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Work-family conflict and self-discrepant time allocation at work.
Patricia C Dahm1, Theresa M Glomb1, Colleen Flaherty Manchester1
1Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota.
The Journal of Applied Psychology
|February 10, 2015
Summary
Work-to-family conflict leads to employees spending less time on preferred tasks, impacting job satisfaction and well-being. This discrepancy in time allocation, rather than actual time spent, affects outcomes, with women disproportionately affected.
Area of Science:
- Organizational Psychology
- Work-Life Balance Studies
Background:
- Work-to-family conflict is a significant stressor impacting employee outcomes.
- Self-regulation and self-discrepancy theories offer frameworks for understanding employee behavior and well-being.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the mediating role of self-discrepant time allocation in the relationship between work-to-family conflict and employee outcomes.
- To examine how actual versus preferred time allocation influences work satisfaction, well-being, and salary.
- To explore gender differences in response to work-to-family conflict and time allocation.
Main Methods:
- Employed polynomial regression and response surface methodology to analyze time allocation discrepancies.
- Examined the relationships between work-to-family conflict, time allocation, work satisfaction, well-being, and salary.
- Utilized statistical mediation analysis to test proposed mechanisms.
Main Results:
- Discrepancies between actual and preferred time allocation negatively correlate with work satisfaction and psychological/physical well-being.
- Self-discrepant time allocation mediates the link between work-to-family conflict and satisfaction/well-being.
- Actual time allocation, not discrepancy, mediates the work-to-family conflict-salary relationship; women report more discrepancies.
Conclusions:
- Self-discrepant time allocation is a key mechanism through which work-to-family conflict negatively affects employee well-being and satisfaction.
- Addressing time allocation preferences is crucial for mitigating negative consequences of work-to-family conflict.
- Gender moderates the experience of self-discrepant time allocation under work-to-family conflict.
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