Strain-based Work-family Conflict Research Articles

Does work–family conflict lead to abusive supervision in the construction projects? The role of project commitment and psychological resilience

Drawing on conservation of resources theory, the study aimed to investigate the relationship between work–family conflict (time-based, strain-based and behavior-based) and project manager abusive supervision in the presence of mediating mechanism and boundary condition. Time-lagged data were collected from 235 respondents working on construction projects to examine the proposed relationships by utilizing regression analysis. Findings indicated that the dimensions of work–family conflict had a positive significant relationship with abusive supervision and negative relationship with project commitment. Additionally, project commitment mediated the relationships and psychological resilience were found to alleviate the negative influence of work–family conflict on project commitment. Surprisingly, the results delineated that strain-based work–family conflict have more pronounced influence in instigating abusive supervision. This study is unique as it broadens the empirical research on work–family conflict and more particularly negative supervisor behavior in the project context.

Exploring the gendered nature of work-family conflict on job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment among correctional officers

ABSTRACT Due to the difficult nature of correctional work, a large body of research has examined factors like job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment among correctional officers. Although this research is valuable, there has been limited research examining how correctional work may differentially impact males and females, which is particularly true for work-family conflict (WFC) research. Given the increase in females working in correctional institutions and the barriers and conflict they faced, the current study assesses the gendered nature of strain-based and time-based WFC on job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment among male and female correctional officers from two Southwestern state-run prisons. The findings reveal that the effects of WFC were similar and different in some ways for male and female correctional officers. Specifically, strain-based WFC was a significant predictor of job stress for male and female correctional officers, whereas strain-based and time-based WFC was only significant for male correctional officers. Finally, neither dimension of WFC was related to organizational commitment. These findings are contextualized and explored against a backdrop of research on WFC and gender.

Occupational Hazards in Corrections: The Impact of Violence and Suicide Exposures on Officers’ Emotional and Psychological Health

Correction officers work in an occupational context where they are often exposed to violence; however, prior research assessing the relationship between violence exposure and officers’ mental health has been limited. The current study sought to better understand the impact of direct and indirect exposure to violence and suicide on psychological health outcomes. Analyzing data from a random sample of 317 correction officers in Massachusetts, findings indicate that personally knowing other officers who died by suicide is associated with greater anger, anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Increased strain-based work–family conflict and departmental discipline were also associated with elevated symptomatology. However, other types of violence exposures, including being assaulted, witnessing staff assaults, and suicides among the incarcerated population, did not predict any outcomes. Furthermore, family support did not serve as a stress buffer for officers exposed to violence, but higher levels of family support were associated with decreased PTSD.

The importance of theory at the Information Systems Journal

The importance of theory at the <i>Information Systems Journal</i>

Is exercise good for all? Time- and strain-based work–family conflict and its impacts

ABSTRACT While many people believe that exercise can relieve stress and enrich well-being, it is unclear whether this relationship always holds when employees suffer from work–family conflict (WFC). Drawing on the transactional theory of stress and conservation of resources theory, we examine how exercise moderates the impact of time- and strain-based WFC on employees’ vitality at work and, subsequently, employees’ subjective well-being. With data collected in multiple waves from a sample in China (N = 243), we found that when employees experienced time-based WFC, strong adherence to exercise did not benefit their vitality as weak adherence to exercise did. However, when employees experienced strain-based work interference with family demands, strong (rather than weak) adherence to exercise benefited their vitality. In addition, the moderating effect of exercise on the relationship between WFC and vitality transited to affect employee job satisfaction.

