Malissa A. Clark

All Work and No Play? A Meta-Analytic Examination of the Correlates and Outcomes of Workaholism

Empirical research on workaholism has been hampered by a lack of consensus regarding the definition and appropriate measurement of the construct. In the present study, we first review prior conceptualizations of workaholism in an effort to identify a definition of workaholism. Then, we conduct a meta-analysis of the correlates and outcomes of workaholism to clarify its nomological network. Results indicate that workaholism is related to achievement-oriented personality traits (i.e., perfectionism, Type A personality), but is generally unrelated to many other dispositional (e.g., conscientiousness, self-esteem, positive affect) and demographic (e.g., gender, parental status, marital status) variables. Findings are mixed regarding the relationship between workaholism and affectively laden variables, which speaks to the complex nature of workaholism. Results also show that workaholism is related to many negative outcomes, such as burnout, job stress, work–life conflict, and decreased physical and mental health. Overall, results provide solid evidence that workaholism is best conceptualized as an addiction to work that leads to many negative individual, interpersonal, and organizational outcomes.

Racial/Ethnic Differences in the Criterion-Related Validity of Cognitive Ability Tests: A Qualitative and Quantitative Review.

The correlation between cognitive ability test scores and performance was separately meta-analyzed for Asian, Black, Hispanic, and White racial/ethnic subgroups. Compared to the average White observed correlation ( = .33, N = 903,779), average correlations were lower for Black samples ( = .24, N = 112,194) and Hispanic samples ( = .30, N = 51,205) and approximately equal for Asian samples ( = .33, N = 80,705). Despite some moderating effects (e.g., type of performance criterion, decade of data collection, job complexity), validity favored White over Black and Hispanic test takers in almost all conditions that included a sizable number of studies. Black-White validity comparisons were possible both across and within the 3 broad domains that use cognitive ability tests for high-stakes selection and placement: civilian employment, educational admissions, and the military. The trend of lower Black validity was repeated in each domain; however, average Black-White validity differences were largest in military studies and smallest in educational and employment studies. Further investigation of the reasons for these validity differences is warranted.

Attitudes Toward Women’s Work and Family Roles in the United States, 1976–2013

We examine time period and generational differences in attitudes toward women’s work and family roles in two large, nationally representative U.S. samples, the Monitoring the Future survey of 12th graders (1976–2013) and the General Social Survey of adults (1977–2012). Twelfth graders became more accepting of working mothers and equal roles for women in the workplace between the 1970s and the 2010s, with most change occurring between the 1970s and the late 1990s. Acceptance of dual-income families and fathers working half-time or not at all (stay-at-home dads) also increased. Thus, for the most part, Millennials (born 1980s–1990s) have continued trends toward more egalitarian gender roles. However, slightly more 12th graders in the 2010s (vs. the late 1990s) favored the husband as the achiever and decision maker in the family. Adults’ attitudes toward working mothers became more egalitarian between the 1970s and the early 1990s, showed a small “backlash” in the late 1990s, and then continued the trend toward increased egalitarianism in the 2000s and 2010s. In hierarchical linear modeling analyses separating the effects of time period, generation/cohort, and age, trends were primarily due to time period with a generational peak in egalitarianism among White women Boomers (born 1946–1964). Policy makers should recognize that support for working mothers is now a solid majority position in the United States and design programs for working families accordingly.

Workaholism, Work Engagement and Work-Home Outcomes: Exploring the Mediating Role of Positive and Negative Emotions

This study examines the mechanisms through which workaholism and work engagement impact work-home conflict and enrichment, respectively. Specifically, we examine the mediating role of positive and negative emotions (e.g. joviality and guilt) in the relationship between workaholism, work engagement and work-home outcomes. Results, based on a sample of 340 working adults participating in a two-wave study, indicate that negative emotions-particularly anxiety, anger and disappointment-mediate the relationship between workaholism and work-home conflict and positive emotions-particularly joviality and self-assurance-mediate the relationship between work engagement and work-home enrichment. These results provide further evidence that workaholism and work engagement are related to distinct sets of emotional variables and disparate work and home outcomes.

