CROSS-NATIONAL DIFFERENCES IN RELATIONSHIPS OF WORK DEMANDS, JOB SATISFACTION, AND TURNOVER INTENTIONS WITH WORK–FAMILY CONFLICT

A study of work interference with family (WIF) among managers is described, contrasting four clusters of countries, one of which is individualistic (Anglo) and three of which are collectivistic (Asia, East Europe, and Latin America). Country cluster (Anglo vs. each of the others) moderated the relation of work demands with strain-based WIF, with the Anglo country cluster having the strongest relationships. Country cluster moderated some of the relationships of strain-based WIF with both job satisfaction and turnover intentions, with Anglos showing the strongest relationships. Cluster differences in domestic help were ruled out as the possible explanation for these moderator results.     

Work–family conflict,social support,and turnover intentions: A longitudinal study

This longitudinal study examined the relative merits of two alternative perspectives on the interplay between work–family conflict, social support, and turnover intentions. According to the cross-domain perspective, family-to-work conflict (FWC) should be more important in predicting increases in turnover intentions than work-to-family conflict (WFC). According to the matching-perspective, however, WFC should be more important in predicting increases in turnover intentions than FWC. We expanded the debate about matching- versus cross-domain relationships by testing whether resources (i.e., social support) should stem from the same domain (i.e., work or family) as the conflict (i.e., matching-principle) or from the other domain (i.e., cross-domain perspective). Additionally, authors hypothesized that changes in WFC and FWC predicted changes in turnover intentions and tested reciprocal relationships between WFC/FWC and turnover intentions. This longitudinal study (5-month time lag) with 665 employees revealed that (increases in) WFC predicted increases in turnover intentions, whereas (increases in) FWC did not. The relationship between WFC and increases in turnover intentions was buffered by work–family specific leader support but not by work–family specific support from family and friends. Further, results revealed reverse relationships such that turnover intentions predicted increases in WFC and FWC. Taken together, the results of this study supported the matching-principle rather than the cross-domain perspective. The reverse relationships found between work–family conflict and turnover intentions challenge the common view that work–family conflict antecedes turnover intentions in a unidirectional way.     

Understanding childcare satisfaction and its effect on workplace outcomes: The convenience factor and the mediating role of work‐family conflict

Building on Hobfoll's (1989, 2001) conservation of resources theory, we posit childcare is an essential resource to working parents. In addition to previously demonstrated childcare satisfaction (CCS) dimensions, we propose and demonstrate empirical support for a convenience dimension of CCS. Satisfaction with caregiver convenience refers to a parent's evaluation of the caregiver's location and availability. We hypothesize that time‐related dimensions of CCS (caregiver dependability and convenience) relate to employee well‐being and withdrawal, because they diminish time‐based family interfering with work (FIW). We also propose quality‐related CCS dimensions (caregiver attentiveness, communication, and cost) relate to psychological well‐being, because they reduce strain‐based FIW. Survey data from a sample of 316 university employees (faculty and staff) who were parents of under school‐age children (infancy through preschool) revealed time‐based FIW as an explanatory mechanism for the relationships between satisfaction with caregiver convenience and both turnover intentions and absenteeism (due to childcare issues). In addition, strain‐based FIW mediated the effects of satisfaction with caregiver attentiveness on well‐being and satisfaction with caregiver cost on well‐being. This study expands previous research on CCS by demonstrating that CCS is related to important work outcomes in part because it reduces time‐ and strain‐based FIW.     

When flexibility helps: Another look at the availability of flexible work arrangements and work-family conflict

Despite the positive press given to flexible work arrangements (FWA), empirical research investigating the link between the availability of these policies and work-family conflict is largely equivocal. The purpose of the present study was to begin to reconcile these mixed results through more precise measurement and the examination of moderators. Using a sample of employed women, we found that FWA relate more highly to work interference with family (WIF) than to family interference with work (FIW) and that temporal flexibility (flextime) has a stronger relationship with WIF than does spatial flexibility (flexplace). Additionally, we found family responsibility significantly moderated these relationships, such that the relationship was stronger for those with greater family responsibility. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.     