Exercise Good for All? Time and Strain-Based Work-Family Conflict and Impacts

While people believe employees’ exercise is the popular measure to relieve work stress and strains, it is unclear if this belief is always the case when employee suffer from conflict between their work and family domains. Drawing on the transactional theory of stress and the conservation of resources theory, we examine how exercise moderates the impact of time- and strain-based WFC and employee vitality at work. We also examine how the effect passes on to impact employee job satisfaction. With a multi-wave sample collected from work professionals in China (N = 243), we found that strong adherence to exercises did not alleviate the negative impact of time-based WFC (including work-interference with family and family-interference with work; WIF and FIW) on vitality in comparison to weak adherence to exercises. However, when employees experience strain-based WIF (but not FIW), strong adherence to exercise benefit employee vitality at work compared to weak adherence to exercise. Also, we found that the moderating effect of exercise on the relationship between WFC and vitality pass on to affect employee job satisfaction.

The mediating role of work–family conflict on role overload and job stress linkage

PurposeThe present study first explored the different dimensions of work–family conflict and job stress. It then evaluated the mediating role of time and strain-based work–family conflict on the relationship between role overload and psychological stress and role overload and physiological stress.Design/methodology/approachThe study utilized a quantitative data collection approach through a questionnaire design. With the aid of the questionnaire, 308 samples were collected from the project-level staff of ten construction organizations in Sri Lanka. The collected data were analyzed using a structural equation modeling approach to address the research hypotheses.FindingsResults supported the mediating role of work–family conflict on the relationship between role overload and job stress. Specifically, the time and strain-based work–family conflict combined partially mediated the effect of role overload on psychological stress. While strain-based work–family conflict fully mediated the effect of role overload on physiological stress. Hence, the organizations that seek employee well-being should focus on developing a conducive working environment with a focus on a reasonable workload for everyone. Besides, the management should give special consideration to working hours as it affects both the employees' stress levels and family life.Originality/valueThis study added the mediating role of time and strain-based work–family conflict to the previous empirical research on the relationship between role overload and job stress dimensions. Besides, this study discusses the different dimensions of work–family conflict and job stress, which is a less explored area in the construction literature.

Associations Between Work–Family Conflict, Psychological Distress, and Well-Being Among Taiwanese Clergy

The study examined the associations between work–family conflict (WFC), psychological distress, and well-being in a sample of 336 clergy ( mean age = 46.1 years, SD = 11.7 years) in Taiwan. Specifically, we examined how each of the four types of WFC (time-based work interference with family, time-based family interference with work, strain-based work interference with family, and strain-based family interference with work) were related to psychological distress (depression, anxiety, and burnout) and well-being (life satisfaction, flourishing, and spiritual well-being). Results from the bivariate analysis indicated that all four types of WFC were positively associated with psychological distress and negatively associated with well-being. However, when they were modeled simultaneously in the structural equation model, only strain-based WFC, but not time-based WFC, were related to the outcomes. Finally, younger, female, or single clergy, as well as clergy who work alone or who earn below the median income reported higher levels of psychological distress and lower levels of well-being compared with their counterparts. Practical implications of protecting and promoting clergy mental health were discussed in the article.

Flexible, Self-Determined… and Unhealthy? An Empirical Study on Somatic Health Among Crowdworkers.

Crowdwork is a new form of digitally enabled work in which organizations assign tasks to an anonymous group of workers via platform intermediaries. For crowdworkers, crowdwork offers both opportunities and risks. On the one side, crowdworkers enjoy high flexibility on when, where, and how much to work. On the other side, risks comparable to other forms of atypical employment arise: no labor regulation, unstable income, and uncertainty about whether enough tasks are available. Regulation of working hours lies within the crowdworkers’ own authority. Also, crowdwork in industrialized nations is often conducted during leisure times as a side-job to some other kind of employment. In accordance with Conservation of Resources Theory, we state that when leisure time gets used up with crowdwork, regeneration cannot occur and health declines. On a sample of N=748 German crowdworkers recruited from four different platform types, we analyzed whether participation in crowdwork is linked to increased somatic symptoms compared to regularly employed personnel. We found that crowdworkers show significantly increased somatic symptoms as compared to a German norm sample, that are stable across different kinds of tasks and platforms, gender, and age groups, and that is statistically due to the extent of participation in crowdwork. Specifically, we found that total work hours per week were not associated with an increase in somatic symptoms, but we did find associations with strain-based work–family conflict and the primary motivation to do crowdwork being to earn money. Consequences for research and labor regulations are discussed.

