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Deciding Between Work and Family: An Episodic Approach
Author(s) -
Shockley Kristen M.,
Allen Tammy D.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
personnel psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.076
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1744-6570
pISSN - 0031-5826
DOI - 10.1111/peps.12077
Subject(s) - psychology , situational ethics , social psychology , dominance (genetics) , work (physics) , variation (astronomy) , work–family conflict , communication source , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , statistics , mechanical engineering , biochemistry , chemistry , gene , physics , mathematics , astrophysics , engineering
This study examined work–family conflict decision‐making based on a within–person, episodic approach. Based on 274 episodes across 78 individuals, we investigated the frequency of decisions that result in work interference with family (WIF) versus family interference with work (FIW), as well as the relation of work and family situational variables and previous work–family conflict (WFC) episodes on those decisions. No difference in the frequency with which participants reported WIF episodes versus FIW episodes was observed. Results indicated that work/family role sender pressure, work/family instrumental support, work/family activity importance, work emotional support, and the direction of the previous WFC decision each predicted WFC decisions. Dominance analysis indicated that role sender pressure was the most important predictor. In addition, we compare and discuss within‐person variation with between‐person variation. Contributions of the study to work–family research and practice are discussed.