How do changes in family role status impact employees? An empirical investigation

Rebecca J Thompson,Todd Bodner,Ellen Ernst Kossek,Matthew B Perrigino

doi:10.1108/jhass-04-2021-0075

Abstract

PurposeDespite the proliferation of work–family research, a thorough understanding of family role status changes (e.g. the gaining of elder or child caregiving responsibilities) remain under-theorized and under-examined. The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize various forms of family role status changes and examine the ways in which these changes influence various employee outcomes.Design/methodology/approachData were collected as part of the work–family health study. Using a longitudinal, three-wave study with two-time lags of 6 months (n = 151 family role status changes; n = 392 individuals with family role stability), this study uses one-way analysis of variance to compare mean differences across groups and multilevel modeling to examine the predictive effects of family role status changes.FindingsOverall, experiences of employees undergoing a family role status change did not differ significantly from employees whose family role status remained stable over the same 12-month period. Separation/divorce predicted higher levels of family-to-work conflict.Originality/valueThe work raises important considerations for organizational science and human resource policy research to better understand the substantive effects of family role status changes on employee well-being.

Highlights

The emergence of work–family research – an area of study addressing the ways in which individuals experiences at work impact their experiences at home – originally focused on samples of married employees with child caregiving responsibilities (Casper et al, 2007)
On the basis of work–family conflict theory (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985), we argue that those undergoing a change in their personal lives will experience higher levels of psychological distress, perceived stress and family-to-work conflict (FWC) compared to those who are not currently undergoing such experiences
Our work extends current research highlighting the importance of family role status changes, explaining how changes in family role status – either gains or losses – impact employee well-being

Summary

Introduction

The emergence of work–family research – an area of study addressing the ways in which individuals experiences at work impact their experiences at home (and vice versa) – originally focused on samples of married employees with child caregiving responsibilities (Casper et al, 2007). The field has considered a wider variety of family-related roles, including those with elder caregiving responsibilities (Rofcanin et al, 2019), “sandwiched generation” employees providing care for both children and elders (Turgeman-Lupo et al, 2020) and single persons without children (Dumas and Perry-Smith, 2018). These investigations primarily consider family role status as a discrete cross-sectional variable, leaving family role status changes undertheorized in research and overlooked in practice.

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