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1 – 10 of 21Michal Biron, Wendy J. Casper and Sumita Raghuram
The purpose of this study is to offer a model explicating telework as a dynamic process, theorizing that teleworkers continuously adjust – their identities, boundaries and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to offer a model explicating telework as a dynamic process, theorizing that teleworkers continuously adjust – their identities, boundaries and relationships – to meet their own needs for competence, autonomy and relatedness in their work and nonwork roles.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses the lens of job crafting to posit changes teleworkers make to enhance work-nonwork balance and job performance, including time-related individual differences to account for contingencies in dynamic adjustments. Finally, this study discusses how feedback from work and nonwork role partners and one’s self-evaluation results in an iterative process of learning to telework over time.
Findings
This model describes how teleworkers craft work and nonwork roles to satisfy needs, enhancing key outcomes and eliciting role partner feedback to further recraft telework.
Research limitations/implications
The propositions can be translated to hypotheses. As such the dynamic model for crafting telework can be used as a basis for empirical studies aimed at understanding how telework adjustment process unfolds.
Practical implications
Intervention studies could focus on teleworkers’ job crafting behavior. Organizations may also offer training to prepare employees to telework and to create conditions under which teleworkers’ job crafting behavior more easily translates into need satisfaction and positive outcomes.
Social implications
Many employees would prefer to work from home, at least partly, when the COVID-19 crisis is over. This model offers a way to facilitate a smooth transition into this work mode while ensuring work nonwork balance and performance.
Originality/value
Most telework research takes a static approach to focus on the work–family interface. This study proffers a dynamic approach suggesting need satisfaction as the mechanism enabling one to combine work and domestic roles and delineating how feedback enables continuous adjustment in professional and personal roles.
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Michelle Streich, Wendy J. Casper and Amy Nicole Salvaggio
This study aims to explore the nature of couple agreement about work‐family conflict, adding to previous research by explicitly testing the extent to which couples agree when…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the nature of couple agreement about work‐family conflict, adding to previous research by explicitly testing the extent to which couples agree when rating work interference with family (WIF) and the influence of this agreement on other outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 224 dual‐earner couples were surveyed to assess their own WIF, as well as what they believed to be their partner's level of WIF. Participants also completed questions regarding their organizational commitment.
Findings
Couples agreed when rating their own and their partners' WIF more than they disagreed. As predicted, couples agreed more when rating the female partner's WIF as compared to the male partner's WIF. Finally, couple agreement about WIF moderated the relationship between female WIF and her continuance organizational commitment such that the relationship between the female partner's WIF and her level of continuance commitment was stronger when agreement about her experienced WIF was low.
Research limitations/implications
This was a convenience sample, and therefore caution should be used when generalizing to a broader population. Second, the research design was cross‐sectional, prohibiting causal inferences and conclusions about couple agreement over time.
Practical implications
Organizations should consider the perceptions and attitudes of both employees and their partners, as both have implications for work attitudes. Organizations might benefit from considering ways in which they can involve and engage employees' spouses and partners, and could offer flexible schedules as a way to reduce employee work‐to‐family conflict and enhance both employee and partner attitudes toward the organization.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the literature by exploring both self and partner perceptions of work‐family conflict and examining couple agreement about this conflict.
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Meghna Virick, Juliana D. Lilly and Wendy J. Casper
The purpose of this research is to examine how increased work overload of layoff survivors relates to their work‐life balance and job and life satisfaction.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to examine how increased work overload of layoff survivors relates to their work‐life balance and job and life satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey methodology was used to collect data from 510 layoff survivors in a high tech company. Regression analyses and structural equation modeling were used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The study found that layoff survivors experience higher levels of workload which impact overall role overload that negatively affects work‐life balance. Findings suggest that high workloads experienced by layoff survivors contribute to reduced job and life satisfaction through reduced work‐life balance as a mediating mechanism.
Research limitations/implications
The data used in this paper is cross‐sectional and conducted within a single organization. Also, most of the data is obtained from self report survey data and subject to common method bias. As such, longitudinal studies are recommended for future research.
