Prevalence of work-family conflict: Are work and family boundaries asymmetrically permeable?

This study tested Pleck's (1977) hypothesis concerning gender differences in the relative permeability of work and family boundaries. Data were obtained from a randomly drawn community sample of 631 employed adults (278 men; 353 women). Respondents reported that work interfered with family life (W→F conflict) more frequently than family life interfered with work (F→W conflict). These results suggest that work and family boundaries are indeed asymmetrically permeable with family boundaries being more permeable than work boundaries. However, there was no evidence of gender differences in the pattern of asymmetry, indicating that the dynamics of work and family boundaries may operate similarly among men and women. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Coping,individual differences,and strain: A longitudinal study of short-term role overload

This study attempted to determine which personality dimensions and coping strategies would reduce or prevent strain in a context of naturally-occurring short-term role overload. Subjects were 106 adult undergraduate evening students enrolled in an intensive three-week summer school session. The median age was 26 years, and 72 per cent of the students worked full-time. Using a repeated-measures panel design, the study tested the effectiveness of three types of coping derived from Hall's (1972) typology. Longitudinal analysts using cross-lagged correlations and structural regressions showed little support for the predicted effects of Hall's three types of coping on subsequent strain. However, a fourth type of coping, Planned Task Management emerged during the analysis and showed a reciprocal relationship with strain. Both variables appeared to influence each other over time, although the effect of prior coping on subsequent strain was slightly but not significantly stronger. Also, alienation (defined as lack of commitment) had a significant moderator effect on the relationship between perceived overload and strain.     

Attachment,decay, and social network

To study decay in attachment to an organization, I analyse data on women who obtained an MBA from the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business (GSB). I measure attachment in terms of network embedding: an alumna is attached to the GSB to the extent that people close to her graduated from the GSB. Behavioral data corroborate the network data in that alumnae measured to be more attached are more likely to have joined an alumni club and made a financial contribution to the school. The hypothesis is that alumnae attachment will decay over time, more slowly when the school is deeply embedded in an alumna's network, more quickly when disruptive events compete for the alumna's time and energy. As expected, attachment declines across the years after graduation (linearly for the first 20 years to about half its initial level), and decay is inhibited when connections with GSB graduates are embedded in stable relations of family, work, or long-term friendship. Decay is remarkably robust to events after graduation (which account for only 2 per cent of explained variance in attachment). In other words, an alumna's attachment today was largely determined while she was in school. The results should be of practical value to people who design programmes to build personal attachment to organizations, and of theoretical interest to scholars who study such connections. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Juggling work and family responsibilities when involuntarily working more from home: A multiwave study of financial sales professionals

Using multiwave survey data collected among 251 financial sales professionals, we tested whether involuntarily working more from home (teleworking) was related to higher time‐based and strain‐based work‐to‐family conflict (WFC). Employees' boundary management strategy (integration vs. segmentation) and work–family balance self‐efficacy were considered as moderators of these relationships. Data were collected one month before, three months after, and 12 months after the implementation of a new cost‐saving policy that eliminated employees' access to office space in a centralized work location. The policy resulted in employees being forced to work more from home. A voluntary telework program had been in effect before the new policy, implying that working more from home as a result of the new policy was involuntary in nature. Results revealed that involuntarily working more from home was associated with higher strain‐based WFC but not higher time‐based WFC. However, moderator analyses revealed that the positive association between involuntarily working more from home and both types of WFC was significantly stronger among employees with weaker self‐efficacy in balancing work and family. Boundary management strategy had no detectable moderating effect. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

When does quality of relationships with coworkers predict burnout over time? The moderating role of work motivation

The present prospective study examines the interplay between the quality of relationships with coworkers and work motivation in predicting burnout. Considering self-determined motivation at work as a potential moderator, we investigated whether relationships with coworkers are equally important to all employees in preventing burnout. A total of 533 college employees participated in this study. Data were collected at two time points, two years apart. Results from structural equation modeling indicated negative main effects for high-quality relationships and self-determined motivation on burnout. A significant interaction effect between these two factors on burnout was also revealed, suggesting that high-quality relationships with coworkers is crucial for those employees who exhibit less self-determined work motivation. Implications for burnout research and management practices are discussed (Deci & Ryan, 1985 ). Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A meta‐analysis of the antecedents of work–family enrichment

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.     

