Spillover-crossover Model Research Articles

Blurred lines: The spillover and crossover effects of interpersonal experiences at work on family behaviors and well-being

Drawing on the spillover-crossover model, we examine both the enriching and conflicting effects of interpersonal experiences at work on the family domain using experience sampling methodology with 567 daily observations from 70 couples. As a positive spillover-crossover process, we find that employees' help provision at work indirectly and positively influences couples' relationship satisfaction, employees' life satisfaction, and spouses' life satisfaction via support provision to the spouse at home. As a negative spillover-crossover process, employees' experiences of interpersonal conflict at work indirectly and negatively influence couples' relationship satisfaction and employees' life satisfaction via undermining behaviors toward the spouse at home. We further theorize and find that the negative spillover-crossover process is less pronounced when spouses are more responsive to employees' disclosures of negative work experiences. Overall, this study provides new insights regarding behavioral pathways underlying interpersonal models of the work-family interface, with important practical implications for working couples and the organizations employing them.

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

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.

When organizational dehumanization hits home: Short‐scale validation and test of a spillover–crossover model

AbstractOrganizational dehumanization, a concept that has garnered increasing scholarly attention, still faces two significant limitations within the current literature. First, there is a lack of rigorously validated scales in the field. Second, the effects of organizational dehumanization on the family domain have been largely overlooked. In light of these gaps, we embarked on a comprehensive research project comprising five studies (NTotal = 2635) to address these limitations. Our primary objectives were twofold: (1) to develop and validate a concise five‐item scale for measuring organizational dehumanization based on Caesens et al.'s (Eur. J. Work Org. Psychol., 26, 2017, 527‐540) 11‐item measure (Studies 1, 2 and 3) and (2) to investigate a novel spillover–crossover model of organizational dehumanization (Studies 4 and 5). Our results indicated that our proposed short scale has a good factorial structure and high reliability indices, correlates strongly with the 11‐item full scale, is invariant over time and demonstrates evidence for convergent, discriminant and incremental validity. In addition, using data from both employees and their family members, we showed that organizational dehumanization contributes to an increase in work‐to‐family conflict among employees, as perceived by their family members. This, in turn, heightens relationship tension within their family members, ultimately leading to a decline in their relationship satisfaction. Theoretical and practical implications and avenues for future research are also discussed.

How work engagement and workaholism relate to individuals' and their intimate partners' mental well-being: a test of the spillover-crossover model among Indonesian dual-earner couples.

This study investigated the relationship between work engagement, workaholism, and mental well-being of individuals and their intimate partners. This association was explored in the context of Indonesian dual-earner couples, using the Spillover-Crossover Model (SCM). The study examined how work-to-family spillover (i.e. work-to-family conflict and facilitation) and recovery experiences (i.e. psychological detachment, relaxation, mastery, and control) mediate these relationships. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 186 Indonesian dual-earner couples with preschool children. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized model and bootstrap method was conducted to evaluate the indirect relationships. As hypothesized, among male and female workers, work engagement was positively related to individual's mental well-being through work-to-family facilitation and recovery experiences. In contrast, workaholism was negatively related to individual's mental well-being through work-to-family conflict and recovery experiences excluding psychological detachment. Individual's mental well-being, in turn, was positively related to intimate partner's mental well-being. These findings suggested that work engagement and workaholism were related to intimate partner's mental well-being differently. These results further supported the SCM, suggesting that higher work engagement could increase workers' and their intimate partners' mental well-being through work-to-family facilitation and their recovery experiences, while workaholism acts oppositely.

Your work passion travels a long way home: Testing a spillover and crossover model of work passion among dual-earner couples

In this study, we investigate the spillover-crossover effects of two types of work passion (i.e., harmonious and obsessive) for dual-earner couples. Integrating the job demands-resources theory and the spillover-crossover model, we propose that one partner's harmonious work passion indirectly predicts high work engagement and low work burnout for the other partner through positive affect crossover. Similarly, the partner's obsessive work passion indirectly contributes to low work engagement and high work burnout for the other partner through negative stress crossover. We also suggest that perspective taking of the partner strengthens the proposed positive transmissions and mitigates the negative transmissions. We tested the hypotheses by sampling 129 dual-earner couples in the United States at two time points. Results confirmed that one partner's harmonious work passion and obsessive work passion both had indirect effects on the other partner's work burnout and work engagement via the positive crossover of positive affect and the negative crossover of stress, respectively. Our findings also suggested that the partner's perspective taking significantly shaped the spillover-crossover process between harmonious work passion and the partner's work engagement and burnout. We discuss implications for research and practice as well as future research directions.

