Employees’ Financial Insecurity and Health: The Underlying Role of Stress and Work–Family Conflict Appraisals

Data from two longitudinal samples were utilized to elucidate underlying mechanisms of the well‐established relationship between financial insecurity and health outcomes, stemming from the theoretical rationale of conservation of resources and cognitive appraisal theories. Study 1 (n = 80) consisted of low‐wage food manufacturing employees working full time, while Study 2 (n = 331) was consisted of a larger, heterogeneous sample of full‐time workers representing multiple occupations. Respondents were surveyed on financial insecurity, work‐to‐family conflict (WFC), stress, and health outcomes at two time periods, 3 months apart. Results across our studies provided support for the direct effects of financial insecurity on WFC and stress. In addition, appraisals of WFC and stress serve as significant mediators of the relationship between financial insecurity and health outcomes, including a significant overall lagged effect across time, and perceived stress accounting for the largest proportion of variance in the lagged relationship among Time 1 financial insecurity and Time 2 health outcomes. Besides support for conservation of resources and cognitive appraisal theories, practically, our studies suggest that workplace initiatives to reduce financial insecurity could positively influence employees’ work–family, stress, and health experiences

Family Supportive Supervision Around the Globe

Family-supportive supervision (FSS) refers to the degree to which employees perceive their immediate supervisors as exhibiting attitudes and behaviors that are supportive of their family role demands (Hammer, Kossek, Zimmerman, & Daniels, 2007; Kossek, Pichler, Bodner & Hammer, 2011: Thomas & Ganster, 1995). A growing body of research suggests that leaders\u27 and supervisors\u27 social support of employees\u27 needs to jointly carry out work and family demands is important for general health and job attitudes, such as satisfaction, work-family conflict, commitment, and intention to turn over (Hammer, Kossek, Anger, Bodner, & Zimmerman, 2009; Kossek et al., 2011). Thus, employee perceptions of FSS are critical to individual well-being and productivity (Hammer, Kossek, Yragui, Bodner, & Hansen, 2009). [excerpt

Work-Family Balance, Well-Being, and Organizational Outcomes: Investigating Actual Versus Desired Work/Family Time Discrepancies

Purpose The purpose of the current study was to describe and test two new correlates of work–family balance, based on discrepancies between actual and desired hours spent in the work domain (work hour discrepancy, WHD) and family domain (family hour discrepancy, FHD). Design/Methodology/Approach Participants were 330 employees of a moderate-sized, southeastern university who responded to a survey sent via e-mail. Findings Analyses indicated support for the utility of work and FHD scores for individual and organizational outcomes. Data also indicated FHD predicted work–family balance, well-being, and intention to leave above and beyond the individual components of actual and desired family hours, whereas WHD did not predict beyond individual components. Work–family balance mediated relationships between FHD and quality of life, stress, depression, and intention to leave. Implications This study provides support for incorporation of discrepancy indices in future work–family research. FHD predicted outcomes over and above the individual components of actual and desired hours whereas WHD did not, suggesting that compatibility between what an individual desires and experiences in the family domain may have a stronger influence on well-being and organizational outcomes compared to compatibility in the work domain. Originality/Value These results are important given past focus on concepts such as work schedule fit (e.g., Moen, It’s about time: couples and careers, 2003), in that we extend past findings by also incorporating fit between values and experiences in the family domain, and linking discrepancies with work–family balance, well-being, and organizational outcomes

Organizational Work-Family Resources as Predictors of Job Performance and Attitudes: The Process of Work-Family Conflict and Enrichment

The goal of the current study was to test a model where organizational resources (aimed at managing work and family responsibilities) predict job attitudes and supervisor ratings of performance through the mechanisms of work-family conflict and work-family enrichment. Employees (n = 174) at a large metropolitan hospital were surveyed at two time periods regarding perceptions of family supportive supervisor behaviors (FSSB), family supportive organizational perceptions (FSOP), bidirectional work-family conflict, bidirectional work-family enrichment, and job attitudes. Supervisors were also asked to provide performance ratings at Time 2. Results revealed FSSB at Time 1 predicted job satisfaction, organizational commitment and intention to leave, as well as supervisor ratings of performance, at Time 2. In addition, both work-family enrichment and family-work enrichment were found to mediate relationships between FSSB and various organizational outcomes, while work-family conflict was not a significant mediator. Results support further testing of supervisor behaviors specific to family support, as well models that include bidirectional work-family enrichment as the mechanism by which work-family resources predict employee and organizational outcomes

Critical Incidents of Financial Hardship and Worker Health: A Mixed-Methods Retrospective Study