Society's aggression level as a predictor of traffic fatality rate

This research investigated the relationship of violence/aggression and other societal variables to traffic accidents. In the first of two studies, multiple regression was applied to 1977 data from each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Traffic fatalities per registered vehicle was the dependent variable. The independent variables were homicide rate, suicide rate, fatality rate from other causes, unemployment rate, personal income, density of physicians, alcohol consumption, motor vehicles per capita, road mileage per vehicle, sex and age distribution of drivers, and attained education. The main finding was that the homicide rate (but not the suicide rate) predicted the traffic fatality rate; additional significant predictors were the proportion of young drivers and the fatality rate from non-motor-vehicle accidents. The two primary predictors (homicides and young drivers) accounted for 64 % of the variance of traffic fatalities. In the second study, validation was performed by using the 1977 regression coefficients to estimate 1978 traffic fatalities. The results indicate that when the 1977 regression coefficients were applied to the 1978 values for homicides and young drivers, they accounted for 49 % of the variance of the 1978 traffic fatalities. The findings are discussed in terms of how society's violence/aggression may contribute to traffic accidents.     

Weekly work–school conflict,sleep quality,and fatigue: Recovery self‐efficacy as a cross‐level moderator

This study employed a weekly diary method among a sample of 74 Midwestern college student workers in order to examine the within‐person relationships between work–school conflict, sleep quality, and fatigue over five weeks. Further, recovery self‐efficacy was proposed as a cross‐level moderator of the relation between sleep quality and fatigue. Results from multilevel analyses demonstrated that weekly work–school conflict was negatively related to weekly sleep quality and positively related to end‐of‐week fatigue, with sleep quality partially mediating the relation between work–school conflict and fatigue. These findings enhance understanding of the process by which work–school conflict contributes to college student workers' strain on a weekly basis. Additionally, student workers with low recovery self‐efficacy demonstrated a negative relation between sleep quality and fatigue; however, this relation did not exist for student workers with high recovery self‐efficacy. This finding suggests recovery self‐efficacy as an important resource that may reduce the association between poor sleep quality (as a result of work–school conflict) and fatigue. The current findings provide important theoretical and practical implications for researchers, organizations, and college institutions as a whole. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Social alienation and employment status in young adults

Cross-sectional and longitudinal observations are reported from a questionnaire survey of more than 3000 South Australian school leavers. Questionnaires were administered before the participants had left school and again four years later when they had all left. We were interested in whether there is evidence of a causal connection between unsatisfactory workforce experience and social alienation. On a range of measures related to alienation, we found that those engaged in unsatisfactory jobs and the unemployed responded very differently from those engaged in satisfactory jobs and those who were full-time tertiary students. However, the dissatisfied employed, but not the unemployed, also displayed greater alienation while they were still at school. We conclude that in young people increased social alienation is a consequence of unemployment, rather than a predisposition towards it, but that high social alienation at school leads to later job dissatisfaction.     

Work centrality and work alienation: distinct aspects of a general commitment to work

The authors tested the proposition that identification with the work role and engagement in the work role constitute different aspects of a general commitment to work. Whereas work centrality (a strictly normative attitude) represents the extent to which a person identifies with the work role, work alienation (an affect‐inclusive attitude) represents the extent to which a person is engaged in the work role. Predicated on these conceptual distinctions, the authors tested whether work centrality and work alienation exhibited theoretically‐meaningful, differential correlations with six variables reflecting various work‐related commitments. Using data from 349 employed individuals, the results of Hotelling–Williams t tests revealed that, compared to work alienation, work centrality had stronger correlations with Protestant work ethic and leisure ethic. In contrast, compared to work centrality, work alienation was more strongly correlated with work locus of control, work self‐discipline, and affective organizational commitment. Work centrality and work alienation did not differ in their correlations with job involvement–role. Taken together, the results suggest that people who are highly committed to work not only identify with the work role, they are also engaged in the work role. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the efficacy of credibility intervals as indicators of moderator effects in meta-analytic research

