Interrole conflict,family support and marital adjustment of employed mothers: A short term,longitudinal study

Previous research has found that employed mothers experience conflict between the roles of mother and employee, and that interrole conflict is negatively correlated with marital adjustment. Furthermore, research has shown that social support and personality hardiness moderate the interrole conflict/marital adjustment relationship. However, a longitudinal assessment of the effect of interrole conflict on marital adjustment has not been conducted, nor has the moderating role of social support and hardiness been considered within the same analysis. To address these two issues, the interrole conflict, family support, personality hardiness and marital adjustment of 51 employed mothers were assessed twice, three months apart. Using hierarchical regression analyses, interrole conflict and family support exerted main effects on marital adjustment at time 1, More importantly, a significant interrole conflict/family support interaction predicted change in marital adjustment over three months. High family support exerted a negative impact on marital adjustment when interrole conflict was high. The alternative hypothesis that initial levels of marital adjustment predict change in interrole conflict was tested but not supported.     

Employed mothers: Interrole conflict,spouse support and marital functioning

Increased participation by mothers in the labour force may exert a negative effect on working mothers themselves (e.g. interrole conflict) and influence the marital relationship negatively. Recent research suggests that not all individuals experiencing psychological distress suffer psychological strain (e.g. marital discord). Rather, variables such as social support moderate negative effects of psychological stressors. To test this, sixty-four employed mothers (M age = 36 years) completed interrole conflict and spouse support scales. Marital satisfaction, verbal and nonverbal communication were the criteria operationalized to assess marital functioning. Using moderated multiple regression analyses, interrole conflict and spouse support predicted marital satisfaction and verbal communication significantly. In addition, spouse support may moderate negative effects of interrole conflict on marital satisfaction and verbal communication. With regard to nonverbal communication, spouse support was both a significant main effect and possibly a moderator of interrole conflict. The role of spouse support, conceptual and treatment implications, and future research priorities are identified.     

Interrole conflict and marital functioning amongst employed fathers

While the influence of maternal interrole conflict on marital functioning has been investigated, the issue of fathers' interrole conflict has been neglected. Consequently, 67 fathers' (M age = 38.51 years) interrole conflict and marital adjustment are investigated. In addition, the moderating role of personality hardiness is assessed. Using multiple moderator regression and sub-group analyses, hardiness was shown to moderate negative effects of interrole conflict on marital adjustment. Conceptual and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

The effects of unions on blue collar role stresses and somatic strain

This study explored the effects of union membership versus nonmembership on role based stress (i.e. ambiguity, overload, and interrole conflict), somatic complaints, and on the relationship between role stress and somatic complaints. The data analyzed came from the 1977 Quality of Employment Survey (Quinn and Staines, 1979). Only those respondents (N = 251) who held full-time nonsupervisory jobs in manufacturing were included in our sample. On the average, relative to nonmembers, union members reported higher levels of ambiguity and interrole conflict, but similar levels of overload and of somatic complaints. Union membership moderated the relationship between overload and somatic complaints. For union members, higher perceived performance of the union was associated with lower perceived stress and strain. We discuss the implications of those findings for further research on the impact of unions on stress, strain, and their interrelationship.     

Work—family conflict: A comparison of dual-career and traditional-career men

This research examines differences in the antecedents and consequences of work—family conflict — a form of interrole conflict that occurs when the demands of work and family are mutually incompatible in some respect — for two groups of career-oriented men: those with a homemaker wife (called traditional-career men) and those with a spouse in a career-oriented job (labelled dual-career men). Using a model built on the work of Kopelman, Greenhaus and Connolly (1983), the responses from 136 dual-career men and 137 traditional-career men were compared. The primary conclusion of this research is that maternal career employment has a significant effect on the antecedents of work — family conflict. Dual-career men appear to experience a significant negative spillover from their work domain. We suggest that this spillover is due to a lack of structural flexibility in the workplace, outdated organizational policies that operate on the myth of separate worlds' and a lack of social support for the male dual-career role which contradicts societal norms.     

