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The roles of context and everyday experience in understanding work‐non‐work relationships: A qualitative diary study of white‐ and blue‐collar workers
Author(s) -
Poppleton Sarah,
Briner Rob B.,
Kiefer Tina
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of occupational and organizational psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.257
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 2044-8325
pISSN - 0963-1798
DOI - 10.1348/096317908x295182
Subject(s) - work (physics) , context (archaeology) , psychology , social psychology , qualitative research , factory (object oriented programming) , public relations , sociology , political science , social science , mechanical engineering , paleontology , computer science , engineering , biology , programming language
The purpose of the study was to address several of the limitations of work‐non‐work research by adopting a qualitative diary methodology which explored insiders' accounts of both the positive and negative aspects of work‐non‐work relationships and examined the role of context in shaping such relationships. Daily diary data on work‐non‐work events and post‐diary interview data were collected from participants in two contrasting organizational contexts: Flexorg ( N =20), a progressive local government organization and The Factory ( N =18), a traditional manufacturing organization. Work‐non‐work relationships were found to be simultaneously enriching and depleting in both organizations. For Flexorg workers, work‐non‐work relationships were characterized by facilitation and time‐based conflicts. At The Factory, high spillover from work to non‐work and vice versa challenged the assumption that blue‐collar work is typified by segmentation (Nippert‐Eng, 1995). The experience of work‐non‐work events was shaped by the nature of the work, the work‐non‐work culture and working patterns in both organizations. The study also identified negative spillover as a qualitatively more important problem than work‐non‐work conflict in this study, and identified a social dimension of work‐non‐work conflict which was found across organizational contexts.