Expanding the Psychosocial Work Environment: Workplace Norms and Work-Family Conflict as Correlates of Stress and Health.

This study examined the contributions of organizational level norms about work requirements and social relations, and work-family conflict, to job stress and subjective health symptoms, controlling for Karasek's job demand-control-support model of the psychosocial work environment, in a sample of 1,346 employees from 56 firms in the Norwegian food and beverage industry. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses showed that organizational norms governing work performance and social relations, and work-to-family and family-to-work conflict, explained significant amounts of variance for job stress. The cross-level interaction between work performance norms and work-to-family conflict was also significantly related to job stress. Work-to-family conflict was significantly related to health symptoms, but family-to-work conflict and organizational norms were not. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Is it better to receive than to give? Empathy in the conflict–distress relationship.

The moderating effect of partner empathy on the relationship between both directions of work–family conflict (work-to-family and family-to-work) and psychological distress of both the job incumbent and partner are examined in this study. Considering empathy as a specific dimension of emotional social support, we hypothesized that receiving empathy would buffer negative spillover to the job incumbent while giving empathy would exacerbate negative crossover to the partner. A study of 270 job incumbents and their partners revealed that receiving partner empathy fully moderated spillover effects due to family-to-work conflict but had no effects with work-to-family conflict. We also found it interesting that giving partner empathy moderated the crossover effects on family-to-work conflict but had no effects with work-to-family conflict. Implications of these findings and avenues for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Health and turnover of working mothers after childbirth via the work–family interface: An analysis across time.

This study examined organizational levers that impact work–family experiences, participant health, and subsequent turnover. Using a sample of 179 women returning to full-time work 4 months after childbirth, we examined the associations of 3 job resources (job security, skill discretion, and schedule control) with work-to-family enrichment and the associations of 2 job demands (psychological requirements and nonstandard work schedules) with work-to-family conflict. Further, we considered subsequent impact of work-to-family conflict and enrichment on women's health (physical and mental health) 8 months after women returned to work and the impact of health on voluntary turnover 12 months after women returned to work. Having a nonstandard work schedule was directly and positively related to conflict, whereas schedule control buffered the effect of psychological requirements on conflict. Skill discretion and job security, both job resources, directly and positively related to enrichment. Work-to-family conflict was negatively related to both physical and mental health, but work-to-family enrichment positively predicted only physical health. Physical health and mental health both negatively influenced turnover. We discuss implications and opportunities for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Telecommuting's differential impact on work-family conflict: Is there no place like home?

The literature on the impact of telecommuting on work-family conflict has been equivocal, asserting that telecommuting enhances work-life balance and reduces conflict, or countering that it increases conflict as more time and emotional energy are allocated to family. Surveying 454 professional-level employees who split their work time between an office and home, the authors examined how extensively working in this mode impacts work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict, as well as the contextual impact of job autonomy, scheduling flexibility, and household size. As hypothesized, the findings suggest that telecommuting has a differential impact on work-family conflict, such that the more extensively individuals work in this mode, the lower their work-to-family conflict, but the higher their family-to-work conflict. Additionally, job autonomy and scheduling flexibility were found to positively moderate telecommuting's impact on work-to-family conflict, but household size was found to negatively moderate telecommuting's impact on family-to-work conflict, suggesting that contextual factors may be domain specific. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do individual coping strategies help or harm in the work–family conflict situation? Examining coping as a moderator between work–family conflict and well-being.

In this study we examined the moderator role of coping (problem-, emotion-, and avoidance-focused coping strategies) between work-to-family and family-to-work conflict and well-being (work engagement, job satisfaction, and family satisfaction). The study was based on a sample of 527 Finnish workers. Hierarchical moderated regression analyses showed that emotion-focused coping buffered against job dissatisfaction in a high family-to-work conflict situation. On the other hand, emotion-focused coping was harmful for family satisfaction in the same stressful situation: Those who used more emotion-focused coping were less satisfied with their family life under the conditions of high family-to-work conflict. Furthermore, avoidance coping was beneficial in a high family-to-work conflict situation: Those who used more avoidance coping were more satisfied with their family life in this situation. No buffering effects were found for work engagement or for problem-focused coping. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Career involvement and family involvement as moderators of relationships between work–family conflict and withdrawal from a profession.

This study extended prior analyses by J. H. Greenhaus, K. M. Collins, R. Singh, and S. Parasuraman (1997) by examining relationships between 2 directions of work–family conflict (work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict) and withdrawal from public accounting. The sample consisted of 199 members of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (135 men and 64 women) who were married or in a long-term relationship and who had 1 or more children. It was found that work-to-family conflict (but not family-to-work conflict) was positively related to withdrawal intentions. In addition, relationships of work-to-family conflict with withdrawal intentions and withdrawal behavior were stronger for individuals who were relatively uninvolved in their careers than for those who were highly involved in their careers. The implications of the findings for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Daily work–family conflict and alcohol use: Testing the cross-level moderation effects of peer drinking norms and social support.