Researchers have suggested the use of credibility intervals for identifying moderator effects in meta-analysis. In the present study, the accuracy of decisions derived from credibility intervals was determined from Monte Carlo generated correlations based on two series of meta-analyses, one containing 20 studies and the other, 100 studies. Within each study, the responses of 100 subjects were simulated. Although in some marginal cases the accuracy measures (Type I error rate and power) from the credibility intervals were better than those derived from the SH-75 per cent and U rules, the former technique was generally found to be a poor indicator of heterogeneity or homogeneity. Finally, the concept of a large interval was discussed and a rule of thumb for using it to detect moderators was suggested.     

Job stress,incivility, and counterproductive work behavior (CWB): the moderating role of negative affectivity

The current study was designed to replicate findings from previous research regarding the relationships between job stressors, negative affectivity, and counterproductive work behavior (CWB) using peer‐reported data and to assess the effects of workplace incivility on employee satisfaction and CWB. Results indicate that incivility, organizational constraints, and interpersonal conflict were negatively related to job satisfaction and positively related to CWB. Support was also found for the role of negative affectivity as a moderator of the relationship between job stressors and CWB, although only one significant moderator was found using peer‐reported CWB. In general, the relationships between job stressors and CWB were stronger for individuals high in negative affectivity than for individuals low in negative affectivity. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Work schedule flexibility and family life

This paper explores the implications of work schedule flexibility for family life. Based on data from the 1977 Quality of Employment Survey, it demonstrates that flexibility of work schedules moderates the effects of nonstandard work schedules on family life. That is, nonstandard work schedules tend to have a less negative association with the quality of family life when accompanied by a high level of schedule flexibility. The paper further demonstrates that this tendency of flexibility to act as a buffer against the negative effects of nonstandard work schedules on family life is more pronounced among working women than working men.     

When creativity enhances sales effectiveness: The moderating role of leader–member exchange

This study extends research on creativity by exploring the boundary conditions of the creativity–job effectiveness relationship. Building on social exchange theory, we argue that the extent to which employee creativity is related to sales—an objective work effectiveness measure—depends on the quality of leader–member exchange (LMX). We hypothesize that the relationship between creativity and sales is significant and positive when LMX is high, but not when LMX is low. Hierarchical linear modelling analysis provided support for the interaction hypothesis in a sample of 151 sales agents and 26 supervisors drawn from both pharmaceutical and insurance companies. Results showed that sales agents who were more creative generated higher sales only when they had high‐quality LMX. An ad hoc qualitative study provided a more detailed understanding of the moderator role played by LMX. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Safety valve sizing according to EN ISO 4126-4 and industrial practice in case of highly viscous liquid duty

The calculation of the minimum relief area on the basis of the iterative procedure, as reported in EN ISO 4126-4 and by adopting an explicit method as carried out in the industrial practice, leads to the same valve size. This applies to valves with a high and low value of the related lift, respectively, with a valve nozzle orifice according to API RP 526. However, under extraordinary conditions it may be possible that the discharge areas differ due to the graduation of the valve sizes within a suppliers' production program. Indeed, neither method gives systematically larger relief areas than the other, the procedures are equivalent.     

‘It's off to work we go!’ Person–environment fit and turnover intentions in managerial and administrative mining personnel

Purpose. Person–environment fit asserts that incompatibility between an employee and aspects of their work environment is more likely to lead to occupational stress. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact that varying levels of person–environment fit had on key criterion outcomes including work engagement, work-related wellbeing and turnover intentions in a unique sample of managerial and administrative mining personnel. Method. An online self-report survey was distributed to an Australian mining organization by the company’s Chief Executive Officer. Anonymous survey links were sent to staff, of which 118 participants responded. The survey consisted of previously validated measures. Results. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed significant relationships between abilities–demand fit, needs–supply fit and work engagement. Additionally, work-related wellbeing was significantly associated with increased person–organization fit and needs–supply fit. However, only needs–supply fit had a significant negative relationship with turnover intentions. Needs–supply fit significantly predicted all criterion variables. Conclusions. This study found that personal need fulfilment through work-related activities had the most significant impact on work-related wellbeing and work engagement. Personal need fulfilment through work also produced the most significant negative relationship with turnover intentions.     

