Home Enrichment Research Articles

Motivational drivers and psychological detachment in shaping the work–home interface for Saudi women

PurposeThis study examines the role of Saudi women’s work motivational drivers on work–home conflict (WHC) and work–home enrichment (WHE). It considers the moderating role of psychological detachment from work during the evening between one workday and the next and how it impacts on the mediating role of WHC and WHE on work performance.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on self-determination theory and enrichment and depletion perspectives on the work–home interface, the study employs a quantitative lagged study over a period of three consecutive working days, with data collected from 358 Saudi women working in academia.FindingsModerated mediation structural equation modelling (MMSEM) analysis reveals that intrinsic motivation is significantly, positively related to WHE and home–work enrichment (HWE), whereas extrinsic motivation is only significantly and positively related to home–work conflict (HWC). Results show that detaching from work weakens the positive association between intrinsic motivation and HWE. In line with predictions, WHE is significantly, positively related to citizenship behaviour towards both individuals and organizations, whilst HWE is significantly related to citizenship behaviour towards individuals only. HWC is only significantly related to citizenship behaviour towards the organisation.Social implicationsThe research highlights the enriching experiences for Saudi women, who have the opportunity to pursue a career and highlight benefits of their ongoing empowerment.Originality/valueThis research brings a unique motivational perspective to work–life research and addresses a shortcoming of work–life research in considering an understudied culturally distinct population. It emphasises on the enriching experiences of Saudi women who have the opportunity to pursue a career, highlighting the benefits of their ongoing empowerment.

Employer‐oriented flexible work in health care: A diary study on the resulting cognitive demands and their relationship with work–home outcomes

AbstractThis study investigates how cognitive demands resulting from employer‐oriented flexibility (i.e. to coordinate with others, to structure work tasks and to organize work and private obligations) relate to work–home outcomes among health care professionals. To understand the underlying psychological mechanisms of the relationship between cognitive demands resulting from employer‐oriented flexibility and work–home outcomes, we combined the challenge–hindrance approach with role theory. We hypothesized a positive relationship between cognitive demands resulting from employer‐oriented flexibility and work–home conflict via cognitive effort (strain process) and between cognitive demands resulting from employer‐oriented flexibility and work–home enrichment via learning to self‐organize (learning process). Eighty‐eight health care professionals working in eldercare homes participated in a diary study and provided 407 day‐level datasets. They completed questionnaires twice a day over 5 working days. Our analyses show that the relationships between daily cognitive demands resulting from employer‐oriented flexibility and work–home outcomes depend on strain and learning processes. Furthermore, our results demonstrate that cognitive demands resulting from employer‐oriented flexibility, although ambivalently related to work–home outcomes on the person level, trigger distinct strain and learning processes on the day level: daily coordinating with colleagues and daily structuring work tasks were related to work–home conflict via cognitive effort, whereas daily organizing work and family obligations was associated with work–home enrichment via learning to self‐organize.

Home Enrichment Is Associated with Visual Working Memory Function in Preschoolers

AbstractHome enrichment plays an important role in shaping children's development. In the current study, we inquired whether home enrichment was associated with pre‐schoolers' visual working memory (VWM) function, a critical cognitive system necessary for maintaining information for short periods of time. Home enrichment was assessed using an adapted version of the Home Observation Measurement of the Environment Interview. VWM behavior and brain function were collected as children engaged with a color change detection task. Home enrichment was associated with right‐lateralized fronto‐parietal engagement. Specifically, greater home enrichment was linked to increased activation in the right angular gyrus, important for working memory maintenance, and suppression in the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG), important for re‐orienting attention to distracting events. Critically, home enrichment‐related rIFG suppression was linked to better VWM performance. This work sheds light on potential mechanism(s) through which enrichment in homes might be involved with cognitive function during the preschool years.

Sustaining Work–Home Enrichment Experience in the Academic Sector: The Role of Intrinsic versus Extrinsic Motivations

This research investigated the impact of motivations on work–home enrichment experience among male Saudi academics working in universities. Drawing on self-determination theory (SDT) and the conservation of resources theory (COR), the study employed a quantitative study with data collected from 460 men. The analysis revealed that intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation reinforced by material pressure were significantly and positively related to both work–home enrichment (WHE) and home–work enrichment (HWE), whereas extrinsic motivation underpinned by social pressure is significantly and negatively related to HWE only. Furthermore, the results show that introjected motivation, identified motivation, and amotivation were not related to WHE and HWE. The findings of this study highlight the motivational underpinnings of the positive work–home interaction, demonstrating that working for pleasure and material incentives brings enrichment experiences for employees and their families. Further work and home studies should be carried out to produce useful insights that have the potential to improve and sustain the well-being of individuals, their families, and their communities, organisations, and countries’ economies.

