Humane orientation, work-family conflict, and positive spillover across cultures.

Although cross-national work-family research has made great strides in recent decades, knowledge accumulation on the impact of culture on the work-family interface has been hampered by a limited geographical and cultural scope that has excluded countries where cultural expectations regarding work, family, and support may differ. We advance this literature by investigating work-family relationships in a broad range of cultures, including understudied regions of the world (i.e., Sub-Saharan Africa, Southern Asia). We focus on humane orientation (HO), an overlooked cultural dimension that is however central to the study of social support and higher in those regions. We explore its moderating effect on relationships between work and family social support, work-family conflict, and work-family positive spillover. Building on the congruence and compensation perspectives of fit theory, we test alternative hypotheses on a sample of 10,307 participants from 30 countries/territories. We find HO has mostly a compensatory role in the relationships between workplace support and work-to-family conflict. Specifically, supervisor and coworker supports were most strongly and negatively related to conflict in cultures in which support is most needed (i.e., lower HO cultures). Regarding positive spillover, HO has mostly an amplifying role. Coworker (but not supervisor) support was most strongly and positively related to work-to-family positive spillover in higher HO cultures, where providing social support at work is consistent with the societal practice of providing support to one another. Likewise, instrumental (but not emotional) family support was most strongly and positively related to family-to-work positive spillover in higher HO cultures. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Faculty Time Expenditure Across Research, Teaching, and Service: Do Gender Differences Persist?

Faculty members are continually confronted with a multitude of activities among which they must divide their time. Prior research suggests that while men and women academics spend the same number of weekly hours working, women tend to expend more time on teaching and service relative to men while men expend more time on research relative to women. Based on cross-sectional survey data from a sample of 783 tenured or tenure-track faculty members from multiple universities, we examine gender differences in time spent in research, teaching, and university service. Regression analyses show that gender differences in time allocation continue to persist after controlling for work and family factors. More specifically, women report more time on teaching and university service than do men, while men report more time spent on research than do women. Results provide evidence that gendered differences in faculty time allocation are robust across time. Potential implications for policy are discussed.

Safety not guaranteed: Investigating employees' safety performance during a global pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic threatened employees' health and safety more than any event in recent years. Although millions of employees transitioned to working from home to mitigate infectious disease exposure, many worksites re-opened amid the pandemic as high infection rates persisted longer than expected. Safety guidelines were issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, and other national initiatives to improve the health and safety of employees returning to on-site work. The current work addresses predictors of infection control safety behaviors in a general working population that largely lacks infection control training and expertise. Drawing from Neal and Griffin's model of safety behavior, we investigated organizational factors (i.e., perceived safety climate, safety-related organizational constraints, occupational risk of COVID-19 exposure) and individual factors (i.e., infection control safety attitudes, conscientiousness, and risk aversion) associated with employees' infection control safety behaviors shortly after returning to on-site work during the pandemic. Survey results from 89 full-time employees across industries demonstrated that the organizational and individual factors accounted for 51.19 percent of the variance in employees' infection control safety behaviors. Organizational factors accounted for 49.02 percent of the explained variance, and individual factors accounted for 50.98 percent of the explained variance. Conscientiousness, perceived safety climate, safety-related organizational constraints, and infection control safety attitudes explained significant variance in employees' infection control safety behaviors, while the occupational risk of COVID-19 exposure and risk aversion did not. Organizations may benefit from considering employees' conscientiousness and safety attitudes during employee selection as well as enhancing their organization's safety climate and mitigating safety-related organizational constraints.

Goldilocks at work: Just the right amount of job demands may be needed for your sleep health.