When flexibility helps: Another look at the availability of flexible work arrangements and work–family conflict

Despite the positive press given to flexible work arrangements (FWA), empirical research investigating the link between the availability of these policies and work–family conflict is largely equivocal. The purpose of the present study was to begin to reconcile these mixed results through more precise measurement and the examination of moderators. Using a sample of employed women, we found that FWA relate more highly to work interference with family (WIF) than to family interference with work (FIW) and that temporal flexibility (flextime) has a stronger relationship with WIF than does spatial flexibility (flexplace). Additionally, we found family responsibility significantly moderated these relationships, such that the relationship was stronger for those with greater family responsibility. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.     

Selecting Unskilled and Semi‐Skilled Blue‐Collar Workers: The criterion‐related validity of the PDI‐employment inventory1

Two concurrent criterion‐related validity studies were conducted with blue‐collar workers employed in Australia. The first sample consisted of 77 unskilled and semi‐skilled manufacturing employees. The second sample consisted of 243 stockpeople who worked in piggeries. A range of work‐related criteria was used, and this range differed across the two studies. The results showed that Employment Inventory–Performance was a reasonable predictor of some aspects of supervisor ratings of work performance but unrelated to other aspects. A similar pattern of findings emerged with self‐ratings of work performance. Employment Inventory–Tenure was weakly related to turnover intentions and actual turnover.     

The Relationships of Role Clarity and Organization‐Based Self‐Esteem to Commitment to Supervisors and Organizations and Turnover Intentions

We examined the relationships of role clarity and organization‐based self‐esteem with 4 dimensions of commitment to supervisors and organizations (affective, normative, perceived high sacrifice, perceived lack of alternatives) and turnover intentions. Confirmatory factor analyses supported the hypothesized 8‐factor model of commitment. Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that role clarity was positively related to affective, normative, and perceived high sacrifice supervisory commitment; while it was not related to organizational commitments. Organization‐based self‐esteem was positively associated with affective commitment to organizations and supervisors; it was also negatively associated with the lack of alternatives component of supervisory and organizational commitment. Finally, the affective and high‐sacrifice dimensions of supervisory commitment related to turnover intentions via parallel forms of organizational commitment.     

International business travels and the work‐family interface: A longitudinal study

We examined fluctuations in the levels of work‐family conflict (WFC), family‐work conflict (FWC), and burnout during three different stages of international business trips among 66 business travellers. Participants completed questionnaires prior to the trip, during the stay abroad and after the trip. Analysis of variance detected differences in WFC, FWC, and burnout levels among the three stages of the trip, moderated by gender. The relationships of WFC and FWC with burnout were positive, whereas the direction of the relationship was reciprocal. This study advances the work‐family interface theory and research by focusing on both between‐ and within‐individual variations in work‐family attitudes. Thus it captures the dynamic of this phenomenon.     

Extending the demands‐control model: A daily diary study of job characteristics,work‐family conflict and work‐family facilitation

Using personal digital assistants, 91 parents employed in non‐professional occupations were surveyed for 14 consecutive days about their job characteristics and work‐family experiences. We found significant daily variation in work‐to‐family conflict (WFC) and work‐to‐family facilitation (WFF) that was predictable from daily job characteristics. Higher levels of WFC were associated with greater job demands and control at work. Contrary to the demands‐control model ( Karasek, 1979 ), these two job characteristics interacted such that the relationship between demands and WFC was stronger when control was high. We also found that demands were negatively related and control and skill level positively related to WFF. The results suggest ways in which jobs may be redesigned to enhance individuals' work‐family experiences.     

Workplace Family Support,Parental Satisfaction,and Work–Family Conflict: Individual and Crossover Effects among Dual‐Earner Couples

Workplace family support has been regarded as a factor that helps reduce individuals' work to family conflict (WFC). How this support translates into families' functioning is still to be determined. In this study, we used a systems perspective to examine (a) how perceptions of workplace family support affect parental satisfaction and consequently reduce WFC and (b) how the perception of support affects partners' parental satisfaction and WFC in dual‐earner couples. A two‐wave dyadic data set of dual‐earner couples with preschool‐aged children (N = 90) was used, and the actor‐partner interdependence mediation model (APIMeM) was applied. Results showed that controlling for WFC, working hours, number and age of children, mothers' perceptions of workplace family support (time 1) had indirect effects, through mothers' parental satisfaction (time 1), on their own levels of WFC (time 2) as well as on their partners' levels of WFC (time 2). Fathers' perceptions of workplace family support (time 1) had a direct effect on fathers' parental satisfaction (time 1) and on fathers' WFC (time 2). These results suggest that in addition to boosting parental well‐being, perceptions of a supportive workplace may help reduce the level of WFC for both direct recipients of support and their partners, in particular when support is experienced by mothers, and when these mothers experience heightened parental satisfaction.     