Psychological capital and work–home enrichment: job crafting as a mediator

PurposeBased on the Job Demands-Resources theory, this study investigates whether psychological capital (PsyCap) is a precursor of the one-directional work-to-home enrichment (WHE) process through a parallel mediation mechanism enabled by promotion-focused job crafting components.Design/methodology/approachA cross-sectional study was conducted on 231 Romanian employees. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM).FindingsPsyCap (what I can do) is an antecedent of all three promotion-focused job crafting behaviors (what I actually do) and WHE. Two specific job crafting dimensions – increasing social job resources and increasing challenging job demands – fully mediate the link between PsyCap and WHE. Increasing structural job resources does not predict WHE.Originality/valueThis study identifies PsyCap as an antecedent of WHE. It also uncovers underlying behavioral mechanisms that enable the transfer of resources from the work role to individuals' home role by investigating job crafting components as distinct dimensions. As such, it gives practitioners a clearer understanding of which behaviors they should seek to cultivate for employees to potentiate their home role through aspects of their job.

Socioeconomic resources are associated with distributed alterations of the brain’s intrinsic functional architecture in youth

Little is known about how exposure to limited socioeconomic resources (SER) in childhood gets “under the skin” to shape brain development, especially using rigorous whole-brain multivariate methods in large, adequately powered samples. The present study examined resting state functional connectivity patterns from 5821 youth in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, employing multivariate methods across three levels: whole-brain, network-wise, and connection-wise. Across all three levels, SER was associated with widespread alterations across the connectome. However, critically, we found that parental education was the primary driver of neural associations with SER. These parental education associations with the developing connectome exhibited notable concentrations in somatosensory and subcortical regions, and they were partially accounted for by home enrichment activities, child’s cognitive abilities, and child’s grades, indicating interwoven links between parental education, child stimulation, and child cognitive performance. These results add a new data-driven, multivariate perspective on links between household SER and the child’s developing functional connectome.

Proactive Vitality Management, Work-Home Enrichment, and Performance: A Two-Wave Cross-Lagged Study on Entrepreneurs.

This study provides a cross-lagged examination of the relationships between proactive vitality management, work–home enrichment, and entrepreneurial performance. Specifically, based on the Job Demands-Resources and Conservation of Resources theories, we postulate a mediation model where proactive vitality management leads to entrepreneurs transferring resources developed in their work role to thrive in their home role (i.e., work–home enrichment), resulting in augmented entrepreneurial performance. The hypotheses were tested with data collected at two time points, 1 onth apart—T1 (N = 277) and T2 (N = 249), from Romanian entrepreneurs. We analyzed autoregressive, causal, reversed, and reciprocal models to test the mediation model. In the linkage between predictor and outcome variable, the reversed model is the best-fitting model, showing that proactive vitality management is only a distal precursor of performance. However, the best-fitting models for the relationship between predictor and mediator and between mediator and outcome were the reciprocal models. Thus, proactive vitality management and work–home enrichment have reciprocal effects on each other over time, as was the case between work–home enrichment and entrepreneurial performance. These results are in line with the resource gain cycle perspective of the Conservation of Resources theory. Employing proactive behaviors to optimize functioning at work enables the transfer of resources to the home role. Potentiating one role through aspects of another will thus generate additional resources reflecting on entrepreneurial performance. Hence, this study provides insights into precursors and mechanisms that can shape entrepreneurial performance.