Work–family conflict and neck and back pain in surgical nurses

Objective. Surgical nurses’ work is physically and mentally demanding, possibly leading to work–family conflict (WFC). The current study tests WFC to be a risk factor for neck and lower back pain (LBP). Job influence and social support are tested as resources that could buffer the detrimental impact of WFC. Methods. Forty-eight surgical nurses from two university hospitals in Germany and Switzerland were recruited. WFC was assessed with the Work–Family Conflict Scale. Job influence and social support were assessed with the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire, and back pain was assessed with the North American Spine Society Instrument. Results. Multiple linear regression analyses confirmed WFC as a significant predictor of cervical pain (β?=?0.45, p?β?=?0.33, p?=?0.012). Job influence and social support did not turn out to be significant predictors and were not found to buffer the impact of WFC in moderator analyses. Conclusion. WFC is likely to affect neck and back pain in surgery nurses. Work–life interventions may have the potential to reduce WFC in surgery nurses.     

A meta‐analysis of sleep and work performance: An examination of moderators and mediators

The present study utilizes meta‐analytic techniques to examine the literature on sleep and work performance. In line with previous meta‐analytic research, results indicate that sleep and work performance have a positive relationship. However, more importantly, results from moderator analyses reveal that the type of sleep measurement (sleep quantity and sleep quality), work performance measurement (task performance, organizational citizenship behavior, and counterproductive work behavior), analysis method (between‐person and within‐person), sleep report source (self‐report, other report, and objective), sleep recall window (day, week/month, and more than 1 month), and study setting (field and laboratory) differentially influence the strength of the sleep–work performance relationship. Furthermore, meta‐analytic SEM results indicate that certain mediators (affect, job attitudes, and cognitive resources) provide stronger explanations (i.e., stronger indirect effects) for the relationship between sleep and work performance, depending on the specific type of performance being examined. In general, results highlight the importance of construct operationalization and methodology decisions when conducting sleep–work performance research and provide greater insight into explanations for the relationship between sleep and work performance. Research implications, practical implications, potential limitations, and future directions are also discussed.     

Under what conditions does job control moderate the relationship between time pressure and employee well‐being? Investigating the role of match and personal control beliefs

Drawing upon the concept of match, this two‐wave study of 206 employees investigated job control (facets of autonomy) and personal control beliefs (locus of control, LOC) as moderators of time pressure–work engagement (WE) and the time pressure–general subjective well‐being (SWB) relationships. It was hypothesized that autonomy would accentuate the positive relationship of time pressure with WE and attenuate the negative relationship with SWB and that these moderations would occur only for employees with an internal LOC. Additionally, it was expected that a facet of job control (timing autonomy) that matched the specific demand (time pressure) would be more likely to act as a moderator than “less‐matching” facets (decision making or method autonomy). The results revealed that the interaction between time pressure, autonomy, and LOC for WE was strongest and for SWB only significant when the timing facet of autonomy served as the moderator (thus, when the autonomy facet matched the demand). However, the pattern of moderation was contrary to that expected. When time pressure increased, high autonomy became beneficial for the WE of employees with an external LOC but detrimental for the WE and SWB of employees with an internal LOC. Explanations for the unexpected findings are provided. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Self-reported job burnout among female human service professionals

A sample of 135 female human service professionals completed the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and the Staff Burnout Scale for Health Professionals (SBS), along with measures of job satisfaction, role stress, self-esteem, alienation, and locus of control. Principal components factor analysis of this battery indicates considerable covariation of self-reported burnout with job dissatisfaction and perceived role stress, and moderate overlap with more general feelings of alienation and low self-esteem. Item factor analysis of the 22 MBI items resulted in two independent factors, one defined by the Emotional Exhaustion and Depersonalization items, the other by the Personal Accomplishment items. Item factoring of the SBS produced one large factor which was highly correlated with the MBI exhaustion-depersonalization factor. Implications of these findings for the construct validity of the MBI and SBS are discussed.