| Enriching or Depleting? A Theoretical Model and Empirical Test of Engagement in Work and Family |
| | Rothbard, Nancy P. | Northwestern U. | rothbard@nwu.edu | 847-467-3503 |
| | Current organizational and societal trends have heightened interest in engagement in multiple roles such as work and family. The work-family discourse has framed the issue in terms of conflict and depletion. While acknowledging that perspective, this study challenges the assumption that engagement in one role is inherently depleting to engagement in another role, and suggests that multiple roles may enrich one another. The model of engagement in work and family builds on and integrates the depletion and enrichment arguments by identifying the type of emotional response to a role as a critical contrasting assumption held by the two perspectives. Rather than assuming that engagement is depleting, this study tests how people experience engagement in multiple roles. The findings indicate that while depletion does exist, stronger evidence exists for enrichment. Strong gender differences were also found. Depletion existed only for women and only in the work to family direction. In contrast, enrichment existed for both men and women in both the work to family and the family to work directions. Overall, many more linkages between work and family were found for women than for men. |
| | Keywords: Work and Family; Role Engagement; Emotion |
| Expanding the Dominant Model of Career Satisfaction: Effects of Work-Family Conflict |
| | Martins, Luis L. | U. of Connecticut | martins@sba.uconn.edu | (860) 486-6417 |
| | Eddleston, Kimberly-Ann | U. of Connecticut | KEDDLESTON@aol.com | (860) 486-6423 |
| | Veiga, John F. | U. of Connecticut | veiga@uconnvm.uconn.edu | (860)-486-3734 |
| | Kidder, Deborah L. | U. of Connecticut | deb@sba.uconn.edu | (860) 486-6418 |
| | Pay, promotions, and power have generally been argued to be the primary sources of career satisfaction for those
pursuing corporate careers. This dominant model has prevailed in spite of the recently accepted view that spillover
between work and family can have a dramatic impact on career satisfaction. In this study of 795 managers from
over 100 corporations, we sought to contemporize the dominant model of career satisfaction by taking into account
the role of work-family conflict. Our findings indicate that work-family conflict added significantly to the dominant
model in explaining variance in career satisfaction, lending empirical support to recent theorizing on career satisfaction.
In addition, moderated analysis indicated that the effects of work-family conflict on career satisfaction were stronger
for women managers, and for older managers in general. Subsequent analyses revealed that among male managers,
work-family conflict negatively affected career satisfaction in latter career, whereas among women, work-family conflict
had a significant negative effect on career satisfaction irrespective of age. |
| | Keywords: Career satisfaction; Work-family conflict; Gender |
| Perceived Impacts of Family Leave Policies: Do Organizational Factors Matter? |
| | Kim, Soonhee | Grand Valley State U. | KIMS@GVSU.EDU | (616) 774-3430 |
| | A pressing public management concern as we move into the 21st century is the
ability of employees to balance their work and family needs and commitment. Despite
some recent studies that point towards the importance of organizational culture and management
support for family leave policies, significant gaps remain in our understanding of the contextual
and organizational factors that contribute to the success or failure of such policies in public
organizations.
What are the characteristics of organizations that successfully implement a family leave policy? How
do organizational factors affect the impacts of family leave policies on employees? Conducting a
case study, the study propose several organizational factors as target research dimensions for
the implementation of family leave policies in New York state government. The study found that work
units' support of employees' family responsibilities, supervisors' understanding of employees' family
concerns, increased workload, personnel administrators' commitment to family leave policies, and
teamwork management are significantly associated with employees' perceived impacts of family leave
policies on work satisfaction, organizational commitment, reduced work stress, family integrity, and
productivity.
The major implication of these findings is that executive leaders and organizational leaders should be
aware of the relationship between organizational factors and the objectives of family leave policies.
Family leave policies offer a new phase of quality of work life and human resources management in
public organizations. Strong executive leadership around quality of work life and supportive organizational
culture for employees' family concerns should be emphasized as essential elements of obtaining the
objectives of family leave policies in public organizations.
|
| | Keywords: organizational factors; family leave policy; leadership |
| Examining the Impact of Family-Friendly Benefits: The Role of Organizational Support Perceptions |
| | Allen, Tammy D. | U. of South Florida | tallen@luna.cas.usf.edu | 813-974-0484 |
| | Although many companies have implemented family-friendly benefit programs, often the environment of the organization does not change along with these efforts to promote a more family-friendly climate. Under these circumstances, family-friendly benefits may not have their intended effect. To test this supposition, employee global perceptions of the extent that their organization supports efforts to balance work and nonwork was examined as a moderator of the relationship between the number of family-friendly benefits offered by the organization and four dependent variables, work-family conflict, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intentions. Survey data were gathered from 522 participants employed in a variety of occupations and organizations. After controlling for employee gender, age, race, family responsibility, marital status, education, organizational tenure, and salary, the results indicated that perceptions of organizational support for work/nonwork balance contributed a significant amount of variance associated with each of the dependent variables above and beyond the variance contributed by the control variables and the number of family-friendly benefits offered; however, no moderation effects were found. The results did suggest that perceptions of organizational support for work/nonwork balance may mediate the relationship between number of family-friendly benefits offered and the dependent variables. The results underscore the important role that the work environment can play in determining employee reactions to family-friendly benefit policies. |
| | Keywords: family-friendly benefits; organizational support; work-family conflict |