Ancient Egypt: Gifted People Learn by Playing with Home Enrichment during Pandemic

Ancient Egypt: Gifted People Learn by Playing with Home Enrichment during Pandemic

Chemistry and Giftedness: A Delight Full and Catalytic Mixture in a Home Enrichment Model

Considering the importance of an enriched environment to promote meaningful, autonomous and motivating learning for High Abilities or Gifted students (HA/Gs) and the gaps left by most schools worldwide in attending this public, this work described a model of home educational enrichment for HA/Gs in the area of chemistry to improve their teaching process. The model takes into consideration the changes experienced lately in education during the pandemic situation of COVID-19, allowing to work at home on skills and competences, through a set of playful and educational activities, based on a chemical main theme. It requires minimal resources and knowledge as it uses everyday materials and concepts. The activities and results obtained with two children with High Abilities or Giftedness were encouraging. Throughout the process, the children were motivated, collaborative, creative and investigative. Learning took place in a participatory manner. The results demonstrate the feasibility of home enrichment and pointed it as a strategy to be used to promote education (supplementation) with this special needs group.

A Theoretical Development of the Gender Embodiment of Enrichment: A Study of Gender Norms in Enrichment and Factors Related to Enrichment in a Sample of the Swedish Working Population.

Enrichment is a phenomenon described as the synergistic and beneficial effects of participating in both work and private life. Far too few studies have acknowledged the role of gender in enrichment. By applying a gender theoretical approach, this article has two aims; first, we aim to study the role of gender in enrichment by examining the factorial structure of enrichment in men and women; secondly, we aim to study the relationship between enrichment and work and private life factors in an approximately representative sample of the Swedish working population. A multigroup confirmatory factor analysis with measurement in variance was performed and this resulted in a two-factor solution for enrichment for both men and women, representing the two directions of enrichment: work-to-life enrichment (WLE) and life-to-work enrichment (LWE). Factor loadings differ across genders, indicating that men and women construct and value items of enrichment differently. Next, linear mixed models were used to answer the second aim. Results show that gendered cultural norms in work and private life manifest in the relationship between factors in the work and home sphere and enrichment. Factors in work and private life with more or less masculine or feminine epithets relate differently to WLE and LWE for men and women. The main conclusion is that masculine and feminine norms are embodied in the values and experiences of enrichment and factors related to enrichment.

Creating Positive Work Experiences Through Task Self-Redesign.

Complementing the traditional focus in work design on “top-down” organizational interventions, research into proactive work behavior suggests that “bottom-up” processes, based on the “micro-emancipatory” actions employees engage in, create more rewarding and meaningful work experiences. Based on current theorizing, this study tests a tripartite model of task self-redesign and positive work-related states of meaning, affective commitment, and work–home enrichment. The interactive effects of three modes of task influence are postulated: (a) the active use of existing potentials for task autonomy; (b) job crafting, as unauthorized and self-organized modifications of task features; (c) the individual renegotiation of tasks through idiosyncratic deals (i-deals) with superiors. Survey data from an occupationally heterogeneous convenience sample of N = 279 German-speaking employees were analyzed, using confirmatory factor analysis and moderated linear regression. The regression results confirmed that task i-deals consistently related to positive experiences, whereas autonomy only related to one, and task crafting had no significant main effect. A significant two-way interaction between i-deals and crafting was found only in relation to affective commitment. Supporting the suggested tripartite model, significant (synergistic) three-way interactions explained the additional variance in all three examined outcomes. These results offer some preliminary insights into the interplay of organizationally designed, individually crafted, and interpersonally negotiated work activities. Task autonomy, task-directed job crafting, and task i-deals appear to fulfill complementary roles in the self-directed creation of positive work experiences. Methodological limitations and further research needs are discussed.

Family-Centered Early Intervention Program for Brazilian Infants with Congenital Zika Virus Syndrome: A Pilot Study

Aims: To evaluate the effects of a 16-week program based on Goals-Activity-Motor Enrichment (GAME) principles on infants with congenital Zika virus syndrome (CZS)’s mother report of functional goal achievement, motor and cognitive abilities, home enrichment, and parents’ perceptions regarding the service provided. Methods: Quasi-experimental study with infants (n = 32) with CZS and their mothers. Twenty-two infants composed the GAME-based group and 10 were included in the control group. The primary outcome measure was the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure. Secondary outcome measures were the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, the Affordances in the Home Environment for Motor Development-Infant Scale, and the Measure of Processes of Care. All measures were performed by blinded assessors. Results: Mothers of infants in the GAME-based group reported significant improvements in their infants’ performance on functional priorities (p = 0.0001) and satisfaction with their infants’ performance (p = 0.0001), the extent in which services promoted enabling and partnership (p = 0.021), provided general information (p = 0.039), specific information (p = 0.0001), and an enriched home environment (p = 0.0001). Infants in both groups did not improve in motor or cognitive abilities. Conclusions: A family-centered early intervention program based on GAME principles improved mothers’ individualized outcomes and enriched infants with CZS’s environment. Future studies should elucidate long-term benefits of interventions for this population.

