Remote working: a double-edged sword for workers' personal and professional well-being

Leadership Style of School Head-Teachers and Their Colleague's Work-Family Conflict.

The objective of this study was to investigate the Simple and interactive contesting effects of work to family enrichment and work interference with family on life satisfaction. This study used primary data which were collected through survey questionnaire, from the female nurses working in public and private nursing hospital of district Khairpur (N=220). The results of this study showed that the negative effect of work interference with family was severe than the positive effect of work to family enrichment. Further, work to family enrichment was found as the significant moderator in the negative relationship between work interference with family and life satisfaction, such that the said relationship was weaker when employees were high on positive experiences of work to family enrichment. The policy makers in health sector should pay serious attention to the issue of work interference with family in the nurses. The optimal solution recommended by our study can be the positive experiences of work to family enrichment. Employees can apply such resources to reduce the level of WIF. Based on work family enrichment theory and work family conflict theory, this study contributes into the existing work family interface studies by testing the contesting effects of both sides of work family interface on nurses’ life satisfaction. Keywords work to family enrichment, work interference with family, life satisfaction, Work Family Enrichment, Work Family Conflict.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study the applicability of a crossover model of work–family conflict (WFC) in the work setting among supervisor–subordinate dyads. It examines the positive association between supervisor’s WFC and subordinate’s WFC and analyses the moderating effect of subordinate’s susceptibility to emotional contagion (SEC).Design/methodology/approachData were gathered using a questionnaire survey method and tested in 193 matched supervisor–subordinate dyads from select organisations representing the services sector in India.FindingsThe authors found a significant direct crossover path from the supervisor to his/her subordinate’s WFC. The effect of supervisor reported WFC on subordinate reported WFC was found to be strong when the subordinate displayed higher SEC with his/her supervisor.Research limitations/implicationsExamining the crossover of WFC contributes to theory by broadening crossover research to include transmission of negative experiences in the work context. This study significantly adds to emotional contagion theory by substantiating the existence of WFC contagion in supervisor–subordinate dyads. Given the constraints of cross-sectional research design, future research should replicate these findings using a larger sample in other cultural contexts as well to generalise the results. Future research should consider using longitudinal data and including information from both the supervisor and the subordinates collected at different points in time. Crossover of positive work–family experiences (e.g. work–family enrichment) and the role of other individual difference variables such as the personality of the subordinates, empathy, etc., could also be considered.Practical implicationsSupervisors should be advised of the potential adverse effects of their WFC and organisations should be made cognizance of the impact that the WFC of employees can have on their job outcomes. Organisations should provide the required formal and informal support to their employees to deal with their WFC efficiently.Originality/valueThis study has attempted to examine the crossover of WFC in supervisor–subordinate dyads and the potential effect of one of the individual difference variables namely SEC. To the best of the authors knowledge, it has rarely been examined earlier.

The current study developed and tested a model that investigated the relationship of supervisor support with work-family conflict and family-work conflict and the effects of both directions of conflict with family satisfaction, career satisfaction, and life satisfaction. The model also examined the impact of supervisor support on family and career satisfaction outcomes and the effects of these satisfaction variables on life satisfaction. The study hypotheses were tested based on data obtained from frontline employees in the Turkish hotel industry. According to the results of the path analysis, supervisor support lessened both work-family and family-work conflicts. As predicted, family-work conflict diminished family, career, and life satisfaction outcomes. Unexpectedly, work-family conflict was found to trigger career and life satisfaction. Results reveal that supervisor support increased both family and career satisfaction. The study findings also showed that family satisfaction was significantly and positively related to life satisfaction. The study findings, however, did not lend any support to the relationship between work-family conflict and family satisfaction and the effect of career satisfaction on life satisfaction. Implications for business practice and future research directions are discussed in the study.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations are forced to adopt teleworking. However, little is known about this work modality longitudinally. This study aims to clarify the impact of continuing to work on the organization’s premises and shifting to a telework situation on the work and family relationship and employees’ well-being. Using a sample of 435 bank employees with two waves, two groups were compared: (1) workers who continued to work on the organization’s premises (213), and (2) workers’ who had shifted to a telework situation (222). The first set of data were collected prior to the pandemic and the second approximately 10 months after its onset. The study found no statistically significant change to the work and family relationship (i.e., work–family conflict and work–family enrichment) as a result of a shift to telework. However, the shift to telework had a beneficial effect on work engagement, as opposed to remaining on the premises of the company. This study emphasizes the absence of effects on the work–family relationship resulting from the adoption of telework in response to COVID-19.