Antecedents and consequences of role stress: A covariance structure analysis

An earlier model of the consequences of role conflict and role ambiguity is expanded to incorporate antecedent job conditions and the outcome of organizational commitment. This newer model clarifies the impact of role stressors on commitment and other established outcomes (i.e. tension, job dissatisfaction, and turnover intention). The antecedent job conditions are added in consideration of research indicating that role conflict and ambiguity do not directly influence affective and behavioral reactions when other perceptions of the work environment are included in the analysis. A LISREL analysis of this model with cross-validation on an independent sample indicated that the direct effects of participation and co-worker social support on job satisfaction may account for the direct effects of role conflict and role ambiguity on satisfaction and turnover intention observed in previous studies. In addition, organizational commitment appeared to mediate the effects of other variables on turnover intention. Implications for theories of role-related variables and directions for future research are discussed.     

Exit and voice: A test of hypotheses based on fight/flight responses to job stress

Hypotheses were developed based on a coping model that views political behaviour (voice) as a fight response and turnover (exit) as a flight response to job stress. Data were collected from a group of professional, public employees and turnover dates were obtained for the group 13 months after completion of questionnaires. Multiple regression analysis was employed to test hypotheses. Stressors of interest were person-environment fit (P-E fit), role conflict (RC), and role ambiguity (RA). Psychological strains (job dissatisfaction and lowered commitment) were hypothesized to mediate the stressor-coping behaviour relationship. Turnover (TO) behaviour was the ultimate organizationally relevant outcome of coping behaviours. Job satisfaction and commitment were significantly related to intentions to leave. Political action was directly related to P-E fit and this relationship was not mediated by satisfaction or commitment. The relationship between RA and politics was moderated by commitment. Less committed employees tended to exhibit political behaviour in response to RA. Both coping responses (intentions to leave and political action) predicted significant portions of retention/turnover variance.     

Tracking managerial conflict adaptivity: Introducing a dynamic measure of adaptive conflict management in organizations

Since Darwin, adaptation to change has been associated with survival and fit. Yet, despite this, leaders and managers often get stuck in dominating approaches to conflict, and few scholars have examined the role of adaptation in managing conflicts effectively over time and across changing situations. The goal of this paper is threefold. First, we develop a new measure for assessing conflict adaptivity of managers [the Managerial Conflict Adaptivity Assessment (MCAA)], based on a situated model of conflict in social relations. We define conflict adaptivity as the capacity to respond to different conflict situations in accordance with the demands specified by the situation. The measure consists of 15 distinct work‐conflict scenarios and provides five behavioral response options, which represent five primary strategies employed in conflict. Individuals who tend to respond to the conflicts in a manner consistent with the situations provided are considered to be more adaptive. Second, we test and find that managerial conflict adaptivity is related to higher levels of satisfaction with conflict processes at work as well as higher levels of well‐being at work. Third, we test the MCAA's construct validity and provide evidence that the MCAA is positively related to behavioral flexibility and self‐efficacy. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stress and the union steward's role

This paper develops and tests hypotheses concerning some psychological correlates of role ambiguity and role conflict in a population that has not been extensively studied in relation to stress, union stewards. Survey data on role ambiguity and role conflict, the indicators of stress, were collected from 285 stewards at the local union steward meeting, with the stewards perceiving a moderate amount of role ambiguity and perceiving a lesser amount of role conflict. The stewards were also asked about their role expectations, their motivations for remaining a steward, their grievance handling strategies, and their affective commitment toward the union and employer. Each of those four sets of variables was hypothesized to be related to role ambiguity and role conflict and each was influential in explaining variance. As predicted, those stewards who were more motivated to remain stewards for personal reasons had both higher role ambiguity and higher role conflict. Further, the conditions of being more motivated to remain a steward to help the union and employees and having higher union commitment were associated with lower role conflict, but, opposite to the hypotheses, higher role ambiguity.     