OBJECTIVES: It has been reported that job demands affect sleep, but how different levels of job demands affect sleep remains unclear. We examined whether curvilinear relationships exist between job demands and multiple sleep health outcomes. DESIGN: Cross-sectional analyses with linear and quadratic effects, using self-administered survey data. SETTING: A national sample of US adults. PARTICIPANTS: Workers from Midlife in the United States Study (MIDUS2; n = 2927). MEASUREMENTS: The Job Content Questionnaire assessed overall and 5 specific aspects of job demands (intensity, role conflict, work overload, time pressure, and interruptions). Habitual sleep health patterns across 5 dimensions (regularity, satisfaction/quality, daytime alertness, efficiency, and duration) were assessed. Age, sex, race/ethnicity, marital/partnered status, education, job tenure, work hours, body mass index, smoking status, and study sample were covariates. RESULTS: There were significant linear and quadratic relationships between job demands and sleep outcomes. Specifically, the linear effects indicated that participants with higher job demands had worse sleep health, such as shorter duration, greater irregularity, greater inefficiency, and more sleep dissatisfaction. The quadratic effects, however, indicated that sleep regularity and efficiency outcomes were the best when participants' job demands were moderate rather than too low or too high. These effects were found for overall job demands as well as for specific aspects of job demands. Stratified analyses further revealed that these curvilinear associations were mainly driven by participants with low job control. CONCLUSIONS: Moderate levels of job demands, especially if combined with adequate job control, are related to optimal sleep health.

Masculinity contest culture: Harmful for whom? An examination of emotional exhaustion.

The relationship between masculinity contest culture (MCC) and emotional exhaustion was examined with hypotheses informed by the job demands-resources model. Additionally, trait competitiveness and gender were considered as predictors within a three-way interaction model informed by social role theory. Hypotheses were tested using a two-timepoint survey with a sample of 494 full-time employed adults. Results indicate MCC relates to emotional exhaustion. Support is also provided for a three-way interaction between overall MCC, trait competitiveness, and gender with men with lower trait competitiveness displaying the strongest positive relationship. Overall, results suggest MCC operates as a stressor with the potential to harm psychological well-being and that the strength of this relationship varied based on gender and trait competitiveness. Specifically, higher trait competitiveness buffered relationships between MCC and exhaustion for men but intensified this relationship for women. Implications for employee well-being and disparate health outcomes across groups are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Toward a better understanding of the causal effects of role demands on work-family conflict: A genetic modeling approach.

Over the past several decades, there has been considerable interest in the theoretical causes of work-family conflict (WFC). Most studies have focused on situational determinants, often ignoring the role of personal factors such as disposition and heritable elements. We increase understanding of person versus situation influences on WFC through estimation of the relationship between role demands and WFC after controlling for genetic confounding, measured personality traits, family confounds, and other stable dispositions. Based on twin data from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS), we examine the role of genetic factors in explaining variation in WFC (both work interference with family [WIF] and family interference with work [FIW]). Results support WFC has an additive genetic component, accounting for 31% [95% CI 18%, 45%] and 16% [95% CI 2%, 30%] of the variance in WIF and FIW, respectively. In addition, we test two competing hypotheses with regard to the relationship between role demands and WFC. Results support the phenotypic causal relationship for WIF, consistent with the notion the relationship between work demands and WIF reflect situational processes. However, results support the genetic confounding hypothesis for FIW, indicating observed relationships between family demands and FIW are primarily due to genetic factors. Our results provide new insights into the nature of WFC relationships and underscore that ignoring the influence of heritability can bias estimates of role demand effects in WFC research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Examining the Aftermath of Work-Family Conflict Episodes: Internal Attributions, Self-Conscious Emotions, Family Engagement, and Well-Being.

Little empirical research exists on attributions that people make regarding work-family conflict that they experience. Our study used attribution theory to examine the aftermath of work-family conflict episodes. We used a diary method in which respondents reported their daily encounters with work-family conflict, attributions they made about its causes, feelings of guilt and shame they experienced, and their levels of daily family engagement and well-being after work. Based on Ilies et al. (2012) we hypothesized that internal attributions of work-family conflict would be associated with feelings of guilt and shame, and that these emotions would in turn be differentially associated with daily after-work outcomes. We also hypothesized that the degree to which individuals were satisfied with the resolution of their work-family conflict would moderate the relationship between internal attribution and guilt/shame. Results largely supported our hypotheses, with guilt demonstrating a positive link to family engagement while shame showed a negative association. We also found that shame, but not guilt, was negatively associated with daily well-being. One's level of satisfaction with the resolution of work-family conflict emerged as a key variable as well. Lastly, we discuss the theoretical and practical ramifications of our findings.

