportive organizational environments than unsupportive environments and was stronger for employees with supportive spouses than unsupportive spouses. We discuss the theoretical implications of the findings and suggest areas for additional research.
► Family-supportive supervision positively related to employees' work–family balance. ► The relation was mediated by employees' work–family conflict. ► The relation was stronger for employees who received support from other sources. ► Supportive organizations and spouses enhance the effect of supervisor support.
