After hours teleworking and boundary management: Effects on work-family conflict.

Abstract

There is a need for a better understanding of how the use of technology to complete work outside regular office hours is related to work-life outcomes. Few studies have also investigated how individual differences in work-nonwork boundary management relate to work-life outcomes. This study was conducted to examine how teleworking outside regular office hours and individual boundary management relate to work-family conflict. A web survey was sent to fulltime employees at the headquarters of a multinational high-tech firm in Sweden. A total of 71 answers were obtained and analyzed using regression analysis. The extent of teleworking after hours was unrelated to work-family conflict. However, as previous research has shown, having more permeable boundaries and allowing work to interrupt nonwork behavior was related to higher levels of conflict. The findings suggest that teleworking after hours is not as problematic in terms of work-family conflict as has been reported in previous studies. Furthermore, in order to prevent high levels of work-family conflict, it is seemingly beneficial to avoid work interruptions during nonwork behavior.