Originality/value
This study makes a contribution by joining two distinct research streams – the job loss literature with research on work‐family issues. Findings suggest that high workloads experienced by layoff survivors contribute to reduced job and life satisfaction with work‐life balance acting as a mediator. Future research should determine whether these findings generalize to diverse layoff survivors in distinct industries, and assess whether these phenomena change over time.
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Shalini Garg and Punam Agrawal
The objective of the study is to identify the themes of “family friendly practices” and to perform a literature review. The research aims to identify the emerging trends in the…
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of the study is to identify the themes of “family friendly practices” and to perform a literature review. The research aims to identify the emerging trends in the area of “family friendly practices” by carrying out an exhaustive literature review.
Design/methodology/approach
The study synthesizes the literature between the years 2010 and 2019. First of all, 150 research articles were identified by keyword search, bibliography and citation search, out of which 57 research articles were selected on the basis of the most sound theoretical background and maximum literature contribution. The citation analysis method was performed on these studies in order to study the journals, authors by using Google Scholar, ResearchGate, the international database Science Citation Index and SCImago Journal Ranking.
Findings
The author citation count shows that the research topic is still getting recognition and the research in this area is increasing. The finding of the research is that the current research in family-friendly practices has focused mainly on seven topics: availability and usability of family-friendly policy, job satisfaction, organizational performance, supervisor or manager support, work–life conflict, employee turnover employee retention and women’s employment.
Originality/value
The study may provide valuable inputs to the HRD practitioners, managers, research scholars, to understand the recent trends in the field of family-friendly policy. As per the best knowledge of the author, this is the first study on family-friendly practices using citation analysis.
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Toyin Ajibade Adisa, Chima Mordi and Babatunde Akanji
Work–family research has mainly focused on nuclear families, neglecting other types of families, such as single self-employed parents. To what extent does the freedom and…
Abstract
Purpose
Work–family research has mainly focused on nuclear families, neglecting other types of families, such as single self-employed parents. To what extent does the freedom and flexibility attached to being single and self-employed hinder or enhance single parents' work–family balance? Using role theory as a theoretical lens, this study examines single-self-employed parents' work–family balance.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on the accounts of 25 single self-employed parents in Nigeria, the article uses semi-structured interviews to examine how this group achieves work–family balance.
Findings
We found that the freedom and flexibility associated with being single and self-employed form a double-edged sword that increases the spate of singlehood and intensifies commitments to work, altogether preventing the participants in the study from achieving work–family balance. The findings also indicate that singlehood and a lack of spousal support cause and exacerbate work–family imbalance for this group. The findings further indicate that the reconstruction of functions, and the recreation of the traditional masculine gender role overwhelm single self-employed women in their entrepreneurial activities, thereby causing a lack of time and the energy required to function well in a family role, thus creating imbalance between the different spheres of life.
Research limitations/implications
The extent to which the findings of this research can be generalised is constrained by the limited sample and scope of the research.
Practical implications
While literature espouses freedom and flexibility as important ingredients needed to achieve work–family balance, this study shows that they enhance inter-role role conflict. The study suggests creation of private or family time, devoid of work or entrepreneurial engagements, for single female entrepreneurs. This will ensure quality time and energy for the family and for fresh relationship – all of which will impact business positively.
Originality/value
Rather than enhancing work–family balance, the freedom and flexibility attached to being single and self-employed remain the main source of work–family imbalance for Nigerian single self-employed parents.
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David G. Smith and Mady Wechsler Segal
Institutional structures of professional career paths often support breadwinner–homemaker families, with a stay at home wife available full time to support the professional (and…
Abstract
Institutional structures of professional career paths often support breadwinner–homemaker families, with a stay at home wife available full time to support the professional (and children), so the professional can devote complete energy and time to developing a career. This research examines how two partners in the same narrowly structured, fast track occupational culture such as those occurring for dual military officer couples shape how women and men negotiate decision making and life events. Data from interviews with 23 dual U.S. Navy officer couples build upon Becker and Moen’s (1999) scaling back notions. With both spouses in these careers, placing limits on work is extremely difficult due to fast track cultures that demand higher status choices and structures that formally do not reliably consider collocations. Trading off occurs, but with distress due to the unique demands on two partners in the fast track culture, which means career death for some. Two partners in fast track careers may not yet have given up on two careers as many peers may have, but they lose a great deal, including time together and their desired number of children. But they ultimately posit individual choice rather than focusing on structural change. The pressured family life resulting is likely similar to that for partners in other narrowly structured, fast track cultures such as in law firms and academia.