In the current study, we conducted daily telephone interviews with a sample of Chinese workers (N = 57) for 5 weeks to examine relationships between daily work–family conflict and alcohol use. Drawn from the tension reduction theory and the stressor–vulnerability model, daily work–family conflict variables were hypothesized to predict employees’ daily alcohol use. Further, social variables (i.e., peer drinking norms, family support, and coworker support) were hypothesized to moderate the relationship between work–family conflict and alcohol use. Results showed that daily work-to-family conflict but not family-to-work conflict had a significant within-subject main effect on daily alcohol use. In addition, there was significant between-subject variation in the relationship between work-to-family conflict and alcohol use, which was predicted by peer drinking norms, coworker support, and family support. The current findings shed light on the daily health behavior consequences of work–family conflict and provide important theoretical and practical implications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The work-family interface and job performance: Moderating effects of conscientiousness and perceived organizational support.

Based on conservation of resources (COR) theory, the authors hypothesized that two aspects of the work-family interface--family-to-work conflict (FWC) and family-to-work enrichment (FWE)--are related to job performance. The authors also hypothesized that two variables moderate those relationships--individual differences in conscientiousness and aspects of the work environment in terms of perceived organizational support (POS). Data collected from a matched set of 136 private sector workers and their respective supervisors revealed that high FWC was more strongly related to lower job performance: (1) among high- than low-conscientiousness workers and (2) among workers reporting low rather than high levels of organizational support. However, FWE was unrelated to job performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Impact of Job Characteristics on Work-to-Family Facilitation: Testing a Theory and Distinguishing a Construct.

This study used objective measures of job characteristics appended to the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS), self-reported job characteristics, and an individual resource characteristic (orientation toward personal growth) to test a theory of work-family facilitation. Results indicated that resource-rich jobs enable work-to-family facilitation. A higher level of work-to-family facilitation was reported by individuals in jobs with more autonomy and variety and whose jobs required greater substantive complexity and social skill. There was no support for the hypotheses that these effects would be more pronounced for individuals with higher levels of personal growth. The authors found significant differences in the strength of the associations of job characteristics with work-to-family facilitation and work-tofamily conflict, suggesting they are different constructs with distinct antecedents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clarifying work–family intervention processes: The roles of work–family conflict and family-supportive supervisor behaviors.

Drawing on a conceptual model integrating research on training, work–family interventions, and social support, we conducted a quasi-experimental field study to assess the impact of a supervisor training and self-monitoring intervention designed to increase supervisors' use of family-supportive supervisor behaviors. Pre- and postintervention surveys were completed, 9 months apart, by 239 employees at 6 intervention (N = 117) and 6 control (N = 122) grocery store sites. Thirty-nine supervisors in the 6 intervention sites received the training consisting of 1 hr of self-paced computer-based training, 1 hr of face-to-face group training, followed by instructions for behavioral self-monitoring (recording the frequency of supportive behaviors) to facilitate on-the-job transfer. Results demonstrated a disordinal interaction for the effect of training and family-to-work conflict on employee job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and physical health. In particular, for these outcomes, positive training effects were observed for employees with high family-to-work conflict, whereas negative training effects were observed for employees with low family-to-work conflict. These moderation effects were mediated by the interactive effect of training and family-to-work conflict on employee perceptions of family-supportive supervisor behaviors. Implications of our findings for future work–family intervention development and evaluation are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Examining the relationship between work-family spillover and sleep quality.

The present study examined the relationship between work-family spillover, job characteristics, and sleep quality in a sample of health care workers (N = 168) recruited from 3 Canadian hospitals. A multiple regression analysis revealed that positive family-to-work spillover is associated with better sleep quality, after controlling for age, physical health, depressive symptomatology, work situation, and number of children. These findings are discussed within a theoretical framework drawing on the concepts of effort and recovery. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship among work-family conflict and enhancement, organizational work-family culture, and work outcomes for older working women.

This article examines the relationship among work-family conflict and enhancement, organizational work-family culture, and four work outcomes for 489 working women over the age of 50. Survey results from two U.S. health care organizations and one U.S. financial services organization indicate that older working women experience differing amounts of work-to-family conflict, family-to-work conflict, work-to-family enhancement, and family-to-work enhancement. Hypotheses relating organizational work-family culture to work-family conflict and enhancement were partially supported, and hypotheses relating conflict and enhancement to four work outcomes were partially supported. Work-to-family conflict and work-to-family enhancement partially mediate the relationship between organizational work-family culture and selected work outcomes. Implications for theory and practice, limitations of this study, and directions for future research are also presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The job satisfaction–job performance relationship: A qualitative and quantitative review.

A qualitative and quantitative review of the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance is provided. The qualitative review is organized around 7 models that characterize past research on the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance. Although some models have received more support than have others, research has not provided conclusive confirmation or discontinuation of any model, partly because of a lack of assimilation and integration in the literature. Research devoted to testing these models waned following 2 meta-analyses of the job satisfaction–job performance relationship. Because of limitations in these prior analyses and the misinterpretation of their findings, a new meta-analysis was conducted on 312 samples with a combined N of 54,417. The mean true correlation between overall job satisfaction and job performance was estimated to be .30. In light of these results and the qualitative review, an agenda for future research on the satisfaction–performance relationship is provided. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Consequences of Boundary-Spanning Demands and Resources for Work-to-Family Conflict and Perceived Stress.