Linking work experiences to facets of marital functioning

Few studies on the interaction between work experiences and family functioning have focused on specific aspects of work and the family, nor have many studies identified links in the process whereby work affects the family. A four-stage model of how role ambiguity, role conflict, job insecurity and job satisfaction affect three aspects of marital functioning (sexual satisfaction, psychological aggression and general marital satisfaction) was tested. The two mediator variables linking work experiences and marital functioning were concentration difficulties and depression. In a sample of 190 employed married people the model fit the data. The three work stressors (ambiguity, conflict and job insecurity) affected all three aspects of marital functioning via concentration and depression, and the relationship between job satisfaction and marital functioning was mediated by depression.     

Attitudinal organizational commitment and job performance: a meta‐analysis

A meta‐analysis was conducted to estimate the true correlation between attitudinal organizational commitment and job performance and to identify moderators of this correlation. One‐hundred and eleven samples from 93 published studies were included. The corrected mean correlation was 0.20. The correlation was at least marginally significantly stronger for: (a) extra‐role performance as opposed to in‐role performance; (b) white‐collar workers as opposed to blue‐collar workers; and (c) performance assessed by self ratings as opposed to supervisor ratings or objective indicators. Four other assumed moderators (commitment measure: Affective Commitment Scale versus Organizational Commitment Questionnaire, job level, age, and tenure) did not have at least marginally significant effects. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fathers' work experiences effect children's behaviors via job-related affect and parenting behaviors

We suggest that fathers' work experiences (decision latitude, job demands, job insecurity and interrole conflict) indirectly influence children's behaviors (acting out, shyness and school competence) through their sequential effects on job-related affect (job satisfaction, negative job-related mood and job tension) and parenting behaviors (punishing, rejecting and authoritative behaviors). Data on work experiences, job-related affect and parenting behaviors were obtained from 189 fathers; teachers provided ratings of the children's behaviors. Path analysis provided support for the proposed model. Conceptual implications and suggestions for future research on fathers' employment and the links between work and family are discussed.     

Balancing work and family: a field study of multi‐dimensional,multi‐role work‐family conflict

Little is known about the effectiveness of family‐friendly policies (FFPs) in reducing interrole conflicts involving work and family. The present study examined the influence of FFPs, work‐family culture, and family characteristics on salient job outcomes, and multiple dimensions of work‐family conflict (WFC) and family‐work conflict (FWC). Results from a survey of 564 workers, indicate that FFPs exert minimal effects on felt conflict, and that a positive work‐family culture and family support may be more instrumental in helping employees balance work and home roles. Findings also suggest that sources of conflict varied among workers, as did the mechanisms used to address WFC and FWC. This study underscores the importance of examining WFC as a multi‐dimensional phenomenon affecting employees in a variety of family structures, as well as considering the impact of FFPs in conjunction with work‐family culture. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Correlates of burnout among public service lawyers

Several hypotheses suggested by the theoretical literature on burnout were empirically tested in an attempt to identify the organizational conditions associated with employee burnout. Public service lawyers in the U.S. (N= 391) completed a survey designed to assess (a) three components of burnout, namely, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and feelings of low personal accomplishment; (b) perceptions of several job conditions predicted to be associated these three components of burnout, including workload, role conflict, social support, decision-making policies, and autonomy; and (c) organizational commitment. Results indicate that emotional exhaustion is most strongly associated with role conflict and quantitative workload. Feelings of personal accomplishment were associated with supervisory social support and job level. Depersonalization was associated with role conflict and decision-making policies. Finally, each burnout component is significantly related to organizational commitment.     

Loyal rebels? A test of the normative conflict model of constructive deviance

Constructive deviance is a voluntary behavior that violates organizational rules but is conducted with honorable intentions to benefit the organization or its stakeholders. Despite emerging interest in this behavior, the antecedents of constructive deviance remain unclear, with particular ambiguity concerning the relationship between organizational identity and constructive deviance. In this article, we address this ambiguity with the normative conflict model, which posits that organizational identity drives constructive deviance in the workplace only when people perceive normative conflict with organizational rules. In Studies 1a and 1b, we develop and validate a measure of normative conflict. In Study 2, we conduct a preliminary test of the model with employed students and find that identity is positively related to constructive deviance only when normative conflict is high. In Study 3, we replicate and extend the model to show that the moderating effect of normative conflict is mediated by experienced psychological discomfort and that organizational identity is positively related to constructive deviance among working adults only when discomfort is high. In total, our findings demonstrate the utility of the normative conflict model for explaining when constructive deviance is mostly likely to occur in the workplace.     