Job demands,work‐family conflict,and emotional exhaustion in police officers: A longitudinal test of competing theories

We propose and test a comprehensive theory designed to explain seemingly contradictory relations between job demands, emotional exhaustion, and work‐family conflict (WFC) reported in the literature. Using job demands‐resources theory, effort‐recovery theory, and personal resources theory we hypothesized that job demands would spillover to emotional exhaustion as mediated by WFC (causality model), and alternatively that job demands would also spillover to WFC as mediated by emotional exhaustion (reverse causal model). Further, we also hypothesized using loss spiral theory that a more comprehensive model representing reciprocal and cross‐linked effects (causal and reverse causal simultaneously) would best fit the data. The hypotheses were tested in a longitudinal study of 257 Australian (Victorian) frontline police officers at two time points approximately 12 months apart. We used structural equation modelling and found in support of the simultaneous reciprocal effects hypothesis, that the more comprehensive model fitted the data better than either the causality or the reverse causal model. Future research should more comprehensively model the important relationships between job demands, emotional exhaustion, and WFC to reflect their complex interplay. Interventions to reduce work demands arising from work pressure and emotional demands are indicated to prevent conflict at home and emotional exhaustion in police officers.     

Work–family conflict,psychological availability,and child emotion regulation: Spillover and crossover in dual‐earner families

Work–family balance and child rearing are major social concerns. Few studies, however, have addressed how parents' work–family conflict (WFC) associates with children's emotion regulation. This study proposes the link to occur through parents' psychological availability (PA). In our model we tested both intraindividual and interindividual effects on a sample of 138 dual‐earner couples with preschool‐aged children. Our results showed that WFC related negatively to PA (actor and partner effects); fathers' and mothers' PA associated negatively with child lability and positively with child emotion regulation. Indirect effects were found for fathers' and mothers' WFC and children's emotion regulation and lability through partners' PA, controlling for child gender and temperament. These findings showed a dyadic pattern among couples' work–family balance, parenting, and children's emotion regulation.     

The Crossover of Work‐Family Conflict From One Spouse to the Other1

In a secondary analysis of data from 220 women serving in the U.S. Air Force and their spouses, we examined the effects of job and family stressors on work‐family conflict (WFC) and family‐work conflict (FWC), focusing on the crossover of these experiences from one spouse to the other. We found positive relationships of WFC with both job and family stressors for wives and with job stressors for husbands. We also found that job and family stressors predicted FWC for wives, but not for husbands. Furthermore, spouse's support buffered the relationship between one's job stressors and the experience of WFC for wives but accelerated these relationships for husbands. Our findings support the bidirectional crossover of WFC from one spouse to another.     

A Four‐Country Study of the Relationship of Affect‐Based Trust to Turnover Intention

In this study, employees' affect‐based trust of their supervisor was used as the main predictor of turnover intention. It is hypothesized that affect‐based trust has a curvilinear U‐shaped relationship with turnover intention. The sample consisted of U.S., Polish, Russian, and Turkish participants, all with work experience. Regression results indicated that only the responses of the Russian sample supported the hypothesis, suggesting that Russian participants with either weak or strong affect‐based trust of the supervisor had higher intentions to the leave the organization. The Turkish, Polish, and U.S. results showed a negative linear relationship between affect‐based trust and turnover intention.     

Urban Aboriginal‐Australian and Anglo‐Australian children: in‐group preference,self‐concept,and teachers' academic evaluations

The in‐group preference and self‐concepts of urban Aboriginal‐Australian and Anglo‐Australian children have never been compared, nor their relationships to teachers' evaluations of academic performance. In this study, 60 Aboriginal (primarily local Nyoongah) and 60 Anglo children aged 6–12 years were tested on in‐group preference; children aged 8+ were tested on self‐concept. Also, their teachers evaluated them on their general academic performance. Results indicated that Anglo children showed greater in‐group preference and scored higher on teacher evaluations than Aboriginal children, although there was no difference on self‐concept. No correlation existed between in‐group preference and self‐concept. It was concluded that the problems faced by Aboriginal children are only likely to be alleviated by a great deal of structural change. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The roles of context and everyday experience in understanding work‐non‐work relationships: A qualitative diary study of white‐ and blue‐collar workers

