Weekly information communication technology availability demand and family experiences in dual‐earner couples: A perspective from the spillover–crossover model

Abstract

AbstractThe prevalence of information communication technology (ICT) enables employees to conveniently communicate with coworkers and clients regardless of time and place. However, recent studies have revealed a negative side of ICT use, especially its capacity to invade the family domain. This study was developed based on the spillover–crossover model (SCM) to test how ICT availability demand shapes employees' family experiences and how this demand crosses over to spouses. A total of 961 cases nested in 101 dual‐earner couples were collected using a 10‐week experience sampling method. Multilevel structural equation modelling revealed that (1) employees' work interference with family (WIF) mediated the indirect impact of employees' ICT availability demand on their family satisfaction and family undermining; (2) employees' WIF mediated the indirect impact of employees' ICT availability demand on their spouses' family satisfaction and family undermining; and (3) employees' ICT control buffered these two indirect relationships by which employees' ICT availability demand impacted their own and their spouses' family satisfaction and family undermining. This research elaborates on the spillover and crossover process through which ICT availability demand shapes family experience, thus contributing to the literature on ICT availability demand and the SCM.