Relationship Between Work-Family Conflict and Perceived Organizational Support Among Nurses of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences

Background: Due to the importance of work-family conflict, it is necessary to find its relationship with organizational variables like perceived organizational support. The present study investigated the relationship between work-family conflict and perceived organizational support in nurses of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences. Materials &amp; Methods: The present study was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted on 300 nurses working at educational hospitals of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Iran. A three-part questionnaire including demographic information, Carlson’s family-work conflict, and perceived organizational support of Eisenberg was used. Descriptive statistics and analytical statistical tests (Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis) and Spearman correlation coefficient were used. Results: The majority of the participants were female (64.2%) and married (55.9%). Work-family conflict was slightly higher than the mean. The dimensions of time-based work-family conflict (10.79±2.95) and strain-based work-family conflict (10.66±2.72) had the highest scores compared to other dimensions of work-family conflicts. Perceived organizational support was less than mean and there was a negative correlation between work-family conflict and perceived organizational support (r=-0.21, P=0.001). Conclusion: The present study showed the importance of paying attention to reducing workfamily conflict by increasing perceived organizational support. Therefore, reducing the dimensions of work-family conflict is necessary and organizational managers should increase organizational support for nurses and thus reduce the conflict between nurses and family work.

My Partner Made Me Do It: The Crossover of a Job Incumbent’s Job Tension to the Spouse’s Workplace Incivility

ABSTRACT We propose a spillover-crossover-spillover process model of dual-career couples by which job incumbent job tension contributes to strain-based work-family conflict which motivates their work-based family undermining, that later relates to the spouse’s workplace incivility. Further, we propose the spouse’s job autonomy moderates the relationship between job incumbent work-based family undermining behaviors and spousal incivility at work. We test the proposed model using a sample of 420 dual-career couples’ survey responses collected over three time periods. Results indicate that job incumbent job tension relates positively to their work-based family undermining behaviors, which then associates with the spouse’s workplace incivility. These effects are moderated by the spouse’s job autonomy such that greater autonomy weakens the relationship between perceived work-based undermining behaviors and incivility at work.

Justice and strain-based conflict among Chinese prison staff

ABSTRACT Views of organizational justice among correctional staff (i.e. whether they perceive that their employing organization treats them fairly) impact both staff and prisons. The two major dimensions of organizational justice are distributive justice (fairness of outcomes) and procedural justice (fairness of processes and procedures). Limited research among correctional staff in the U.S. suggests that views of distributive and procedural justice spillover, which results in a strain-based form of work-family conflict. An ordinary least squares regression analysis of data collected from two prisons in southern China indicated that distributive justice had significant negative effects on the strain-based form of work-family conflict; however, contrary to findings among U.S. staff, procedural justice did not have a signification relationship with strain-based conflict. It appears that the connection between views of organizational justice and strain-based work-family conflict might vary by nation.

Shouldering a double burden: the cultural stigma of the dogma of gender role ideology and its impact on work–family conflict

PurposeDrawing on the role theory and work–family border theory, this study aims to examine the relationship between work/family demands and sui generis forms of work–family conflict and further investigates the gender role ideology as a moderator of the relationship between work/family demands and work–family conflict.Design/methodology/approachThe data were garnered with a self-reported questionnaire from randomly selected 569 employees working in the banking sector. As a caveat, nonresponse bias, common method variance and the reliability and validity of the measure were examined.FindingsThe results revealed that work demand and family demand were strongly related to both time- and strain-based work–family conflict; however, the relationship was not established with behavioural-based conflict. Notably, the findings affirmed the existence of a neglected form of psychological-based work–family conflict as thepièce de résistanceand established a strong connection with its precursor. The dogma of gender role ideology, as a moderator, was indubitably confirmed and strengthened the positive relationship between family demand and family-to-work conflict.Practical implicationsThe present study emphasises the importance of work/family demands and gender role ideology on work–family conflict. Consequently, it behoves human resource managers, strategists and practitioners to frame the organisational arrangements to alleviate the work–family conflict.Originality/valueThe present study fills a hiatus by establishing the relationship between work/family demand and work–family conflict with its cultural beliefs in the context of a collectivist culture.