Recent evidence suggests that parents’ negative experiences of combining work and family roles can have harmful effects on children, but little is known about the mechanisms that explain the crossover from the work–family interface to children’s mental health over time. This study tested whether inter-parental conflict mediated the relation between maternal work–family factors (conflict or enrichment) and subsequent child mental health problems across childhood (4–5 to 8–9 years) and adolescence (10–11 to 14–15 years). Data were six waves from the kindergarten cohort of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, including mother-report of work–family conflict/enrichment and inter-parental conflict, mother- and adolescent-report of internalizing and externalizing problems, and adolescent-report of disordered eating. The final sample consisted of 2158 children and 2181 adolescents. Results from structural equation modeling indicated that during childhood, inter-parental conflict partially mediated the relation between maternal work–family conflict and child internalizing problems, but not externalizing problems. During adolescence, there was no evidence for mediation, although work–family conflict was associated with higher adolescent-reported externalizing problems; and inter-parental conflict was also associated with elevated mother-reported internalizing and externalizing problems. Both work–family conflict and enrichment were associated with elevated inter-parental conflict during childhood, but not adolescence. There was no evidence for associations between work–family factors and adolescents’ disordered eating, and work–family enrichment was not associated with child or adolescent mental health. Intervention programs aimed at reducing both work–family conflict and inter-parental conflict over early childhood are likely to benefit children and families most.

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the role of work–family conflict (WFC) and work engagement (WE) and its influence on role stressors and turnover intention among medical doctors in Malaysian public hospitals. Doctors who experience higher work stress will inevitably experience WFC, consequently triggering their intention to quit.Design/methodology/approachA total of 202 structured questionnaire responses were collected from medical doctors in four Malaysian public hospitals. The study used partial least squares structural equation modeling (SmartPLS 3.0) for hypotheses testing.FindingsAs hypothesized, WFC encourages turnover intention while WE mitigate the relationship between role ambiguity (RA)-TI. RA is also observed to reduce WE, which, in turn, increases the intention to quit. Findings showed that both role conflict and WFC share a positive relationship with TI while WE and TI are negatively related. Furthermore, it was found that WE and WFC are significant mediators in the RA and TI relationship. WFC is also reported to be a significant mediator between the RC and TI relationship.Research limitations/implicationsThe causality effects remain limited due to the nature of the cross-sectional design. Future studies should use a longitudinal approach to gauge a better understanding of these relationships.Practical implicationsThis study provides insights for policymakers in resolving the increase of turnover issues by providing support and relieving medical doctors’ stress levels. Health directors should be encouraged to focus on the key aspects that may directly affect the well-being of medical doctors and eventually reduced staff turnover.Originality/valueThe study contributes to existing knowledge by measuring variables such as job demand (RS and WFC), personal resources (WE) and job outcomes (TI) in the public health care sector. Additionally, research involving COR theory in Asian countries like Malaysia remains relatively underexplored.

The shortage and aging of drivers are not problems limited to the truck industry, but are common in the broader commercial motor vehicle (CMV) industry of Korea. This study investigates the relationships between work situation, work–family conflict, depression, and work engagement of taxi, bus, and truck drivers. We extracted 512 CMV drivers from the 5th Korea Working Conditions Survey. A structural equation model (SEM) was used to investigate the impact of a work situation or work–family conflict on depression and work engagement. Results showed that 38.9% of all respondents had symptoms of depression. In the SEM, a poor work situation (standardized path coefficient = 0.250) and work–family conflict (0.117) significantly affected depression. ‘Enough time’ and ‘feeling well’ were influential variables of work situation. ‘Responsibility’ and ‘concentration’ were influential variables of work–family conflict. Additionally, depression affected work engagement (0.524). ‘Vigor’ and ‘dedication’ were influential variables of work engagement. These results show that the relationships between work situation, work–family conflict, depression, and work engagement of CMV drivers are intricately linked.

Work–family conflict and enrichment from the perspective of psychosocial resources: Comparing Finnish healthcare workers by working schedules

As crucial domains of daily life, the enhancement of both work engagement and family engagement is of significant importance. Guided by the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions and the work-family enrichment theory, tourists’ positive emotional experiences may spill over to work and family engagement through the accumulation of personal resources. A situational experiment and a two-stage survey were conducted to test the hypothesised relationships. The results indicate that tourists’ positive emotional experiences positively influence self-efficacy, which, in turn, enhances their work engagement and family engagement. Additionally, length of stay and travel companion type moderate the mediating effect of self-efficacy. Specifically, when the duration of stay exceeds 9.4 days, the spillover effect of positive emotional experiences on both work engagement and family engagement attenuates. Meanwhile, travelling with family members (vs. friends) enhances the spillover effect of positive emotional experience on work engagement.

The work environment of the offshore platform is unique as such employees live and work in the same confined area surrounded by nothing but the uncertain ocean. Due to the challenging and stressful working environment, oil and gas industry employees in Malaysia and especially in Borneo are facing critical work family enrichment and satisfaction issues. Therefore, it is imperative to investigate the family work enrichment and satisfaction especially among employees in oil and gas industrial context. The main objective of this paper is to propose a framework on the relationships between work family enrichment factors (capital, affect and development) and satisfaction (job and family satisfaction) and the moderating role of socio-cultural factors (monocronic-polycronic time orientation and gender role ideology) among oil and gas industry employees in Bornoe. Thus, it might be recommended that the organization and management should enhance the job and family satisfaction related to work family enrichment and the skills of employer and supervisors to play effective key role in increasing socio-cultural environments in the organization which could affect employees' overall satisfaction.
 