Harmonious passion and procrastination: an exploration based on actor–partner interdependence model

PurposeConsidering the potential economic losses this might bring about, researchers have begun to explore ways to mitigate procrastination. Drawing on the job demands-resources model and the spillover-crossover model, this study aims to investigate the association between harmonious passion and procrastination at the intra- and interpersonal levels.Design/methodology/approachThis study used a two-wave multisource questionnaire survey to acquire 256 cases nested in 128 coworker dyads from two hotels in Shanghai. Multilevel analysis and the actor–partner interdependence model were adopted to examine the hypotheses.FindingsThe results indicate that employees’ harmonious passion is indirectly negatively associated with procrastination (i.e., cyberslacking and soldiering) through workplace well-being at the intrapersonal level; employees’ harmonious passion is indirectly negatively associated with their coworkers’ procrastination (i.e., cyberslacking and soldiering) through the coworkers’ workplace well-being; and the crossover influence of employees’ harmonious passion on coworkers’ workplace well-being is contingent upon interpersonal conflict at the dyadic level, such that the crossover influence is stronger in condition of low rather than high interpersonal conflict.Practical implicationsHotels are suggested to provide training programs to employees for enhancing their capabilities to maintain harmonious passion and promote their communication skills to decrease the likelihood to experience interpersonal conflict.Originality/valueThis study offers a comprehensive insight into the association between harmonious passion and procrastination in hospitality employees, which extends the understanding of the outcomes of harmonious passion and the profit of harmonious passion at the interpersonal level.

Can work-to-family conflict lead to preschool children's social behavior problems?-The chain mediating roles of guilt about parenting and parent-child relationships.

Parents' work-to-family conflict has been reported to be associated with preschool children's social behavior problems, but the underlying mechanisms of this association in the Chinese cultural context remain unclear. Based on ecosystem theory and the spillover-crossover model theory of emotion, this study aimed to examine the correlation between parents' work-to-family conflict and preschool children's social behavior problems in China, as well as the mediating role of guilt about parenting and parent-child relationships. Structural equation modeling was used to check the research hypotheses with a sample of 3,038 parents of Chinese preschool children. The main findings of this study are as follows: (1) Work-to-family conflict faced by parents was positively associated with guilt about parenting and preschool children's social behavior problems; (2) The effect of guilt about parenting on preschool children's social behavior problems was bidirectional; guilt about parenting was positively related to preschool children's social behavior problems, but when guilt about parenting prompted parents to adjust their parent-child relationships, it was negatively related to preschool children's social behavior problems. Taken together, these results further explain the interaction between parents' work-to-family conflict and preschool children's social behavior problems and discuss the influence of multiple factors on preschool children's social behavior problems. Theoretically, this study enriches the theoretical basis of the interaction with resources from the external environment of home education and family education. Practically, it implies that multiple levels, such as the government, early childhood education institutions, and work units, should give more support to preschool children's family education and thus work together to promote the healthy development of preschool children.

Fire spreading across boundaries: The positive spillover of entrepreneurial passion to family and community domains.

Passion plays a crucial role in entrepreneurial activity, while its positive spillover to the family and community domains is scant. We proposed an integrated enrichment framework of “work-family-community” based on the literature in the field. Drawing upon the matching samples of entrepreneurs' individuals, families, and communities in the China Labor-force Dynamics Survey (CLDS) database, we identified a significant positive spillover effect into the family and community domains and explored the moderating role of the entrepreneur's perceived personal control. The empirical results indicate that entrepreneurs with higher passion experience higher subjective wellbeing related to family members and have a higher likelihood of engagement in prosocial behaviors. Perceived personal control positively moderates the spillover of passion to life and economic satisfaction. The spread of an entrepreneurial role model's peer effect and the contagion of entrepreneurial passion have a significant positive impact on entrepreneurial behavior in a cluster. Synthesizing our findings, we contribute to the literature concerning work-family enrichment, entrepreneurial passion, and the spillover-crossover model and offer important implications for entrepreneurs' role transition tension.