Rooted in Social Cognitive Career theory, we present a mixed-methods analysis of the perceived impacts of a financial hardship on workers’ job outcomes, the work-family interface, and physical and emotional health. We used the Critical Incidents Technique to gather worker perceptions (n = 571) of the most challenging financial hardship they had recently experienced, as well as the effects of this hardship on work, family, and health. Workers’ qualitative responses overwhelmingly indicate health as an outcome of the financial hardship as well as, to a lesser extent, a cause of a financial hardship, suggesting a damaging reciprocal effect among financial hardships and health. Family was often noted in responses as both impacted by and as a source of the hardship, as were negative effects of financial hardships on employment-related outcomes (i.e., underemployment, difficulty finding a new job, job insecurity). Quantitative results suggest a process whereby financial insecurity affects stress and WFB satisfaction which, in turn, negatively relates to health outcomes (sleep disturbances, musculoskeletal pain, and general health perceptions) as well as organizational outcomes (job satisfaction, organizational commitment, organizational justice). Given the potential cost to organizations when worker health and job attitudes are negatively impacted, our results suggest organizations should be mindful of workers’ experiences of financial hardships

The Critical Role of the Research Question, Inclusion Criteria, and Transparency in Meta-Analyses of Integrity Test Research: A reply to Harries et al. (2012) and Ones, Viswesvaran, and Schmidt (2012)

We clear up a number of misconceptions from the critiques of our meta-analysis (Van Iddekinge, Roth, Raymark, & Odle-Dusseau, 2012). We reiterate that our research question focused on the criterion-related validity of integrity tests for predicting individual work behavior and that our inclusion criteria flowed from this question. We also reviewed the primary studies we could access from Ones, Viswesvaran, and Schmidt\u27s (1993) meta-analysis of integrity tests and found that only about 30% of the studies met our inclusion criteria. Further, analyses of some of the types of studies we had to exclude revealed potentially inflated validity estimates (e.g., corrected validities as high as .80 for polygraph studies). We also discuss our experience trying to obtain primary studies and other information from authors of Harris et al. (2012) and Ones, Viswesvaran, and Schmidt (2012). In addition, we address concerns raised about certain decisions we made and values we used, and we demonstrate how such concerns would have little or no effect on our results or conclusions. Finally, we discuss some other misconceptions about our meta-analysis, as well as some divergent views about the integrity test literature in general. Overall, we stand by our research question, methods, and results, which suggest that the validity of integrity tests for criteria such as job performance and counterproductive work behavior is weaker than the authors of the critiques appear to believe

The Influence of Family-Supportive Supervisor Training on Employee Job Performance and Attitudes: An Organizational Work-Family Intervention

Training supervisors to increase their family-supportive supervisor behaviors (FSSB) has demonstrated significant benefits for employee physical health, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions among employees with high levels of family-to-work conflict in prior research in a grocery store context. We replicate and extend these results in a health care setting with additional important employee outcomes (i.e., employee engagement, organizational commitment, and supervisor ratings of job performance), and consider the role of the 4 dimensions underlying the FSSB. Using a quasi-experimental, pretest–posttest design, 143 health care employees completed surveys at 2 time periods approximately 10 months apart, along with their supervisors who provided ratings of employees’ job performance. Between these surveys, we offered their supervisors FSSB training; 86 (71%) of these supervisors participated. Results demonstrated significant and beneficial indirect effects of FSSB training on changes in employee job performance, organizational commitment, engagement, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions through changes in employee perceptions of their supervisor’s overall FSSBs. Further analyses suggest that these indirect effects are due primarily to changes in the creative work–family management dimension of FSSB

Fit of Role Involvement with Values: Theoretical, Conceptual, and Psychometric Development of Work and Family Authenticity

Scholars acknowledge the importance of authenticity to the work-family interface, yet the construct is underdeveloped and measures are lacking. We provide a conceptual definition of work (and family) authenticity- extent to which one\u27s time, energy, and attention to work (and family) are consistent with life values. We develop, refine, and test the psychometric properties of a measure. Using over time data, we find that work-to-family conflict negatively relates to family authenticity, and work-to-family enrichment positively relates to work and family authenticity. Further, polynomial regression results suggest that balance satisfaction is higher when work and family authenticity are similar and high than when work and family authenticity are similar and low. Work and family authenticity also uniquely predict employee attitudes (i.e., job satisfaction, organizational commitment, life satisfaction) and family outcomes (i.e., spouse-rated employee work-family balance and family performance), above and beyond work-family conflict, enrichment, and balance satisfaction. Among these constructs, relative weights analyses revealed that work authenticity was the most important predictor of job attitudes, and family authenticity was the second most important predictor of life satisfaction and most important predictor of family performance as rated by partners. Future research, theoretical, and practical implications are discussed

Self-Engagement Moderates the Mediated Relationship Between Organizational Constraints and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors via Rated Leadership

Results of this study showed that when employees were highly engaged in their work and experienced organizational constraints in performing their jobs, they viewed their leaders as less effective, which in turn resulted in them exhibiting fewer organizational citizenship behaviors

Family-Supportive Work Environments and Psychological Strain: A Longitudinal Test of Two Theories

This research shows that not only can perceptions of family-supportive work environments predict later reports of psychological strain in a military sample after returning from combat, but also that experiences of psychological strain can predict later perceptions of family-supportive work environments. These results suggest the importance of understanding the work-family interface from a reciprocal, systems-based perspective