Backhaus, Kristin B.

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Organization Management Journal Volume 11 Issue 2 Article 2 4-3-2014 From Micro to Macro: Examinations of Individual Level Work–Family Conflict and Organizational Level Entrepreneurial Orientation Kristin B. Backhaus State University of New York at New Paltz Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.shu.edu/omj  Part of the Organizational Behavior and Theory Commons, and the Organizational Communication Commons Recommended Citation Backhaus, Kristin B. (2014) "From Micro to Macro: Examinations of Individual Level Work–Family Conflict and Organizational Level Entrepreneurial Orientation," Organization Management Journal: Vol. 11: Iss. 2, Article 2. Available at: https://scholarship.shu.edu/omj/vol11/iss2/2 Organization Management Journal, 11: 61, 2014Copyright © Eastern Academy of ManagementISSN: 1541-6518 onlineDOI: 10.1080/15416518.2014.940262CURRENT EMPIRICAL RESEARCHFrom Micro to Macro: Examinations of Individual LevelWork–Family Conflict and Organizational LevelEntrepreneurial OrientationKristin B. Backhaus1Co-Editor1School of Business, State University of New York at New Paltz, New Paltz, New York, USAThis issue contains three articles in the Current EmpiricalResearch section. Two of these examine aspects of work/familyconflict, drawing our attention to underlying factors thatcontribute to this all too common problem. In the first,“Older-Worker-Friendly Policies and Affective OrganizationalCommitment,” Crowne, Cochran and Carpenter investigatework/family conflict as it relates to older workers. With the“graying” of the workforce, there is an increased need to under-stand the factors that impact older workers, their job satisfactionand their commitment to their jobs. Crowne and colleaguesfocus on the impact of older-worker- friendly policies, includingphased retirement, workplace accommodations, and retirementhealth insurance, on job satisfaction, work/family conflict, andorganizational commitment. The authors hypothesize that theavailability of older-worker-friendly benefits reduces strain-based work/family conflict thereby increasing job satisfactionand commitment to the organization. They found that indeed,the greater the level of older-worker-friendly policies, the lowerthe strain-based work/family conflict. Further, older-worker-friendly policies were related to higher levels of job satisfactionand affective organizational commitment. The authors discussthe implications of their findings for organizations that seek toretain valuable seasoned employees.The second article, “Linking Interactional Justice toWork-to-Family Conflict: The Mediating Role of EmotionalExhaustion” by Ivy A. Kyei-Poku looks at the ways inwhich perceptions of interactional justice affect work-to-familyconflict. Drawing on the conservation of resources theory,Kyei-Poku proposes that perceptions of unfairness in interac-tions with supervisors cause employees to experience emo-tional exhaustion. In turn, according to Kyei-Poku, emotionalAddress correspondence to Kristin B. Backhaus, SUNY New Paltz,1 Hawk Drive, New Paltz, NY 12561, USA. E-mail: backhauk@newpaltz.eduexhaustion has an impact on home life, causing work-to-familyconflict. The results of Kyei-Poku’s study supported herhypotheses. She found that perceptions of interactional jus-tice are negatively related to work-to-family conflict, andfurther, that emotional exhaustion mediated the relationshipbetween interactional justice and work-to-family conflict. Kyei-Poku’s findings reinforce previous research on the connectionbetween justice and work-to-family conflict. The findings arealso important in identifying emotional exhaustion as the psy-chological mechanism connecting justice and work-to-familyconflict.The third article covers a very different topic, entrepreneurialorientation, and situates the study in the complex and fast mov-ing pharmaceutical industry. In their article, “An Examinationof Entrepreneurial Orientation in Dedicated BiotechnologyFirms: Context Matters,” Dorothy Mary Kirkman and dtogilvie explore the entrepreneurial orientation of a specifictype of pharmaceutical firm, the dedicated biotechnology firm(DBF). DBFs focus on cutting edge scientific research, seek-ing opportunities for commercialization of new therapies.Kirkman and ogilvie look at the contextual conditions withinwhich DBFs exhibit an entrepreneurial orientation (EO). Theauthors examine EO as a multidimensional construct withthree dimensions—proactiveness, innovation, and risk-taking—as well as a gestalt, unidimensional construct. They assessEO across three contexts: organizational structure, location,and age. Kirkman and ogilvie found that public DBFs hadhigher overall EO scores, and that new firms are higher inrisk-taking than older firms. Further, they found that DBFs oper-ating in clusters are more innovative than those that are moreremotely located. Kirkman and ogilvie’s article is importantin broadening our understanding of EO to firms outside thosetypically investigated. It also expands our understanding ofthe relationship between contextual factors and entrepreneurialorientation.61

From Micro to Macro: Examinations of Individual Level
Work–Family Conflict and Organizational Level
Entrepreneurial Orientation

https://scholarship.shu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1381&context=omj

From Micro to Macro: Examinations of Individual Level Work–Family Conflict and Organizational Level Entrepreneurial Orientation

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