Spillover and crossover effects of social support through work-family balance: a time-lagged analysis in Italian dyads

PurposeBuilding on the spillover-crossover model (Bakker and Demerouti, 2013), this study aimed to examine the processes through which three forms of social support at work (i.e. from coworkers, from supervisor and organizational family-friendly) were positively associated with an individual's level of work-family balance (spillover effect), and through this latter, with one's partner's family life satisfaction (crossover effect), via the partner's perception of family social support as provided by the incumbent person.Design/methodology/approachThe authors sampled 369 heterosexual couples using a time-lagged design, surveying forms of social support at work and work-family balance at t1 and family social support and partner's family life satisfaction at t2. Data were analyzed through structural equation modeling.FindingsThe results showed that coworkers’ support and organizational family-friendly support positively predicted work-family balance. Furthermore, work-family balance mediated the associations between organizational family-friendly support and coworkers’ support with instrumental family social support. Moreover, only emotional family social support positively predicted partner's family life satisfaction.Originality/valueThe authors simultaneously examined the direct and indirect associations of three concurrent forms of social support at work with one's work-family balance (spillover effect). Moreover, in line with the spillover-crossover model, the authors adopted a systemic approach and assessed how one's work-family balance is associated with emotional and instrumental family social support as perceived by one's partner and the latter's family life satisfaction (crossover effect).

Work centrality and recovery experiences in dual-earner couples: Test of an actor-partner interdependence model.

Work centrality refers to individual beliefs regarding the degree of importance that work plays in their lives. To date, very little is known about the relationship between employees' work centrality and their work recovery. According to the resource allocation theory and spillover-crossover model, we aim to investigate the effects of work centrality on recovery experiences and explore the mediating role of spousal recovery support. Data from 177 matched dual-earner couples (N=354) in China were analysed using the actor-partner interdependence model (APIM). Results showed that working couples who reported higher work centrality experienced lower levels of psychological detachment and relaxation. The wives' work centrality showed a direct and negative influence on the husbands' relaxation; however, no direct partner effects were found for husbands. Moreover, the wives' work centrality was related to the husbands' relaxation, mastery, and control experience through the husbands' perceived recovery support. Our results also suggested that the wives' perceived recovery support mediated the effects of the husbands' work centrality on the wives' psychological detachment, relaxation, mastery, and control experience when they had two children. Based on these findings, theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

It takes a village: How organizational support for adoption positively affects employees and their families

Extending the integration of conservation of resources theory with the spillover–crossover model, we broaden the scope of types of organizational support by examining the influence of organizational support for adoption (OSFA) as a work resource that could benefit employees, their spouse, and their adopted child. Specifically, we examine how this resource of OSFA contributes to job incumbent work–family enrichment (WFE) and indirectly to a work outcome (i.e., affective commitment) and spills over to impact family outcomes (i.e., attachment, relationship tension, and family functioning). Further, we examine the crossover to the spouse through positive crossover transmission to his/her commitment to the job incumbent’s organization and his/her family outcomes. Using a matched sample of 592 couples that had adopted a child, we found that the resource of OSFA indirectly influences the job incumbent’s work and family outcomes as expected. Further, we found OSFA indirectly influences the spouse’s commitment to the job incumbent’s organization and the spouse’s family outcomes through WFE and positive crossover transmission. Evidence of the content and construct validity of OSFA is also presented. Implications, both theoretical and practical, and suggestions for future research are discussed.Practitioner points Employees who feel supported in their adoption by their organization are more committed to their organization. Organizations that provide support for adoptive employees indirectly influence their spouses’ commitment to the employees’ organization. Adoptive employees’ positive work experiences that result from organizational support for adoption spillover into their family domain. Children who are adopted can benefit indirectly from their parents’ employing organization when that organization supports the adoption in tangible ways.

Does work-related ICT use after hours (WICT) exhaust both you and your spouse? The spillover-crossover mechanism from WICT to emotional exhaustion

Employees’ work-related use of information and communication technologies after hours (WICT) is associated with lower well-being. Based on the spillover-crossover model, we predicted that WICT would be associated with work-related emotional exhaustion of both employees and their spouses; based on the effort-recovery model, we predicted that recovery, and spouses’ support for recovery, would mediate these associations. In this cross-sectional study, questionnaire data were collected from both spouses in a sample of 267 dual-earner couples. The conceptual model and gender differences were tested using the actor-partner interdependence model for distinguishable dyads with structural equation modeling. As hypothesized, there was evidence of a spillover process in which employees’ WICT was associated with their work-related emotional exhaustion, and this association was mediated by their recovery experience. The evidence of crossover was different for husbands and wives. As expected, husbands’ WICT was associated with wives’ work-related emotional exhaustion; this association was mediated by wives’ perception of lower recovery support and in turn a poorer recovery experience. However, contrary to expectations, this two-step mediation process was not significant when it was the wife who engaged in WICT. The results have theoretical relevance as well as practical implications for organizations and dual-earner couples who want to mitigate work-related emotional exhaustion.