The costs of networking in nonwork domains: a resource-based perspective

PurposeWhile studies have established that networking is an investment in an individual's career that pays off, recent research has begun to examine the potential costs of networking. This study suggests that prior research is limited in scope, as it remains focused on the work domain. Drawing upon the work home resources model (Ten Brummelhuis and Bakker, 2012), the authors broaden this perspective and develop a framework of negative consequences in nonwork domains. The paper proposes that networking generates costs in nonwork domains, because it requires the investment of finite energy resources in the work domain, and people lack these resources in other domains.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses structural equation modeling of multisource data from N = 306 individuals and their partners to examine how networking affects two distinct nonwork outcomes: work–family conflict and work–life balance.FindingsAnalyses support the general framework: networking is related to time- and strain-based work–family conflict, and work time mediates the relationship between networking and these forms of conflict. Moreover, networking exhibits an inverted U-shaped relationship with work–life balance, indicating that excessive networking as well as a lack of networking decrease work–life balance.Originality/valueThis study adds to the emergent literature on the negative consequences of networking. The findings suggest that employees and organizations should adopt a broader and more balanced perspective on networking: one that takes the well-known benefits – but also potential costs in work and nonwork domains – into account.

Stress among Correctional Officers: an Organizational Justice Approach

Employees’ positive perceptions of organizational justice are crucial to the successful operation of correctional institutions. Employees who perceive their employer treats them justly and fairly report less job-related stress and happier home lives. Organizational justice has two primary components – procedural and distributive justice – that have been examined relative to job satisfaction and job performance. The current study builds on the existing literature and examines the effects that perceptions of procedural and distributive justice have on the strain-based form of work-family conflict. Specifically, the goal of this study is to determine whether these two forms of justice were related to the strain that correctional employees bring home with them. Data collected from a large Southern correctional institution indicate that perceptions of procedural justice related significantly to reported levels of the strain-based form of work-family conflict and that staff with the highest perceptions of procedural justice reported the lowest levels of strain-based work-family conflict. This did not hold true for distributive justice, however, which was found to be statistically unrelated to work-family strain.

Parent and Child Experiences of Parental Work–Family Conflict and Satisfaction with Work and Family

This study examined the relationship between parent and young adult child perceptions of parental work–family conflict and work and family satisfaction. Data were collected from 112 parent–child dyads, and children perceived parents to experience significantly more strain-based work–family conflict than parents reported. Parent and child did not differ in ratings of five other dimensions of parent’s work–family and family–work conflict. Parent and child ratings of the parent’s experience of all three dimensions of work–family conflict and one of three dimensions of family–work conflict were positively correlated. Four actor–partner interdependence models using multilevel modeling tested dyadic effects of work–family or family–work conflict on work or family satisfaction. Negative actor effects were found for behavior-based work–family and family–work conflict and for strain-based family–work conflict on family satisfaction. Negative actor effects existed for behavior-based work–family and family–work conflict on work satisfaction, and behavior-based work–family conflict also had a negative partner effect on work satisfaction.

Meaningfulness as a Predictor of Work-Family Balance, Enrichment, and Conflict

There are arguably great benefits when employees experience a sense of meaning across life domains. The current study examined whether meaningfulness of work and family predicts one’s tendency to manage work/life outcomes. A total of 386 participants reported the sense of meaningfulness they derived from work and family responsibilities. Analyses explored how individuals’ relative ratings of work and family meaningfulness, as well as the similarity of these perceptions with those of their partners, affect work-family conflict, balance, and enrichment. Results showed that meaningfulness of work influences all work-family outcomes while intra-personal congruence in work and home predicts more work enrichment of family and less strain-based work-family conflict. Congruence between partners work meaning further predicted less strain and behavior based work-family conflict and less work-family balance. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, and future directions offered.

