Enrichment between the Work and Nonwork Domain : A Look at the Bright Side of Life

Abstract

Research on the work-family interface repeatedly demonstrated that combining multiple roles such as being an employee as well as a parent can lead to detrimental consequences due to competing demands emerging from both the work and the family domain. However, in recent years, research found that combining multiple roles can also have positive consequences. This positive perspective on the work-family interface is specified in the model of work-family enrichment (Greenhaus & Powell, 2006). Work-family enrichment describes the extent to which positive experiences in one role (e.g., employee) enhance functioning in another role (e.g., parent). Recent research demonstrated that the experience of work-family enrichment is associated with favorable outcomes for both the employees and the organization they work for. However, compared to research on the negative side of combing multiple roles, the knowledge about antecedents as well as mediating mechanisms in the enrichment process is still fragmentary. Thus, the present dissertation addressed this research gap by investigating different aspects of work-family enrichment in three empirical field studies. Study 1 and Study 2 thereby focused on the relationship between the management of boundaries between the work and the family domain as well as the job-related consequences. Study 3 addressed the mediating mechanisms underlying the enrichment process.Study 1 examined the relationship between an employee’s preference to manage boundaries between the work and the family domain and work-to-family enrichment. Additionally, the study considered the employees’ perception of how their organization deals with the boundaries between the work and the family domain and its relationship with the experience of work-to-family enrichment. Moreover, it was investigated how work-family enrichment in turn is related to job satisfaction. Data were gathered from 222 employees having at least one child living at home. Results indicated that an employee’s preference to mentally integrate work into the family domain is positively related to work-to-family enrichment. Additionally, results of this study showed that the more an employee perceives the organization as offering temporal and spatial flexible boundaries between the work and the family domain the more an employee experiences work-to-family enrichment. As hypothesized, work-to-family enrichment in turn is positively associated to job satisfaction.Study 2 investigated how an employee’s preference to integrate work into the family domain and psychological detachment from work during non-work time contributes to work-to-family enrichment and in turn to work engagement as well as to job satisfaction over time. Moreover, the study examined if work engagement is a predictor of an employee’s preference to integrate work into the family domain. Longitudinal data were gathered at two measurement occasions with a time lag of six months from 207 employees having at least one child living at home. As predicted, an employee’s preference to integrate work into the family domain is positively related to work-to-family enrichment, in particular for employees who indicate low psychological detachment from work during non-work time. Additionally, results showed that work-to-family enrichment relates positively to work engagement and job satisfaction. Moreover, work engagement is positively related to an employee’s preference to integrate the work into the family domain.Whereas Study 1 and Study 2 examined predictors and consequences of work-family enrichment, Study 3 focused on the mediating mechanisms underlying the enrichment process between work (work engagement) and non-work experiences (work-to-life enrichment). More specifically, the study tested if there is an additional, more cognitive mediator besides positive affect in the enrichment process as proposed by the work-family enrichment model (Greenhaus & Powell, 2006). Data were gathered at two measurement points with a time lag of three months. In sum, 256 employees answered at both measurement occasions. Results supported the hypothesis that besides positive affect there is a cognitive pathway in the enrichment process that links work engagement with work-to-family enrichment. Additionally, this study demonstrated that work-family enrichment is an experience that is independent from the marital and/or family status.In sum, the present dissertation expands research on the positive side of the interplay between the work and the non-work domain in several ways. It demonstrates that the management of boundaries between the work and the family domain is related to work-family enrichment. The results indicate that both the preference and the behavior of an employee to manage boundaries as well as how the employee perceives the organization to deal with boundaries play an important role in the relationship to work-family enrichment. Furthermore, this dissertation sheds more light on the underlying mechanisms of the enrichment process. In particular, it shows that besides positive affect there is a cognitive mechanism that links work to non-work experiences. It also demonstrates that the experience of feeling enriched exists for all employees independently from their marital or family status. Finally, by investigating job-related outcomes of work-family enrichment, the results of the dissertation brings along implications both for practitioners as well as for researchers thereby further strengthening the relevance of work-family enrichment as an important research topic of work and organizational psychology.