Domain Satisfaction and Overall Life Satisfaction: Testing the Spillover-Crossover Model in Chilean Dual-Earner Couples.

The aim of this study was to examine spillover and crossover effects between job satisfaction, satisfaction with family life (SWFaL), satisfaction with food-related life (SWFoL) and overall life satisfaction (LS) in dual-earner couples. The gender of the couple members was also accounted for in these interrelationships. A sample of 473 dual-earner couples with adolescent children in Temuco, Chile, responded to a questionnaire. Both members of the couple answered the Satisfaction with Life Scale, Overall Job Satisfaction Scale, the Satisfaction with Family Life Scale and the Satisfaction with Food-related Life Scale. Using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model and structural equation modeling, it was found that men’s LS was positively associated with their own job satisfaction, SWFaL and SWFoL (spillover), as well as with their partner’s SWFaL (crossover). Results also showed that women’s LS was positively associated with their own job satisfaction, SWFaL and SWFoL (spillover), as well as with their partner’s SWFaL and job satisfaction. Different gender patterns were found for job satisfaction and SWFoL. These findings suggest that for dual-earner couples, life satisfaction may not only be influenced by their own individual satisfaction in a life domain but also by their partner’s satisfaction in the same domain.

Workaholism, Work Engagement and Child Well-Being: A Test of the Spillover-Crossover Model.

This study examines how working parents’ work attitudes (i.e., workaholism and work engagement) are associated with their child’s psychological well-being. Based on the Spillover-Crossover model (SCM), we hypothesize that (a) work-to-family spillover (i.e., work-to-family conflict and facilitation) and (b) employee happiness will sequentially mediate the relationship between parents’ work attitudes and their child’s emotional and behavioral problems. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among Japanese dual-earner couples with pre-school child(ren). On the basis of valid data from 208 families, the hypothesized model was tested using structural equation modeling. For both fathers and mothers simultaneously, workaholism was positively related to work-to-family conflict, which, in turn, was negatively related to happiness. In contrast, work engagement was positively related to work-to-family facilitation, which, in turn, was positively related to happiness. Fathers’ and mothers’ happiness, in turn, were negatively related to their child’s emotional and behavioral problems. Results suggest that parents’ workaholism and work engagement are related to their child’s emotional and behavioral problems in opposite ways, whereby parents’ spillover and happiness mediate this relationship. These findings support the SCM and suggest that decreasing workaholism and improving work engagement may not only improve employees’ happiness, but also decrease their child’s emotional and behavioral problems.

Work Challenge Stressors and Spousal Outcomes: A Moderated Model of Stress Mindset

Based on the spillover-crossover model, we examined how employee work challenge stressors impact spousal outcomes by collecting time-lagged and multi-source data on work challenge stressors, work-to-family conflict, distress, and recovery from both members of dual-career couples. We hypothesized that the stress mindsets of both partners moderate the indirect relationships of employee work challenge stressors and work-to-family conflict to employee and spousal well-being outcomes. Results partially support our hypotheses and have both research and practical implications.

Testing the Spillover-Crossover Model between Work-Life Balance and Satisfaction in Different Domains of Life in Dual-Earner Households

This study explored the spillover and crossover associations between work-life balance and satisfaction with life, food-related life and family life in dual-earner parents. Questionnaires were administered to 303 dual-earner couples with adolescent children in Temuco, Chile. Both members of the couples answered the Work-life Balance (WLB) scale, Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), Satisfaction with Food-related Life scale (SWFoL) and the Satisfaction with Family Life scale (SWFaL). Using the actor-partner independence model and structural equation modeling and having controlled for the effects of age, number of children, number of family members and family socioeconomic status, we found that the man’s work-life balance was positively associated with his own levels of satisfaction with life, family life and food related life, as well as with his partner’s (the woman’s) levels of satisfaction with life, food related life and family life. Likewise, the woman’s work-life balance was positively associated with her own levels of satisfaction with life, family life and food related life, as well as with her partner’s (the man’s) levels of satisfaction with food related life and family life, but not with his level of life satisfaction. These findings suggest the need to improve work-life balance for employees of both genders in order to enhance their overall life satisfaction, as well as their satisfaction in the family and food domains.

