Lara Colombo

New Technologies Smart, or Harm Work-Family Boundaries Management? Gender Differences in Conflict and Enrichment Using the JD-R Theory

Background: The relationship between technology-assisted supplemental work and well-being outcomes is a recent issue in scientific literature. Whether the use of technology for work purpose in off-work time may have a positive or negative impact on work-family balance remains an open question and the role of gender in this relationship is poorly understood. Aim: According to the JD-R theory, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between off-work hours technology assisted job demand (off-TAJD) and both work-family conflict (WFC) and work-family enrichment (WFE). Moreover, it considered two general job demands, workload and emotional dissonance, and one job resource, supervisory coaching. Method: The hypotheses were tested with a convenience sample of 671 workers. Data were collected with a self-report questionnaire and analyzed with SPSS 23 and through multi-group structural equation model (SEM) (Mplus 7). Results: The estimated SEM [Chi-square (510) = 1041.29; p < 0.01; CFI = 0.95; TLI = 0.95; RMSEA = 0.06 (0.05, 0.06); SRMR = 0.05. M = 319/F = 352] showed that off-TAJD was positively related to WFC in both subsamples; off-TAJD was positively related also to WFE only in the Male group. Workload was positively related to WFC in both Male and Female subsamples. Emotional dissonance was positively related to WFC in both subsamples and was negatively related to WFE. Supervisory coaching was strongly, positively related to WFE in both groups, and only in the Male subsample presented a low negative relationship with WFC. Conclusion: This study contributes to the literature on new challenges in work-life interface by analyzing the association between off-TAJD and WFC and Enrichment. Our findings suggest it is important to pay attention to gender differences in the study of the impact of supplemental work carried out during off-work hours using technology on the work-life interface. In fact, employee perception of Company demands of being available during off-work time, with the use of technology, may have different consequences for men and women, indicating potential differences in the centrality of the working role. Practical implications, at both cultural and organizational levels, should address the use of technology during leisure time.

Inbound Call Centers and Emotional Dissonance in the Job Demands - Resources Model.

Background: Emotional labor, defined as the process of regulating feelings and expressions as part of the work role, is a major characteristic in call centers. In particular, interacting with customers, agents are required to show certain emotions that are considered acceptable by the organization, even though these emotions may be different from their true feelings. This kind of experience is defined as emotional dissonance and represents a feature of the job especially for call center inbound activities. Aim: The present study was aimed at investigating whether emotional dissonance mediates the relationship between job demands (workload and customer verbal aggression) and job resources (supervisor support, colleague support, and job autonomy) on the one hand, and, on the other, affective discomfort, using the job demands-resources model as a framework. The study also observed differences between two different types of inbound activities: customer assistance service (CA) and information service. Method: The study involved agents of an Italian Telecommunication Company, 352 of whom worked in the CA and 179 in the information service. The hypothesized model was tested across the two groups through multi-group structural equation modeling. Results: Analyses showed that CA agents experience greater customer verbal aggression and emotional dissonance than information service agents. Results also showed, only for the CA group, a full mediation of emotional dissonance between workload and affective discomfort, and a partial mediation of customer verbal aggression and job autonomy, and affective discomfort. Conclusion: This study’s findings contributed both to the emotional labor literature, investigating the mediational role of emotional dissonance in the job demands-resources model, and to call center literature, considering differences between two specific kinds of inbound activities. Suggestions for organizations and practitioners emerged in order to identify practical implications useful both to support employees in coping with emotional labor and to promote well-being in inbound call centers. In detail, results showed the need to improve training programs in order to enhance employees’ emotion regulation skills, and to introduce human resource practices aimed at clarifying emotional requirements of the job.

Flow at work in Italian journalists: differences between permanent and freelance journalists

Flow is an inner experience produced by the participation in an activity in which people are immersed and enjoy it (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). According to the Job Demands-Resources Model (Bakker and Demerouti, 2014), flow at work (FaW) occurs when job demands meet professional skills and when they are balanced by resources (Csikszentmihalyi, 2003). This study aimed to detect the relation between job resources (supervisors’ support, job autonomy), personal resources (optimism, internal locus of control) and job demands (workload, emotional dissonance) on FaW, in a sample of Italian journalists, considering differences between permanent and freelance. Participants are 260 journalists (118 permanent, 142 freelance) that filled out a self-report questionnaire. Data analysis (SPSS22) involved: descriptive statistics, Alpha reliabilities; correlations (Pearson’s r); t-test for independent samples; multiple regression. Results show differences between journalists: in permanent journalists FaW is influenced only by both job resources, in freelance journalists FaW is influenced by internal locus of control, job autonomy and workload. These results suggest a possible challenges-skills balance and a moderating effect of autonomy between workload and flow at work, to verify in the future. This study shows the importance to detect and to promote FaW in the same professional group, considering different types of task and employment contract. Promoting a positive organizational culture and FaW experiences is functional to prevent the risk of exhaustion, to improve performance and to protect the employees’ health and quality of working life.