Pushing the boundaries: A qualitative study of how stem women adapted to disrupted work-nonwork boundaries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

National reports widely publicized that the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic's disruption of work-nonwork boundaries impacted women's careers negatively, as many exited their jobs to manage nonwork demands. We know less about the adaptations made by highly career-invested women to remain in the workforce in occupations where they are extremely under-represented. Based on qualitative data from 763 academic Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) women at 202 universities, we examined adaptation to disrupted work-nonwork boundaries and identified workplace contextual features associated with these adaptations. Results show that STEM women varied in their adaptation. Many women adapted their professional image management approaches: From concealing nonwork roles-particularly when in less supportive contexts, to revealing them-often to challenge existing ideal worker norms and advocate for change. Also, women adapted through varying forms of role sacrifice; trading off one role's execution for another, mental detachment through psychological role withdrawal, or abandoning role duties through behavioral role exit. Notably, some sacrificed their nonwork roles, although the dominant media narrative highlights women sacrificing work roles. Work contextual features associated with boundary management adaptation include structural support (e.g., flexibility) and social support (e.g., empathy). Results illuminate the complex decisions faced by STEM women when they lose the scaffolding supporting their work-nonwork interface. Moreover, the results have practical and theoretical implications for advancing workforce gender equity, and for supporting all employees' work-nonwork boundary management. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Remote worker communication during COVID-19: The role of quantity, quality, and supervisor expectation-setting.

Given the huge increase in remote work that has accompanied the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, understanding predictors of performance and wellbeing among remote workers has never been more timely. Effective communication is commonly cited as key to remote worker success, yet communication variables are rarely incorporated into remote work research. In the present study, we examined the relationship between communication frequency, communication quality, and supervisor-set communication expectations with daily job performance and burnout in an occupationally-diverse sample of employees. We used an experience sampling design and our hypotheses were tested with data collected over a 4-week period with a sample of 471 employees who shifted to full-time remote work due to COVID-19. Results indicated that daily communication quality was associated with daily performance and burnout. In addition, the extent to which supervisors established expectations about communication practices (e.g., expected response times to email) at the onset of the transition to remote work was positively associated with performance, but not burnout. Task interdependence was also tested as a moderator. Task interdependence moderated the relationship between communication quality and performance, such that the relationship was stronger when task interdependence was higher than when it was lower. Task interdependence also moderated the relationship between supervisor-set expectations and performance such that the relationship was stronger when task interdependence was lower than when it was higher. Expected curvilinear relationships between communication frequency and outcomes were not detected. Based on our findings, we provide recommendations for practice and future research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

An examination of the temporal order of helping behaviours and emotional exhaustion.

An emerging body of research has investigated the relationship between helping (as a type of organizational citizenship behaviour) and emotional exhaustion (as an aspect of employee health). Research has demonstrated a significant relationship between helping and emotional exhaustion, but the theoretical arguments for the causal direction vary across studies. Specifically, some researchers have conceptualized helping as an outcome of emotional exhaustion, while others have regarded helping as a predictor of emotional exhaustion. This lack of theoretical clarity in directionality hinders the field's ability to summarize existing empirical findings cohesively and elucidate theoretical mechanisms. Therefore, this study attempts to clarify the theoretical directionality between helping and emotional exhaustion using four waves of data collected at 6-month intervals. Autoregressive cross-lagged analyses with auto-correlations revealed that more helping was associated with less future emotional exhaustion from Wave 1 to Wave 2, but from Wave 2 to Wave 3, the directionality reversed, as less emotional exhaustion significantly predicted more future helping, and from Wave 3 to Wave 4, both prediction directions were no longer significant. The findings suggest that helping and emotional exhaustion reciprocally affect each other, though the reciprocal pattern may disappear across time. The present study sheds light on the theoretical relationship between helping and emotional exhaustion, and provides theoretical and practical implications.