Fighting for time: Spillover and crossover effects of long work hours among dual-earner couples.

Drawing upon the spillover-crossover model, this study examined the extent to which one's work time demands spilled over to the family domain and crossed over to his or her spouse, utilizing data of 365 dual-earner couples from the 500 Family Study. The results of the distinguishable actor-partner interdependence model indicated that there was gender symmetry in the spillover processes such that the effects of work hours were identical between men and women. Further, although there was more bidirectional crossover between partners within couples, we observed some unidirectional crossover from husbands to wives. Specifically, husbands only increased their contribution to domestic work in response to wives' work fatigue, whereas wives increased their contribution to domestic work in response to husbands' work fatigue and high workloads. Finally, husbands' housework hours negatively related to wives' marital satisfaction and positively related to wives' depression, whereas wives' housework hours negatively related to husbands' marital satisfaction and depression. These findings have practical implications for improving the work-family balance, health, and well-being of dual-earner couples.

Emotion regulation in supervisory interactions and marital well-being: A spillover-crossover perspective.

When interacting with supervisors, employees often engage in emotion regulation (i.e., surface acting and deep acting), and the consequences may extend beyond work boundaries. Based on the spillover-crossover model and the strength model of self-control, we examined the relationship between employee emotion regulation during supervisory interactions and marital well-being (i.e., spouse's perceived marriage quality and satisfaction). Two survey studies using Chinese employee-spouse dyads showed that employees' surface acting was positively related to ego depletion. Surface acting was found to be negatively related to spouses' perceived marital well-being through the serial mediating roles of both ego depletion and social undermining behavior. Moreover, leader-member exchange (LMX) relationship quality moderated the association between surface acting and ego depletion such that the relationship was weaker for employees with a high-quality LMX relationship compared with those with a low-quality LMX relationship. These findings extend theory and research on emotion regulation to employee-leader interactions and contribute to future research and theory-building on emotion regulation, leadership, and work-family integration. Practical implications for leaders, organizations, and employees were discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Work stressors and partner social undermining: Comparing negative affect and psychological detachment as mechanisms.

With the mounting evidence that employees' work experiences spill over into the family domain and cross over to family members, it is important to understand the underlying mechanism through which work experiences affect the family domain and what factors may alleviate the adverse impact of work stress. Expanding previous research that mainly focused on the affect-based mechanism (negative affect), the present research investigated a resource-based mechanism (psychological detachment from work) in the relationship linking two work stressors (high workload and workplace incivility) with social undermining toward the partner at home. We also explored the relative strength of the mediating effects of the two mechanisms. In addition, we tested whether relationship satisfaction moderates the proposed effect of detachment on partner undermining. We tested these research questions using two studies with differing designs: a five-wave longitudinal study (N = 470) and a multisource study (N = 131). The results suggest that stressful work experiences affect the family domain via lack of detachment as well as negative affect, that the two pathways have comparable strength, and that high relationship satisfaction mitigates the negative effect of lack of detachment on partner undermining. In sum, this research extends the spillover-crossover model by establishing that poor psychological detachment from work during leisure time is an additional mechanism that links work and family. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Eldercare Demands and Time Theft: Integrating Family-to-Work Conflict and Spillover–Crossover Perspectives

Adapting the spillover–crossover model to the context of eldercare, we employed a 5-week weekly diary method in a sample of 82 Chinese dual-earner heterosexual couples to examine the relationships between family eldercare demands, family-to-work conflict, and time theft. Results from multilevel path modeling analyses found that family eldercare demands (as a shared/common stressor) were positively related to each partner’s family-to-work conflict and that the weekly family-to-work conflict of each partner was positively related. Furthermore, family eldercare demands were positively related to each partner’s time theft at the week level, and this relationship was mediated by weekly family-to-work conflict. Thus, this is one of the first studies to show that family eldercare demands can explain the interindividual crossover of family-to-work conflict between partners at the week level and this can spill over intraindividually to impact time theft at work. These findings enhance the field’s understanding of the process by which eldercare demands relate to time theft among dual-earner couples within a focused temporal framework.