Organizational Support Factors and Work-Family Outcomes: Exploring Gender Differences

The present study examines the relationship between a variety of organizational support factors and work–family outcomes, as well as gender differences in these relationships. A random sample of 229 working adults completed phone surveys, and multiple regression analysis was used to test the proposed relationships. Results showed that certain types of support may differentially benefit women and men, highlighting the value of having a supervisor and organization supportive of work–family balance. For example, having a supportive work–family supervisor was related to lower negative work–family spillover and intent to quit for women, and higher job satisfaction for men. Telecommuting use, on the other hand, was more beneficial for men than women in our sample. Given these findings, organizations should be aware that certain forms of support—particularly supervisor work–family support—may benefit men and women through different mechanisms.

Investigating the Relative Importance of Individual Differences on the Work-Family Interface and the Moderating Role of Boundary Preference for Segmentation

This study examines the relative importance of individual differences in relation to perceptions of work-family conflict and facilitation, as well as the moderating role of boundary preference for segmentation on these relationships. Relative importance analyses, based on a diverse sample of 380 employees from the USA, revealed that individual differences were consistently predictive of self-reported work-family conflict and facilitation. Conscientiousness, neuroticism, negative affect and core self-evaluations were consistently related to both directions of work-family conflict, whereas agreeableness predicted significant variance in family-to-work conflict only. Positive affect and core self-evaluations were consistently related to both directions of work-family facilitation, whereas agreeableness and neuroticism predicted significant variance in family-to-work facilitation only. Collectively, individual differences explained 25-28% of the variance in work-family conflict (primarily predicted by neuroticism and negative affect) and 11-18% of the variance in work-family facilitation (primarily predicted by positive affect and core self-evaluations). Moderated regression analyses showed that boundary preference for segmentation strengthened many of the relationships between individual differences and work-family conflict and facilitation. Implications for addressing the nature of work and family are discussed.

Differential Reactivity and the Within-person Job Stressor–Satisfaction Relationship

An experience sampling methodology was used to study the direct and conditional within-person relationship between job stressors and job satisfaction. One hundred and one full-time administrative staff completed momentary measures of job stressors and job satisfaction three times a day on six different workdays over a 3-week period (N = 1818 observations). Multilevel random coefficients models were specified, and the results suggest that within-person stressors are negatively related to within-person job satisfaction. These results stand when controlling for the effects of time, demographics, work characteristics, baseline levels of job stressors and satisfaction, and between-person effects of job stressors. Furthermore, consistent with the differential reactivity model, the results suggest that the observed within-person stressors-satisfaction relationship is conditional upon locus of control and positive affect. Copyright

Resilient family processes, personal reintegration, and subjective well-being outcomes for military personnel and their family members.

Deployment affects not just the service members, but also their family members back home. Accordingly, this study examined how resilient family processes during a deployment (i.e., frequency of communication and household management) were related to the personal reintegration of each family member (i.e., how well each family member begins to “feel like oneself again” after a deployment), as well as several indicators of subjective well-being. Drawing from the family attachment network model (Riggs & Riggs, 2011), the present study collected survey data from 273 service members, their partners, and their adolescent children. Resilient family processes during the deployment itself (i.e., frequency of communication, household management), postdeployment positive and negative personal reintegration, and several indicators of well-being were assessed. Frequency of communication was related to personal reintegration for service members, while household management was related to personal reintegration for nondeployed partners; both factors were related to personal reintegration for adolescents. Negative and positive personal reintegration related to a variety of subjective well-being outcomes for each individual family member. Interindividual (i.e., crossover) effects were also found, particularly between adolescents and nondeployed partners.

Personality and Work-Life Integration

Researchers and lay persons alike have long been intrigued by the behaviors and thoughts of human beings. Likewise, personality has been an area of great interest and research within the Industrial-Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior disciplines (Viswesvaran et al., 2007; Zimmerman, 2008). Interestingly, though the field of work-life integration has received enormous attention in recent years, very little of this has incorporated personality (Eby et al., 2005).

Workload and marital satisfaction over time: Testing lagged spillover and crossover effects during the newlywed years

Although many studies have found that higher workloads covary with lower levels of marital satisfaction, the question of whether workloads may also predict changes in marital satisfaction over time has been overlooked. To address this question, we investigated the lagged association between own and partner workload and marital satisfaction using eight waves of data collected every 6 months over the first four years of marriage from 172 heterosexual couples. Significant crossover, but not spillover, effects were found, indicating that partners of individuals with higher workloads at one time point experience greater declines in marital satisfaction by the following time point compared to the partners of individuals with lower workloads. These effects were not moderated by gender or parental status. These findings suggest that higher partner workloads can prove deleterious for relationship functioning over time and call for increased attention to the long-term effects of spillover and crossover from work to marital functioning.