A cross-national meta-analytic examination of predictors and outcomes associated with work-family conflict.

Through the lens of boundary theory, we systematically examined cultural context as a moderator of relationships between work-family conflict and its key theoretical predictors (work/family hours and work/family demands) and outcomes (job satisfaction, family satisfaction, and life satisfaction). We used 2 different approaches to examine cultural variation in the strength of work-family conflict relationships: (a) individual cultural values (collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance); and (b) regional cluster configurations (e.g., Eastern Europe, South Asia). Our meta-analytic investigation is based on data drawn from 332 studies (2,733 effect sizes) that represent 58 different countries. Consistent with prediction, results revealed that collectivism moderated WIF/FIW and satisfaction outcomes such that relationships were weaker in more collectivistic contexts than in less collectivistic contexts. Little evidence was found to support power distance or uncertainty avoidance as individual cultural moderators. Findings also indicated that work-family conflict relationships differ in strength as a function of regional clusters, lending support to the use of configural approaches to examine cross-cultural variation. Overall, our findings suggest that domain demands are a robust predictor of work-family conflict across countries and that affective correlates to work-family conflict meaningfully vary in strength as a function of cultural context. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Episodic work-family conflict and strain: A dynamic perspective.

A sizable body of research has established work-family conflict and its nomological network. Despite decades of research, we have yet to form a precise understanding of what happens when a conflict arises. The current research addresses this question using a growth modeling, episodic approach. We use stressor-strain and allostatic load theories to examine changes in daily patterns of psychological (fatigue, negative affect) and physiological (heart rate, blood pressure) strains that occur during and after a work-family conflict episode. We found some evidence for acute changes in psychological strain during and after work-to-family conflict episodes. Daily family-to-work conflict was associated with mixed reactions. State fatigue and heart rate decreased at the time of a family-to-work conflict, although state negative affect increased at the time of family-to-work conflict, and state fatigue increased more rapidly throughout the day after the second time family-to-work conflict was experienced. Additionally, we found evidence that state negative affect increases throughout the day as work-to-family conflict episodes accumulate. Daily family-to-work conflict accumulation was also associated with decreased fatigue, increased state negative affect, and increased systolic blood pressure. Lagged analyses showed some evidence that negative mood predicts work-family conflict occurrence within the next few hours. Implications for the theoretical relationship between work-family conflict and strain are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Challenge and hindrance stressors in relation to sleep.

RATIONALE: Research using the challenge-hindrance stressor framework shows hindrance stressors tend to have detrimental affective and work-related outcomes, whereas challenge stressors have relatively more salutary affective and work-related outcomes. The extent to which this pattern extends to health behaviors, such as sleep, is unknown. OBJECTIVE: The current study examines challenge and hindrance work stressors in relation to sleep quantity and quality. METHODS: We use survey data from the MIDUS II (Phase 1 and Phase 4) to test the relationship between self-reported challenge and hindrance stressors and assessments of sleep, including cross-sectional and prospective indicators of sleep quantity, sleep quality (sleep onset latency, sleep disturbance), and sleepiness. RESULTS: Hindrance stressors are associated with prospective sleep quantity, as well as cross-sectional and prospective sleep quality and sleepiness. Further, the pattern of results for sleep quality and sleepiness reflects the expected challenge-hindrance pattern, such that hindrance stressors are more strongly associated with poor sleep quality and sleepiness than are challenge stressors. The same challenge-hindrance pattern was not significant sleep quantity. Work hours and time lag generally did not moderate associations between work stressors and sleep. CONCLUSION: The challenge-hindrance pattern holds for sleep quality and sleepiness, but not sleep quantity. Relationships appear to be consistent across time and differences in work hours. Results have implications for expanding the challenge-hindrance stressor framework and underline the importance of distinguishing between different types of stressors and sleep dimensions.

Challenge and hindrance stressors and metabolic risk factors.