The Other Side: Occupational Interactional Requirements and Work–Home Enrichment

We examine how occupational interactional requirements influence work–home enrichment. We conceptualize “occupational interactional requirements” as restorative properties of jobs that provide employees with resources that they transfer to the home domain. We identify two manifestations of work–home enrichment: (1) through objective indicators of how employees allocate their time at home, and (2) through employees’ perceptual reflections of their work–home enrichment. In terms of objective indicators, our results indicate that employees transfer these resources by spending more time in resource-draining activities such as caring for family, and less time in resource-replenishing activities such as socializing and relaxing. This suggests that occupational interactional requirements facilitate a reallocation of time in the home domain. In terms of perceptual reflections, we observe that occupational interactional requirements spark employees’ vitality, which, in turn, enriches their life at home. Our result...

The Work–Home Interface: Linking Work‐Related Wellbeing and Volunteer Work

AbstractAn abundance of research shows the benefits of participation in volunteer work for individuals, employers and the society as a whole. However, relatively little is known about the precursors of volunteer work. In this study, we aim to fill this gap by investigating to what extent work‐related well‐being can function as a driver of volunteer work. Moreover, building on the Conservations of Resources Theory (Hobfoll, , ), we propose that the relationship between work‐related well‐being (burnout and engagement) and volunteer work is mediated by the work–home interface (work–home enrichment and work–home conflict). This hypothesis was tested in a large Swiss sample (N = 1947). Consistent with our expectations, structural equation analyses revealed an indirect relationship between (i) work engagement and volunteer work via work–home enrichment and (ii) between burnout and volunteer work via work–home conflict. In conclusion, it seems that well‐being at work indeed functions as a precursor for volunteer work because of the consequences it has for the work–family interface. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Crafting your Career: How Career Competencies Relate to Career Success via Job Crafting

This study aimed to investigate whether career competencies could enhance an employee's subjective career success in terms of perceived employability and work–home balance via job crafting behaviors. Based on Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) Theory, we examined a potential motivational process in which career competencies, as a personal resource, would enhance career success through expansive job crafting. The results showed that job crafting mediated the positive relationship between career competencies and both internal and external perceived employability. In addition, job crafting mediated the positive relationship between career competencies and work–home enrichment. We expected a negative association between job crafting and work–home interference, yet our results indicated that career competencies are indirectly and positively related to work–home interference via job crafting. With our findings, we add to JD-R Theory by (1) showing that career competencies may be considered a personal resource, (2) empirically examining the role of job crafting in motivational processes, and (3) showing that enhanced subjective career success can be an outcome of motivational processes. Organisations may use these findings to implement developmental HR practices aimed at increasing career competencies and job crafting.

The power of micro-moves in cultivating regardful relationships: Implications for work–home enrichment and thriving

In this article, we highlight the power of micro-moves in cultivating positive regard from work and nonwork sources (stakeholders) and how the latter facilitates work–home enrichment (in both directions) and can foster employee thriving in the work and nonwork domains. Integrating the emerging literature on micro generative moments (Dutton & Carlsen, 2011), the Resource-Gain-Development model of enrichment (Wayne et al., 2007) and the socially embedded model of thriving (Spreitzer et al., 2005), we specify how micro-relational moves can build regardful relationships (i.e., positive regard) and how this, in turn, can foster greater work–home enrichment and thriving. Our theoretical model further suggests that employees who sense a positive regard from their managers and coworkers as well as from their relatives and friends are likely to experience significant development, affect and capital gains (high work–home enrichment), which expands opportunities to thrive (i.e., develop an enhanced capacity for learning and a sense of vitality). We also suggest that work–home enrichment fosters greater thriving in life, but that this relationship depends on personal and contextual characteristics, including people's level of mindfulness, motivation to learn, preferences for integration (personal characteristics) and job autonomy and quality of family life (contextual characteristics). We aim to advance theorizing about generative relationships and the context in which they allow individuals to experience work–home enrichment and help them to thrive and realize their full potential.