Supporto organizzativo, work-family backlash e conflitto lavoro-famiglia nel personale infermieristico

Nell’ambito degli studi sulla relazione lavoro-famiglia, grande attenzione e stata dedicata alla prospettiva del conflitto lavoro-famiglia, definito come un’incompatibilita tra le richieste associate al ruolo lavorativo e familiare. La presente ricerca ha coinvolto 190 infermieri professionali di una struttura sanitaria. Obiettivo principale dello studio e stato quello di valutare il ruolo del supporto organizzativo e del work-family backlash come determinanti del conflitto lavoro-famiglia. I risultati indicano che il conflitto lavoro- famiglia e il work-family backlash nella relazione con i colleghi sono percepiti in misura maggiore da chi ha figli rispetto a chi non ne ha. I risultati della regressione multipla evidenziano che tra le variabili considerate solo il backlash nella relazione con i capi influenza la percezione di conflitto lavoro-famiglia.

Well-Being and Affective Commitment among Ambulance Volunteers: A Mediational Model of Job Burnout

ABSTRACT Burnout represents a relevant risk for ambulance volunteers. According to the Job Demands-Resources model, role conflict and social support can be considered as antecedents of burnout which, in turn, may lower affective commitment. This study aims to investigate the relationship between social support, role conflict, and affective commitment, as mediated by job burnout. Survey data were collected from 352 Italian volunteers and analyzed using structural equation modeling methods. Social support was confirmed as a protective factor, and role conflict as an antecedent of burnout which, in turn, decreases affective commitment. The relationship between role conflict and affective commitment is mediated by burnout which, on the contrary, does not mediate the effect of social support on affective commitment. Social support may protect against burnout. Because of its positive effects on a personal and an organizational level, affective commitment may be increased raising levels of supervisor support and reshaping role expectations. It could be useful to carry out future longitudinal studies, in order to confirm the antecedents and effects of job burnout; furthermore, this research should be extended to other ambulance organizations, in order to generalize the results; finally, multi-group analyses would allow to bring out possible differences between paid-staff and volunteers.

Donne e carriera tra stereotipi di genere e conciliazione lavoro-famiglia. Un’analisi psico-sociale

Nel mondo occidentale le disparita dei percorsi di carriera tra donne e uomini persistono ancora: le posizioni di status piu elevato rimangono una prerogativa maschile, le donne sono invece bloccate in posizioni intermedie, presentando percorsi di carriera accidentati e caratterizzati da difficolta, legate in gran parte all’equilibrio lavoro-resto della vita. Nel quadro teorico della Role Congruity Theory di Eagly e Karau (2002) e della conciliazione, la presente ricerca intende approfondire, attraverso interviste in profondita, la narrazione di 15 donne in posizioni lavorative di responsabilita. Nello specifico, lo studio intende indagare: il ruolo degli stereotipi di genere che hanno influenzato i percorsi di carriera e i vissuti di conciliazione lavoro-resto della vita e come questi hanno condizionato le scelte personali e professionali. Le interviste sono state sottoposte ad analisi del contenuto con l’ausilio di Atlas-ti 6.0.

Il conflitto lavoro-famiglia e il sense of entitlement: una ricerca in un’azienda svedese

Il conflitto lavoro-famiglia, dovuto all’incompatibilita tra le richieste associate al ruolo lavorativo e a quello familiare, rappresenta un tema oggetto di crescente attenzione per le sue possibili conseguenze negative a livello individuale, familiare e organizzativo. La presente ricerca ha coinvolto 641 dipendenti di un’azienda svedese, con l’obiettivo di valutare l’influenza di alcune variabili (il carico di lavoro e il numero di ore lavorative, la qualita delle relazioni, il supporto organizzativo alla conciliazione) sul conflitto lavoro-famiglia e di osservare eventuali differenze nelle determinanti del conflitto lavoro-famiglia in relazione alla percezione di legittimita del supporto organizzativo (sense of entitlement). Le risposte evidenziano la presenza di un elevato sense of entitlement e mostrano che il conflitto lavorofamiglia aumenta al crescere del carico di lavoro e diminuisce in presenza di buone relazioni con il management e di supporto organizzativo. Quest’ultimo aspetto, pero, riduce la percezione di conflitto solo per coloro con alto sense of entitlement.

The Role of Work–Family Spillover in Psychological Well-being and Psychological Discomfort at Work

The increasing attention given to the work–family interface (Colombo & Ghislieri, 2008) has been brought about by the important changes in the workforce, in terms of the greater participation of women and the number of couples where both partners have a career (Major & Germano, 2006). The research approach to this subject is changing in line with the transformations associated with the information era. While the industrial revolution tended to emphasize “separation”, the information era signals the success of convergence between different life contexts (MacDermid, 2005).