The current study investigates differential relationships between challenge and hindrance stressors and metabolic risk factors using data from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS II). Guided by the challenge-hindrance stressor model and the allostatic load model, we test two theoretically driven paths: a direct physiological path and an indirect path via health behaviors (i.e., high-risk eating, cigarette smoking, and alcohol consumption). Challenge stressors versus hindrance stressors were hypothesized to differentially predict health behaviors and metabolic risk factors. Results favor the health behavior-mediated pathway in comparison with the direct physiological pathway. High-risk food consumption served as a link between hindrance stressors and metabolic risk factors. Some evidence supported smoking as a link between hindrance stressors and metabolic risk factors, and alcohol consumption as a link between challenge stressors and metabolic risk factors. The pattern of findings supported the challenge-hindrance distinction, particularly in relation to health behaviors. By combining the challenge-hindrance and allostatic load literatures, our study theoretically and empirically extends knowledge of how work stressors relate to physiological outcomes. Moreover, we also extend the nomological network of challenge and hindrance stressors to behavioral and physiological outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Societal individualism-collectivism and uncertainty avoidance as cultural moderators of relationships between job resources and strain.

The job demands-resources model is a dominant theoretical framework that describes the influence of job demands and job resources on employee strain. Recent research has highlighted that the effects of job demands on strain vary across cultures, but similar work has not explored whether this is true for job resources. Given that societal characteristics can influence individuals' cognitive structures and, to a lesser extent, values in a culture, we address this gap in the literature and argue that individuals' strain in reaction to job resources may differ across cultures. Specifically, we theorize that the societal cultural dimensions of individualism-collectivism and uncertainty avoidance shape individual-level job resource-strain relationships, as they dictate which types of resources (i.e., individual vs. group preference-oriented and uncertainty-reducing vs. not) are more likely to be valued, used, or effective in combating strain within a culture. Results revealed that societal individualism-collectivism and uncertainty avoidance independently moderated the relationships between certain job resources (i.e., job control, participation in decision making, and clear goals and performance feedback) and strain (i.e., job satisfaction and turnover intentions). This study expands our understanding of the cross-cultural specificity versus generalizability of the job demands-resources model.

How honest are the signals? A protocol for validating wearable sensors.

There is growing interest among organizational researchers in tapping into alternative sources of data beyond self-reports to provide a new avenue for measuring behavioral constructs. Use of alternative data sources such as wearable sensors is necessary for developing theory and enhancing organizational practice. Although wearable sensors are now commercially available, the veracity of the data they capture is largely unknown and mostly based on manufacturers' claims. The goal of this research is to test the validity and reliability of data captured by one such wearable badge (by Humanyze) in the context of structured meetings where all individuals wear a badge for the duration of the encounter. We developed a series of studies, each targeting a specific sensor of this badge that is relevant for structured meetings, and we make specific recommendations for badge data usage based on our validation results. We have incorporated the insights from our studies on a website that researchers can use to conduct validation tests for their badges, upload their data, and assess the validity of the data. We discuss this website in the corresponding studies.

A meta-analysis of work-family conflict and social support.

The relationship between social support and work-family conflict is well-established, but the notion that different forms, sources, and types of social support as well as contextual factors can alter this relationship has been relatively neglected. To address this limitation, the current study provides the most comprehensive and in-depth examination of the relationship between social support and work-family conflict to date. We conduct a meta-analysis based on 1021 effect sizes and 46 countries to dissect the social support and work-family conflict relationship. Using social support theory as a theoretical framework, we challenge the assumption that social support measures are interchangeable by comparing work/family support relationships with work-family conflict across different support forms (behavior, perceptions), sources (e.g., supervisor, coworker, spouse), types (instrumental, emotional), and national contexts (cultural values, economic factors). National context hypotheses use a strong inferences paradigm in which utility and value congruence theoretical perspectives are pitted against one another. Significant results concerning support source are in line with social support theory, indicating that broad sources of support are more strongly related to work-family conflict than are specific sources of support. In line with utility perspective from social support theory, culture and economic national context significantly moderate some of the relationships between work/family support and work interference with family, indicating that social support is most beneficial in contexts in which it is needed or perceived as useful. The results suggest that organizational support may be the most important source of support overall. (PsycINFO Database Record

The work-family interface: A retrospective look at 20 years of research in JOHP.