The purpose of the study was to address several of the limitations of work‐non‐work research by adopting a qualitative diary methodology which explored insiders' accounts of both the positive and negative aspects of work‐non‐work relationships and examined the role of context in shaping such relationships. Daily diary data on work‐non‐work events and post‐diary interview data were collected from participants in two contrasting organizational contexts: Flexorg (N=20), a progressive local government organization and The Factory (N=18), a traditional manufacturing organization. Work‐non‐work relationships were found to be simultaneously enriching and depleting in both organizations. For Flexorg workers, work‐non‐work relationships were characterized by facilitation and time‐based conflicts. At The Factory, high spillover from work to non‐work and vice versa challenged the assumption that blue‐collar work is typified by segmentation ( Nippert‐Eng, 1995 ). The experience of work‐non‐work events was shaped by the nature of the work, the work‐non‐work culture and working patterns in both organizations. The study also identified negative spillover as a qualitatively more important problem than work‐non‐work conflict in this study, and identified a social dimension of work‐non‐work conflict which was found across organizational contexts.     

Technology‐Related Pressure and Work–Family Conflict: Main Effects and an Examination of Moderating Variables

With the increased use of computers for completing work, as well as the interconnectivity that the technology enables, more and more workers are experiencing technology‐related pressure. Although it is known that this pressure occurs, especially for employees who complete the majority of their work on computers, little is known about the outcomes that result from it. This study attempts to fill this void by examining work–family conflict (WFC) as a potential consequence stemming from technology‐related pressure. Additionally, we examine negative affectivity, social stressors, and job control as moderators of the technology‐related pressure/WFC association. We investigated these relationships in a sample of 283 workers, all of whom complete the majority of their work on the computer.     

Sexual Self‐Control and Male Condom‐Use Outcome Beliefs: Predicting Heterosexual Men's Condom‐Use Intentions and Behavior1

A model of condom‐use intentions and behavior that we previously developed for women was replicated and extended with heterosexual men (n= 203; M age = 20.1 years). The general determinants of intentions to use condoms were consistent for men and women. The predictors of general condom attitudes and condom‐use self‐efficacy differed across gender. Male condom‐use outcome beliefs and sexual self‐control emerged as predictors of sexually experienced men's condom attitudes and self‐efficacy, respectively. In a 3‐month follow‐up, intentions and sexual self‐control predicted condom‐use behavior. These findings have implications for specificity vs. generality in the correlates of common behaviors across groups, the study of gender differences in condom use, and the development of intervention content targeted to specific populations.     

Testing crossover effects in an actor–partner interdependence model among Chinese dual‐earner couples

The purpose of the present study is to examine the crossover effects from one partner's work–family interface (work–family conflict [WFC] and work–family enrichment [WFE]) to the other partner's four outcomes (psychological strain, life satisfaction, marital satisfaction and job satisfaction) in a sample of Chinese dual‐earner couples. Married couples (N = 361) completed a battery of questionnaires, including the work–family interface scale, the psychological strain scale, the life, marital, as well as job satisfaction scale. Results from the actor–partner interdependence model (APIM) analyses showed that wives' WFE was negatively associated with husbands' psychological strain, and positively associated with husbands' life, marital and job satisfaction. Furthermore, husbands' WFC was negatively related to wives' marital satisfaction, whereas husbands' WFE was positively related to wives' marital satisfaction. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed, and future research directions were provided.     

Deciding Between Work and Family: An Episodic Approach

This study examined work–family conflict decision‐making based on a within–person, episodic approach. Based on 274 episodes across 78 individuals, we investigated the frequency of decisions that result in work interference with family (WIF) versus family interference with work (FIW), as well as the relation of work and family situational variables and previous work–family conflict (WFC) episodes on those decisions. No difference in the frequency with which participants reported WIF episodes versus FIW episodes was observed. Results indicated that work/family role sender pressure, work/family instrumental support, work/family activity importance, work emotional support, and the direction of the previous WFC decision each predicted WFC decisions. Dominance analysis indicated that role sender pressure was the most important predictor. In addition, we compare and discuss within‐person variation with between‐person variation. Contributions of the study to work–family research and practice are discussed.