When Domains Spill Over: The Relationships of Work-Family Conflict With Indian Police Affective and Continuance Commitment.

Policing is a stressful occupation that may give rise to work-family conflict (WFC). WFC arises when the work domain encroaches into the family domain, or vice versa, causing officers to become less attached to their job and the police organization. Using survey data collected from a sample of police officers in India, we examined the relationship between four dimensions of WFC (time-based, strain-based, behavior-based, and family-based WFC) and two dimensions of organizational commitment (continuance and affective). Family-based WFC was found to reduce continuance commitment, while strain-based WFC reduced affective commitment. Time-based, strain-based, and behavior-based WFC increased continuance commitment. We examined the implications of these findings for police policy makers and administrators. In addition, we also discussed our findings in the context of cross-cultural comparisons.

Psychosocial safety climate as resource passageways to alleviate work-family conflict

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine a multidimensional mediating model of psychosocial safety climate (PSC) and work-family interference. More precisely, it tests the direct and indirect effects of PSC on work-family conflict (WFC)/family-work conflict (FWC)-time and WFC/FWC-strain via family-supportive supervisor behavior (FSSB).Design/methodology/approachThe structural equation method was used to test the direct effect of PSC on WFC/FWC time and strain. As for the mediation effects, they were tested by the method of indirect effects based on a bootstrap analysis (Preacher and Hayes, 2004) based on 3,000 replications with a 95% confidence interval. The statistical treatments were carried out with the AMOS software V.22.FindingsThe results show that PSC is negatively and directly related to WFC-time, FWC-time, WFC-strain and FWC-strain. In addition, the bootstrap analyses indicate that PSC is related indirectly to WFC-time, FWC-time, WFC-strain and FWC-strain via FSSB.Practical implicationsWFC is a workplace issue that warrants intervention in order to reduce organizational costs and increase worker well-being and PSC should be considered as an appropriate target for intervention (Dollard et al., 2012). However, although this management tool can be useful to reduce FWC, it is more appropriate to decrease WFC. Employers and HR managers not only should understand from the findings the importance of PSC, but also that all employees do not have the same problems, depending on the level of responsibilities at home, for example. Hence, they should offer the appropriate resources according to the need of workers. Indeed, the implementation of a unique work-family measure may not be appropriate for all workers, and it is important that employers and HR managers understand the details of WFC and FWC, as well as the possible effects of a series of different variables, in order to design the best work-family programs.Originality/valueThis research examined the effects of two new and specific resources at work, which are PSC and FSSB on WFC and FWC (time and strain), as recommended by Kossek et al. (2011). In addition, this study tested a new multidimensional mediating model which examined the mediation role of FSSB between PSC and time- and strain-based WFC and FWC. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine these relations. Moreover, the test of the concepts of PSC in this study provides a support for the theory of conservation of resources and proposes an extension of this theory.

Exploring Nature of Work Family Conflict: An Exploratory Study in the Banking Sector

The work family literature demonstrates the great vitality and diversity of scholarship and it is an omnipresent factor in the study of contemporary organizations and society. This study was designed to diagnose the pervading nature of work family conflict in Sri Lanka. A total of fifteen respondents were purposively selected from a high status occupations viz., banking organisations and the experience survey was employed. The majority of the employees interviewed are in accord with existence of time based and strain based work family conflict in Sri Lanka. Nonetheless, as the third form of work family conflict-behaviour based work family conflict- in the vantage point of the majority of the employees opined that there was a flimsy of evidence to its existence. Most importantly, this study identified a new form of psychological based work family conflict and thus these novel insights unequivocally contribute to revamp the work family conflict literature. This study becomes a springboard for future research studies.