The nature and outcomes of work-family enrichment

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-77).This study examined the nature and outcomes of work-family enrichment amongst South African retail employees (N = 336). Exploratory factor analysis evidenced the multi-dimensionality of work-family enrichment, its bi-directionality, and its distinctiveness from work-family conflict. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that work-to-family enrichment explains a significant proportion of the variance in organisational commitment, job satisfaction, and career satisfaction and that the affect component of family-to-work enrichment explains a significant proportion of the variance in family satisfaction. Implications for both work-family theory and management practice are discussed

Antecedents of work-family conflict among Hindu working women in South Africa: stressors, social support, and cultural values

Includes bibliographical references.Little is known about the antecedents of work-family conflict (WFC) among Hindu working women in South Africa, a minority subgroup shaped by a unique set of historical, political, and cultural dynamics. Responding to repeated calls in the literature for the examination of work-family issues in unique cultural contexts, this study began with 20 in-depth interviews to elicit the subjective meaning that Hindu women in South Africa give to their work-family experiences. The qualitative data were analysed adhering to the principles of thematic analysis. These findings, together with a review of extant literature, were used to develop a new and culturally nuanced explanatory model of the antecedents of WFC for this specific context. The antecedents of WFC in the explanatory model include role stressors, sources of social support, and specific individual-level cultural variables. The study’s propositions were tested with survey data from 317 respondents. Psychometric analyses confirmed the portability of the measures and the bi-directional nature of WFC; work-to-family conflict and family- to-work conflict. Multiple regression analyses showed that a significant amount of variability in work-to-family conflict and family-to work conflict were explained by within- domain and cross-domain role stressors; with work overload having the strongest predictive effect on both directions of WFC. The results further highlight the salience of family in Hindu culture, noting that family involvement functioned as an important resource in reducing both directions of WFC and that food-work overload had a distinctive effect on WFC as a significant within-domain and cross-domain stressor. Results of further moderated multiple regression analyses confirmed co-worker support as an important resource for alleviating work-to-family conflict and for buffering the negative effects that work stressors can have on work-to-family conflict. Likewise, the results confirmed spousal support as an important resource for reducing family- to-work conflict; however, paid domestic support increased family- to-work conflict directly and when interacting with food-work overload. Moderated multiple regression analyses additionally showed that work involvement interacted significantly with gender role ideology in predicting work-to-family conflict and that family hierarchy orientation interacted significantly with family involvement in predicting family- to-work conflict. Overall, the results of this study strengthen the argument for the importance of uncovering and examining culturally salient variables in work-family research

Work-family enrichment and psychological health

Orientation: This study examines the beneficial aspects of the interface between work and family and its relationships with psychological health from a positive psychology perspective. Research purpose: The objective of this study was to investigate whether work-family enrichment helps to predict psychological health, specifically increased subjective well-being and decreased feelings of emotional exhaustion and depression. Motivation for the study: The burgeoning literature on the work-family interface contains little on the potentially positive benefits of maintaining work and family roles. Research approach, design and method: The authors used a descriptive research design. Employees in two national organisations in the financial retail and logistics industries completed a self-administered survey questionnaire. The authors analysed responses from those who reported both family and work responsibilities (N = 160). Main findings: Consistent with previous research, factor analysis revealed two distinct directions of work-family enrichment: from work to family (W2FE) and from family to work (F2WE). Multiple regression analysis showed that F2WE explained a significant proportion of the variance in subjective wellbeing, whilst W2FE explained a significant proportion of the variance in depression and emotional exhaustion. Practical/managerial implications: The findings of this study revealed the individual and organisational benefits of fostering work-family enrichment. Contributions/value add: This study presents empirical evidence for the need to focus on the positive aspects of the work-family interface, provides further support for a positive organisational psychology perspective in organisations and hopefully will encourage further research on interventions in organisations and families

Developing an African research network and research agenda on work–family interface