Using work-family border theory, this article examines relationships between boundary-spanning demands and resources and work-to-family conflict and perceived stress. The analysis uses data from 2,109 respondents from the 2002 National Study of the Changing Workforce. The demands that were positively related to work-to-family conflict and perceived stress were commuting time, bringing work home, job contacts at home, and work-family multitasking. Work-family multitasking partially explained the effects of bringing work home and job contacts at home on conflict and stress. For resources, time off for family responsibilities and a supportive work-family culture showed negative associations with conflict and stress. Work-to-family conflict partially mediated relationships between several demands and resources and perceived stress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Exploring Team Support: The Role of Team's Design, Values, and Leader's Support.

This study addressed the issue of team support and explored the role of structural factors, namely, job enrichment designs; the role of cultural factors, namely, individualism-collectivism and power distance; and the role of the leader's support, which served as support carrier in teams. With 56 nursing teams, the results demonstrated that whereas leader's support, collectivism, and low power distance facilitated team support, job enrichment designs placed constraints on the accessibility of support to team members. Additionally, leader's support and low power distance moderated the negative impact of job enrichment on team support. These findings suggest that support is not primarily a burst of altruism displayed by individuals, and they draw attention to the teams' contexts that most likely serve to encourage team members to engage in support. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reexamining the Job Satisfaction-Performance Relationship: The Complexity of Attitudes.

The present article argues that organizational researchers tend to adopt an overly simplistic conceptualization and operationalization of job satisfaction (and job attitudes in general). Specifically, past research has failed to examine the affective-cognitive consistency (ACC) of job attitudes and the implications this has for the strength of the attitude and its relationship with behavior (e.g., job performance). Results from Study 1 suggest ACC is a significant moderator of the job satisfaction-job performance relationship, with those employees higher in ACC showing a significantly larger correlation between job satisfaction and performance than those lower in ACC. Study 2 replicated these findings. Implications for the study of job attitudes, limitations of the current studies, and multiple avenues for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work-family conflict and psychosocial work environment stressors as predictors of job stress in a cross-cultural study.

The purpose of this cross-cultural study was to investigate the relationship between work-family conflict (WFC), family-work conflict (FWC), job demands, job control, social support, flexibility in working hours, and job stress. The sample consisted of 27 doctors and 328 nurses from Norway, as well as 111 doctors and 136 nurses from India. The results indicate that predictors of job stress in India are different from Norway and different from doctors to nurses. For Norwegian doctors, none of the study variables were predictors of job stress. For Norwegian nurses WFC, high job demands, and low flexibility in working hours were predictors of job stress. For Indian doctors low job control and for Indian nurses high FWC and low social support were predictors of job stress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The interactive effects of positive affect and conscientiousness on strain.

The purpose of our study was to more fully investigate a combination of personal resources, namely positive affect (PA) and conscientiousness, on emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and job tension. We examined a sample of nurses employed by a metropolitan hospital and found that the combination of high positive affect and high levels of conscientiousness was associated with lower levels of all strain variables. Our findings suggested that conscientiousness strengthened the negative relationship between PA and job strain. Our results were consistent with the view that some dispositions can act as resources protecting individuals from experienced stress. Implications of these results, strengths and limitations, and directions for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stress at work: Linear and curvilinear effects of psychological-, job-, and organization-related factors: An exploratory study of trinidad and tobago.

In this study, the authors operationalized job stress as a two-dimensional construct consisting of time pressure and anxiety. The authors hypothesized that the relationship between job stress and job-related attitudes such as job involvement and job satisfaction would be curvilinear but would be linear with psychosomatic problems. In addition, the authors proposed that attitudinal factors would mediate the relationship between job stress and organizational commitment. Data were obtained from 241 respondents in Trinidad and Tobago. Our findings revealed that curvilinear relationships were supported for anxiety and the outcome variables but not for time pressure. The results also provided full support for our mediation hypotheses in the case of anxiety. However, partial support for mediation was obtained for time pressure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work–family conflict and employee psychiatric disorders: The national comorbidity survey.

This study examined the relation between work–family conflict and several types of psychiatric disorders: mood, anxiety, substance dependence, and substance abuse. Survey data were obtained from a representative national sample of 2,700 employed adults who were either married or the parent of a child 18 years old or younger. Hierarchical logistic regression analyses revealed that both work-to-family and family-to-work conflict were positively related to having a mood, anxiety, and substance dependence disorder. Depending on the type of work–family conflict and type of disorder, employees who reported experiencing work–family conflict often were 1.99–29.66 times more likely than were employees who reported no work–family conflict to experience a clinically significant mental health problem. No support was found for gender differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)