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Copyright Clouds Multimedia Prospects. Imagine a computer program that gives a fire department an edge in dealing with hazardous spills, toxic materials threatening life and…
Abstract
Copyright Clouds Multimedia Prospects. Imagine a computer program that gives a fire department an edge in dealing with hazardous spills, toxic materials threatening life and property — where a quick and accurate response literally has consequences for thousands. This program stores information on thousands of chemicals from manuals and technical treatises. By selecting an icon of a map, an entire city comes up on the screen with details on the locations of schools, hospitals, and businesses. With another click of a mouse, the program calculates the direction of the plume from a leak and provides clues to arrest the accident and move citizens out of harm's way.
As maternal mortality increases in the United States, birth providers and policymakers are seeking new solutions to address what scholars have called the “C-section epidemic.”…
Abstract
As maternal mortality increases in the United States, birth providers and policymakers are seeking new solutions to address what scholars have called the “C-section epidemic.” Hospital cesarean rates vary tremendously, from 7 to 70 percent of all births. Based on in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 47 obstetricians and family physicians in the United States, I explore one reason for this variation: differences in how physicians perceive and manage risk in American obstetrics. While the dominant model of risk management encourages high levels of intervention and monitoring, I argue that a significant portion of physicians are concerned about high intervention rates in childbirth and are working to reduce cesarean rates and/or the use of monitoring technologies like continuous fetal heart rate monitors. Unlike prior theories of biomedicalization, which suggest that health risks are managed through increased monitoring and intervention, I find that many physicians are resisting this model of risk management by ordering fewer interventions and collecting less information about their patients. These providers acknowledge that interventions designed to mitigate risks may only provide an illusion of control, rather than an actual mastery of risks. By limiting interventions, providers may lose this illusion of control but also mitigate the iatrogenic effects of intervention and continuous monitoring. This alternative approach to risk management is growing in many medical fields and deserves more attention from medical sociologists.
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Noreen Heraty, Michael J. Morley and Jeanette N. Cleveland
The purpose of this brief paper is to introduce the papers in this special issue of Journal of Managerial Psychology, focused on “Complexities and challenges in the work‐family…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this brief paper is to introduce the papers in this special issue of Journal of Managerial Psychology, focused on “Complexities and challenges in the work‐family interface”.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper first introduces the theme of the special issue, and a brief outline of each paper contained in it is given.
Findings
There is concern that progress in the work‐family research area has been somewhat restricted and may have failed to take sufficient account of the complexity of work‐family issues.
Originality/value
The literature on the work‐family interface is complex, and theory in the field is uncertain and under‐developed. The papers in this special issue should further understanding of the challenges and complexities underscoring the work‐family interface.
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In recent years, the issue of human trafficking has become a key component of a growing number of corporate social responsibility initiatives, in which multinational corporations…
Abstract
In recent years, the issue of human trafficking has become a key component of a growing number of corporate social responsibility initiatives, in which multinational corporations have furthered the pursuit of “market based solutions” to contemporary social concerns. This essay draws upon in-depth interviews with and ethnographic observations of corporate actors involved in contemporary anti-trafficking campaigns to describe a new domain of sexual politics that feminist social theorists have barely begun to consider. Using trafficking as a case study, I argue that these new forms of sexual politics have served to bind together unlikely sets of social actors – including secular feminists, evangelical Christians, bipartisan state officials, and multinational corporations – who have historically subscribed to very different ideals about the beneficence of markets, criminal justice, and the role of the state.
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