In this article we aim to provide a narrative of the critical engagement on work-family issues in Africa that took place during the inaugural workshop of the African Research Network on Work-Family held at the University of Pretoria, South Africa in September 2015. The interdisciplinary experts at the workshop agreed that with funding and appropriate local data, the Network has the potential to make a substantial contribution to strengthening and amplifying African voices in the global work-family discourse, which is currently dominated by research findings and literature from the Global North. A future research agenda was also proposed.The DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Human Development under Grant No. OPP20150008 .http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ccwf202018-07-22hb2017Sociolog

A Southern encounter: maternal body work and low-income mothers in South Africa

This paper explores the maternal body work practices of black low-income mothers from resource-poor urban spaces in South Africa. Using Southern Theory to open our analytical lens, we recognise that location has implications for how we understand the embodiment of gender and the lactating body in the global South. We argue that maternal body work, as one form of gendered embodiment, must be understood in a postcolonial landscape where histories of colonisation and indigenous gender orders continue to shape how women respond to work conditions and how they manage the competing demands of work and breastfeeding. Our analysis from 51 in-depth interviews conducted in Cape Town, demonstrates that maternal body work practices are interpreted through the entanglement of embodiment and work and non-work spaces. By emphasising contextual specificities relating to low-income worker’s living, working and family realities, we advance studies on maternal body work and employment from the global South

Boundary management preferences from a gender and cross-cultural perspective

Although work is increasingly globalized and mediated by technology, little research has accu- mulated on the role of culture in shaping individuals' preferences regarding the segmentation or integration of their work and family roles. This study examines the relationships between gender egalitarianism (the extent a culture has a fluid understanding of gender roles and promotes gender equality), gender, and boundary management preferences across 27 countries/territories. Based on a sample of 9362 employees, we found that the pattern of the relationship between gender egalitarianism and boundary management depends on the direction of segmentation preferences. Individuals from more gender egalitarian societies reported lower preferences to segment family-from-work (i.e., protect the work role from the family role); however, gender egalitarianism was not directly associated with preferences to segment work-from-family. Moreover, gender was associated with both boundary management directions such that women preferred to segment family-from-work and work-from-family more so than did men. As theo- rized, we found gender egalitarianism moderated the relationship between gender and segmen- tation preferences such that women's desire to protect family from work was stronger in lower (vs. higher) gender egalitarianism cultures. Contrary to expectations, women reported a greater preference to protect work from family than men regardless of gender egalitarianism. Implica- tions for boundary management theory and the cross-national work-family literature are discussed

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

Work-Family Justice - Meanings and Possibilities: Introduction to the Work and Family Researchers Network Special Issue

Work-Family Justice is a key organizing concept centering intellectual and policy work that call attention to tensions and challenges in work and family integration, and that highlight key solutions. This special issue extends knowledge about structural, cultural, historical, and political (including geopolitical) oppressions that inform the range of diverse work-family conflict complexities and presents building blocks to sustain healthier work and family lives. Work-family justice allows for safe, decent, and meaningful work, supported care for dependents, and strong family relations though the life course. It addresses inequalities between and across groups and cultures. We build upon earlier rigorous scholarship ascertaining the best supports for a healthy and fulfilled workforce and populace, which can advance equality and profit national wellbeing. The special issue highlights exceptional individual research studies, that -- as a whole -- elevates work-family scholarship and the solutions that can enhance work-family justice

Possibilities for Change and New Frontiers: Introduction to the Work and Family Researchers Network Special Issue on Advancing Equality at Work and Home

This special issue showcases recent scholarship that clarifies the nature of inequality as it emerges at the intersection of today's workplaces and homes. We bring together scholarly works presented during the Work and Family Researchers Network conferences from 2018 and 2020. These articles provide a foundation for the development of future knowledge that advances equality at work and home, paying special attention to the complex nature of work and family in diverse contexts. Our introduction to the issue further highlights the need to amplify the voices and experiences of marginalised groups of people around the world who have received limited attention in the work and family literature. We conclude by offering suggestions of the role each of us can play in helping the work-family field become more inclusive and expanding ways of knowing that better represent work-family occurrences across diverse contexts