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PurposeWork–family research has mainly focused on nuclear families, neglecting other types of families, such as single self-employed parents. To what extent does the freedom and flexibility attached to being single and self-employed hinder or enhance single parents' work–family balance? Using role theory as a theoretical lens, this study examines single-self-employed parents' work–family balance.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on the accounts of 25 single self-employed parents in Nigeria, the article uses semi-structured interviews to examine how this group achieves work–family balance.FindingsWe found that the freedom and flexibility associated with being single and self-employed form a double-edged sword that increases the spate of singlehood and intensifies commitments to work, altogether preventing the participants in the study from achieving work–family balance. The findings also indicate that singlehood and a lack of spousal support cause and exacerbate work–family imbalance for this group. The findings further indicate that the reconstruction of functions, and the recreation of the traditional masculine gender role overwhelm single self-employed women in their entrepreneurial activities, thereby causing a lack of time and the energy required to function well in a family role, thus creating imbalance between the different spheres of life.Research limitations/implicationsThe extent to which the findings of this research can be generalised is constrained by the limited sample and scope of the research.Practical implicationsWhile literature espouses freedom and flexibility as important ingredients needed to achieve work–family balance, this study shows that they enhance inter-role role conflict. The study suggests creation of private or family time, devoid of work or entrepreneurial engagements, for single female entrepreneurs. This will ensure quality time and energy for the family and for fresh relationship – all of which will impact business positively.Originality/valueRather than enhancing work–family balance, the freedom and flexibility attached to being single and self-employed remain the main source of work–family imbalance for Nigerian single self-employed parents.

In the digital era, remote work has become an essential operational model for organizations, yet its mechanisms for influencing employees’ work–family balance remain contested. This study integrates the work–family boundary theory, the job demands–resources model, and the leadership support theory to construct a mediating-moderating model. It aims to reveal the mechanism through which remote work influences work–family balance via work stress and further examines the moderating effect of leadership support. Using survey data from 312 employees across multiple industries in mainland China, hierarchical regression and bootstrap analyses were conducted to test the proposed hypotheses. The results indicate that remote work significantly enhances employees’ work–family balance while simultaneously reducing work-related stress. Work stress exerts a significant negative effect on balance, partially mediated by remote work. Leadership support both facilitates work–family balance directly and negatively moderates the effect of remote work on balance, suggesting that at high levels, it may substitute for the resource effects of remote work. Interviews further reveal the double-edged sword effect of leadership support, providing a mechanistic explanation for the statistical findings. The main contributions of this study are: integrating three major theories to extend the applicability boundaries of boundary theory and the JD–R model in remote contexts; revealing that leadership support is not a singular positive resource but exhibits context-dependent dual effects; and proposing an integrated management approach of “flexible arrangements–stress mitigation–moderate leadership,” contributing novel theoretical evidence and actionable guidance to the organizational structuring of remote work systems.

Telecommuting, an increasingly popular work mode, blurs the boundary between employees’ work and family life. Existing literature suggests that telecommuting enables employees to better manage work and family demands and thus reduces work-family conflict. However, meta-analyses have reported null or small effects of telecommuting on work-family conflict (Allen, Johnson, Kiburz, & Shockley, 2013; Gajendran & Harrison, 2007), suggesting the existence of important moderators. In this study, we argue that telecommuters’ work-family integration (WFI) plays an important role in moderating the relationship between telecommuting and work- family conflict. Drawing upon role conflict theory, we propose that telecommuting increases work stress and family stress, and in turn work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict, among telecommuters who have a high level of WFI. In contrast, telecommuting decreases work stress and family stress, and in turn work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict, among tele...

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic shook the entire world. All sectors, industries, organisations, and more importantly, people were affected by multiple restrictions implemented by their respective governing bodies. Federal lockdowns and all the emerging laws and regulations associated with them have forced organisations worldwide to transition their operations to remote environments. The implications from the organisations’ perspective vary from leadership to management, structure to operations, and training and development to policy making. However, from the employees’ perspective, the implications vary from general well-being to work engagement, satisfaction to motivation, and followership to trust. Nonetheless, remote work has other implications, such as productivity, the impact of social distancing, work-life balance, and isolation concerns. Therefore, this article aims to present critical thinking and comprehensively analyse the existing literature on remote working, transformational leadership, and work engagement contexts. Theoretical and practical gaps are discussed, and recommendations for future research could contribute to our better understanding of remote leadership and its practical elements. Remote working environments are believed to be permanent working arrangements for many organisations and employees; hence, scholars and practitioners must explore them to further depths.