As part of the 20th anniversary celebration for the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology (JOHP), this article reviews the literature on work-family with a special emphasis on research published in JOHP and that with health-related implications. We provide a retrospective overview of work-family research, tracing key papers and major theoretical constructs and themes. We examine the research needs identified by Westman and Piotrkowski (1999) and offer an assessment of the extent that work-family research has addressed those needs. Then we move on to discuss contemporary issues in the field today that constitute directions for future research. Specifically we discuss intervention studies, multilevel approaches, temporality and dynamic change, managerial perspectives, and diverse work settings. (PsycINFO Database Record

Taking stock of two relational aspects of organizational life: Tracing the history and shaping the future of socialization and mentoring research.

As part of the centennial celebration for the Journal of Applied Psychology, this article reviews the literature on organizational socialization and mentoring. Our review includes a comparison of organizational socialization and mentoring as processes for employee adjustment and development, the historical context that fueled the emergence of these two areas of study, and a chronological mapping of key foundations, trends, themes that emerged across time, and major milestones. Along the way, a special emphasis is placed on research published in the Journal of Applied Psychology and high impact work is highlighted. We conclude with a discussion of five areas for future research. Specifically, we outline ideas for bridging the socialization and mentoring literatures, better understanding and capturing dynamic processes across time, the development of multilevel theories and models, addressing causality, and considering the implications for organizational socialization and mentoring research based on how technology is changing the way we work. (PsycINFO Database Record

How Effective Is Telecommuting? Assessing the Status of Our Scientific Findings.

Telecommuting has become an increasingly popular work mode that has generated significant interest from scholars and practitioners alike. With recent advances in technology that enable mobile connections at ever-affordable rates, working away from the office as a telecommuter has become increasingly available to many workers around the world. Since the term telecommuting was first coined in the 1970s, scholars and practitioners have debated the merits of working away from the office, as it represents a fundamental shift in how organizations have historically done business. Complicating efforts to truly understand the implications of telecommuting have been the widely varying definitions and conceptualizations of telecommuting and the diverse fields in which research has taken place.Our objective in this article is to review existing research on telecommuting in an effort to better understand what we as a scientific community know about telecommuting and its implications. In so doing, we aim to bring to the surface some of the intricacies associated with telecommuting research so that we may shed insights into the debate regarding telecommuting's benefits and drawbacks. We attempt to sift through the divergent and at times conflicting literature to develop an overall sense of the status of our scientific findings, in an effort to identify not only what we know and what we think we know about telecommuting, but also what we must yet learn to fully understand this increasingly important work mode.After a brief review of the history of telecommuting and its prevalence, we begin by discussing the definitional challenges inherent within existing literature and offer a comprehensive definition of telecommuting rooted in existing research. Our review starts by highlighting the need to interpret existing findings with an understanding of how the extent of telecommuting practiced by participants in a study is likely to alter conclusions that may be drawn. We then review telecommuting's implications for employees' work-family issues, attitudes, and work outcomes, including job satisfaction, organizational commitment and identification, stress, performance, wages, withdrawal behaviors, and firm-level metrics. Our article continues by discussing research findings concerning salient contextual issues that might influence or alter the impact of telecommuting, including the nature of the work performed while telecommuting, interpersonal processes such as knowledge sharing and innovation, and additional considerations that include motives for telecommuting such as family responsibilities. We also cover organizational culture and support that may shape the telecommuting experience, after which we discuss the community and societal effects of telecommuting, including its effects on traffic and emissions, business continuity, and work opportunities, as well as the potential impact on societal ties. Selected examples of telecommuting legislation and policies are also provided in an effort to inform readers regarding the status of the national debate and its legislative implications. Our synthesis concludes by offering recommendations for telecommuting research and practice that aim to improve the quality of data on telecommuting as well as identify areas of research in need of development.