Work–home enrichment and health: an analysis of the mediating role of persistence in goal striving and vulnerability to stress

Extant research has shown that work–home enrichment (WHE) generates favorable effects on individuals' work-related and nonwork-related outcomes because of the synergistic combinations realized between work and home lives. In this paper, I explore the link between WHE and self-reported health. Despite this relationship has been already investigated in prior research, scholars have mostly adopted a simplistic approach that directly linked WHE to health, resulting in a limited understanding of what factors are conducive of such positive effects. In this paper, I test a more sophisticated model that link WHE to self-rated health indirectly, through the mediating role of persistence in goal striving and vulnerability to stress. By using data collected through the second follow-up of the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS II; 2004–2006) and involving a large national sample of working adults, the results show that individuals experiencing high levels of WHE report a better health status because of an enhanced determination to persist in goal striving even when facing difficulties and a lower vulnerability to stress. Implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed.

Gifted Children’s Relationships With Writing

This collective case study represents 10 gifted children’s relationships with writing. The construct “relationship with writing” includes children’s influences, goals, values, identity, and emotions connected to writing. Overall, these students’ relationships with writing can be described as creative, responsible, and mimetic. Students benefit from intensive home enrichment. They have identities as “good students,” and these identities are compatible with efficient work habits, intrinsic motivation, and mastery goals. Practical implications include the need for diverse and complex writing models that will help young writers begin the transition from mini-c creativity to more advanced writing, as well as the need to provide more challenging revision tasks.

Socioeconomic status, child enrichment factors, and cognitive performance among preschool-age children: Results from the Follow-Up of Growth and Development Experiences study

Lower cognitive performance is associated with poorer health and functioning throughout the lifespan and disproportionately affects children from lower socioeconomic status (SES) populations. Previous studies reporting positive associations between child home enrichment and cognitive performance generally had a limited distribution of SES. We evaluated the associations of SES and child enrichment with cognitive performance in a population with a wide range of SES, particularly whether enrichment attenuates associations with SES. Children were sampled from a case-control study of small-for-gestational-age (SGA) conducted in a public hospital serving a low SES population (final n=198) and a private hospital serving a middle-to-high SES population (final n=253). SES (maternal education and income) and perinatal factors (SGA, maternal smoking and drinking) were obtained from maternal birth interview. Five child home enrichment factors (e.g. books in home) and preschool attendance were obtained from follow-up interview at age 4.5 years. Cognitive performance was assessed with the Differential Ability Scales (DAS), a standardized psychometric test administered at follow-up. SES and enrichment scores were created by combining individual factors. Analyses were adjusted for perinatal factors. Children from the public birth hospital had a significantly lower mean DAS general cognitive ability (GCA) score than children born at the private birth hospital (adjusted mean difference -21.4, 95% CI: -24.0, -18.7); this was substantially attenuated by adjustment for individual SES, child enrichment factors, and preschool attendance (adjusted mean difference -5.1, 95% CI: -9.5, -0.7). Individual-level SES score was associated with DAS score, beyond the general SES effect associated with hospital of birth. Adjustment for preschool attendance and home enrichment score attenuated the association between individual SES score and adjusted mean DAS-GCA among children born at both of the hospitals. The effect of being in the lower compared to the middle tertile of SES score was reduced by approximately a quarter; the effect of being in the upper compared to the middle tertile of SES score was reduced by nearly half, but this comparison was possible only for children born at the private hospital. A child's individual SES was associated with cognitive performance within advantaged and disadvantaged populations. Child enrichment was associated with better cognitive performance and attenuated the SES influence. Health care providers should reinforce guidelines for home enrichment and refer children with delays to early intervention and education, particularly children from disadvantaged populations.

Workaholism, Work Engagement and Work-Home Outcomes: Exploring the Mediating Role of Positive and Negative Emotions

This study examines the mechanisms through which workaholism and work engagement impact work-home conflict and enrichment, respectively. Specifically, we examine the mediating role of positive and negative emotions (e.g. joviality and guilt) in the relationship between workaholism, work engagement and work-home outcomes. Results, based on a sample of 340 working adults participating in a two-wave study, indicate that negative emotions-particularly anxiety, anger and disappointment-mediate the relationship between workaholism and work-home conflict and positive emotions-particularly joviality and self-assurance-mediate the relationship between work engagement and work-home enrichment. These results provide further evidence that workaholism and work engagement are related to distinct sets of emotional variables and disparate work and home outcomes.