Work, family and life-course fit: Does control over work time matter?

This study moves from "work-family" to a multi-dimensional "life-course fit" construct (employees' cognitive assessments of resources, resource deficits, and resource demands), using a combined work-family, demands-control and ecology of the life course framing. It examined (1) impacts of job and home ecological systems on fit dimensions, and (2) whether control over work time predicted and mediated life-course fit outcomes. Using cluster analysis of survey data on a sample of 917 white-collar employees from Best Buy headquarters, we identified four job ecologies (corresponding to the job demands-job control model) and five home ecologies (theorizing an analogous home demands-home control model). Job and home ecologies predicted fit dimensions in an additive, not interactive, fashion. Employees' work-time control predicted every life-course fit dimension and partially mediated effects of job ecologies, organizational tenure, and job category.

[1]  N. Consedine A dynamic theory of personality and emotions , 1999 .

[2]  Glen H. Elder,et al.  Examining lives in context : perspectives on the ecology of human development , 1995 .

[3]  R. Hertz,et al.  Working to Place Family at the Center of Life: Dual-Earner and Single-Parent Strategies , 1999 .

[4]  S. Clark,et al.  Work Cultures and Work/Family Balance , 2001 .

[5]  Robert McMurrian,et al.  Development and validation of work–family conflict and family–work conflict scales. , 1996 .

[6]  Phyllis Moen,et al.  "Fit" inside the Work-Family Black Box: An Ecology of the Life Course, Cycles of Control Reframing. , 2008, Journal of occupational and organizational psychology.

[7]  D. Ganster,et al.  Impact of family-supportive work variables on work-family conflict and strain: A control perspective. , 1995 .

[8]  Kris Byron A meta-analytic review of work–family conflict and its antecedents ☆ , 2005 .

[9]  J. F. Veiga,et al.  Job control and job strain: a test of three models. , 1997, Journal of occupational health psychology.

[10]  E. Kelly,et al.  at Work and at Home Rethinking the ClockWork of Work: Why Schedule Control May Pay Off , 2007 .

[11]  Ellen Ernst Kossek,et al.  Flexibility Enactment Theory: Implications of Flexibility Type, Control, and Boundary Management for Work- Family Effectiveness. , 2005 .

[12]  Carol S. Aneshensel,et al.  Handbook of the sociology of mental health , 1999 .

[13]  R. Brennan,et al.  The relationship between job experiences and psychological distress: A structural equation approach , 1995 .

[14]  William J. Goode,et al.  A theory of role strain. , 1960 .

[15]  N. Rothbard,et al.  Work and Family Stress and Well-Being: An Examination of Person-Environment Fit in the Work and Family Domains. , 1999, Organizational behavior and human decision processes.

[16]  C. Higgins,et al.  Work-Family Conflict , 1994 .

[17]  J. Grzywacz,et al.  Demography , 1986, Prehistoric Fisherfolk of Oman: The Neolithic Village of Ras Al-Hamra RH-5.

[18]  Leslie B. Hammer,et al.  The longitudinal effects of work-family conflict and positive spillover on depressive symptoms among dual-earner couples. , 2005, Journal of occupational health psychology.

[19]  Patricia Voydanoff,et al.  Toward a Conceptualization of Perceived Work‐Family Fit and Balance: A Demands and Resources Approach , 2005 .

[20]  P. Landsbergis,et al.  Is job strain a major source of cardiovascular disease risk? , 2004, Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health.

[21]  E. Kelly,et al.  Learning from a Natural Experiment: Studying a Corporate Work-Time Policy Initiative. , 2009, Work-life policies. National Symposium on Family Issues.

[22]  Dawn S. Carlson,et al.  Work-family facilitation: A theoretical explanation and model of primary antecedents and consequences , 2007 .

[23]  Michael R. Frone,et al.  Work-family balance. , 2003 .

[24]  Lois E. Tetrick,et al.  Handbook of occupational health psychology , 2003 .

[25]  Adam B. Butler,et al.  Extending the demands‐control model: A daily diary study of job characteristics, work‐family conflict and work‐family facilitation , 2005 .

[26]  Dawn S. Carlson,et al.  A multi-level perspective on the synergies between work and family , 2007, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology.

[27]  Robert Karasek,et al.  Job decision latitude and mental strain: Implications for job redesign , 1979 .

[28]  H. Bosma,et al.  Job strain, effort-reward imbalance and employee well-being: a large-scale cross-sectional study. , 2000, Social science & medicine.

[29]  Mark Tausig,et al.  Family and Health Outcomes of Shift Work and Schedule Control , 2001 .

[30]  Jeffrey H. Greenhaus,et al.  When Work And Family Are Allies: A Theory Of Work-Family Enrichment , 2006 .

[31]  M. Kivimäki,et al.  Long hours in paid and domestic work and subsequent sickness absence: does control over daily working hours matter? , 2006, Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

[32]  P. Moen,et al.  Toxic Job Ecologies, Time Convoys, and Work-Family Conflict: Can Families (Re) Gain Control and Life-Course “Fit”? , 2008 .

[33]  Dawn S. Carlson,et al.  Measuring the positive side of the work-family interface: Development and validation of a work-family enrichment scale. , 2006 .

[34]  W. Casper,et al.  Work and family research in IO/OB: Content analysis and review of the literature (1980–2002) , 2005 .

[35]  Brian Everitt,et al.  Cluster analysis , 1974 .

[36]  R. Brennan,et al.  Fit as a mediator of the relationship between work hours and burnout. , 1999, Journal of occupational health psychology.

[37]  L. Pearlin The Stress Process Revisited , 1999 .

[38]  Joseph G. Grzywacz,et al.  Work, Family, and Mental Health: Testing Different Models of Work‐Family Fit , 2003 .

[39]  A. Steptoe,et al.  The contribution of gender-role orientation, work factors and home stressors to psychological well-being and sickness absence in male- and female-dominated occupational groups. , 2002, Social science & medicine.

[40]  Susan J. Lambert,et al.  Work and life integration: Organizational, cultural, and individual perspectives. , 2005 .

[41]  Stephen Marks MULTIPLE ROLES AND ROLE STRAIN: SOME NOTES ON HUMAN ENERGY, TIME AND COMMITMENT , 1977 .

[42]  A Sayer,et al.  The changing workforce, job stress, and psychological distress. , 1997, Journal of occupational health psychology.

[43]  S. Sieber TOWARD A THEORY OF ROLE ACCUMULATION , 1974 .

[44]  Robert Karasek,et al.  Healthy Work : Stress, Productivity, and the Reconstruction of Working Life , 1990 .

[45]  T. Chandola,et al.  The measurement of effort-reward imbalance at work: European comparisons. , 2004, Social science & medicine.