Cognitive and motivational effects of participation: A mediator study

Previous experimental studies of participation have typically examined its motivational (especially commitment) benefits. These studies showed that these benefits are neither large nor consistent. The present study focused on the cognitive benefits of participation in decision making (pdm) and on the role of a different motivational mediator, self-efficacy. Unlike previous research which claimed to study the cognitive (informational) effects of participation, the present experiment: (a) allowed the information concerning task strategies to emerge from group discussion rather than being manipulated by the experimenter; (b) measured the actual strategies that were developed and used by subjects in the pdm condition; and (c) measured self-efficacy which was associated with the discovery and use of these strategies. It was found that the strategies developed by the subjects and their self-efficacy completely mediated the effect of participation on performance. Further, participation in setting goals, consistent with previous studies, did not affect performance but did affect self-efficacy.     

Understanding the connections between relationship conflict and performance: The intervening roles of trust and exchange

Research shows that relationship conflict has a negative impact on job performance. There is scant theoretical work, however, explaining the interpersonal dynamics that lead to this outcome. A conceptual model is developed that explores how relationship conflict impacts performance through its effects on trust and exchange. We argue that relationship conflict has a detrimental effect on trust motivating coworkers to rely more on calculus‐based trust than on relationship‐based trust. This, in turn, affects the form of exchange coworkers use with one another, leading them to rely on negotiated exchange to the exclusion of reciprocal exchange. This kind of exchange relationship, finally, affects in‐role, extra‐role, and attitudinal outcomes. The literature shows that superordinate goals can mitigate relationship conflict and we use social and self‐categorization theories to explain and explore this effect on both relationship conflict and trust. How trust and exchange might change over time is also explored. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Conflict,justice, and inequality: Why perceptions of leader–member exchange differentiation hurt performance in teams

To better understand why leader–member exchange (LMX) differentiation in teams may be detrimental to individual and team performance, we propose that team members' perception of LMX differentiation (PLMXD) is more important than statistical measures of LMX differentiation. Specifically, we hypothesize a multilevel model in which relationship conflict and procedural justice (climate) mediate the relationships of individual and collective PLMXDs with individual and team performance, respectively. Using a sample of 235 individuals in 53 teams, we found that individual PLMXD was negatively related to individual performance through relationship conflict perceptions, controlling for LMX. At the team level, collective PLMXD was negatively related to team performance through procedural justice climate and relationship conflict, controlling for a statistical measure of LMXD. Theoretical implications and directions for future research are explored.     

Type of employment,work–family conflict and well‐being: a comparative study

The study examined the impact of work and family role characteristics on work–family conflict, and indicators of psychological well being among self‐employed and organizationally employed women and men. Results show that employment type and gender have independent main effects on several of the study variables. Self‐employed persons enjoy greater autonomy and schedule flexibility at work, and report higher levels of job involvement and job satisfaction than those employed in organizations. However, they also experience higher levels of work–family conflict, and lower family satisfaction than organizational employees. The findings suggest that there are trade‐offs between the costs and benefits of self‐employment, and that business ownership is not a panacea for balancing work and family role responsibilties. Directions for future research are discussed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Work-Family conflict: The effect of job and family involvement

A review of past research revealed inconsistent findings concerning the relationship between job involvement and work-family conflict. This study tested whether family involvement moderates the relationship between job involvement and work-family conflict. Two types of family involvement (spouse and parent) and two types of work-family conflict (job-spouse and job-parent) were assessed. Data were gathered via questionnaire from a sample of nonteaching professionals employed by a large public university in the northeastern United States. As hypothesized, job involvement and job-spouse conflict were positively related for individuals high in spouse involvement and unrelated for individuals low in spouse involvement. Contrary to prediction, parental involvement did not moderate the relationship between job involvement and job-parent conflict. Instead, job involvement was positively related to job-parent conflict regardless of the level of parental involvement. Results are discussed in terms of standards for role performance and strength of role demands. Implications for future research are also discussed.