Michael P. O'Driscoll

Time devoted to job and off-job activities, interrole conflict, and affective experiences.

Employed persons (N=120) were surveyed to examine the demands on their time from both work and nonwork activities and the degree of interrole conflict they experienced. Job interference with off-job activities and off-job interference with job commitments were separate but interrelated components of conflict. On-job time was associated with job interference, but off-job time was not linked with off-job interference. Job interference mediated the effect of time demands on satisfaction, organizational commitment, and psychological strain, whereas satisfaction linked interrole conflict and affective experiences

Family-Responsive Interventions, Perceived Organizational and Supervisor Support, Work-Family Conflict, and Psychological Strain

With the increased representation of women in the labor market and an associated growth in the proportion of dual-earner families, individuals and organizations in many countries are confronted with the challenge of managing the balance between work, family, and personal life (Aryee, Fields, & Luk, 1999; Boyar, Maertz, Pearson, & Keough, 2003; Elloy & Smith, 2003). This challenge has been discussed in the literature for over 20 years, and many organizations have put in place initiatives to assist their employees in maintaining a balance between work and family lives (Frone, 2003). These interventions are generally aimed at facilitating flexibility and supporting employees with child care, although recently elder care support also has received some attention. Numerous strategies have been implemented by organizations to alleviate the negative impact of interference between work and family commitments and responsibilities, which is typically referred to as work-family conflict (Frone, 2003). However, there is a paucity of empirical research examining the effects of organizational policies and initiatives on employees, and especially the mechanisms by which these practices influence employee psychological well-being.

Work Environment Structure and Psychological Ownership: The Mediating Effects of Control

Current theorists on the psychology of possession highlight control as an important route in the development of feelings of ownership. In the present article, the authors hypothesized that the extent to which individuals experience control over their job and work environment is positively associated with feelings of ownership for their job and the organization. The authors used supervisory report data on work environment structure and self-reports on experienced control and psychological ownership to test for the mediating effects of experienced control in the relationship between the work environment structure and psychological ownership. The authors found that experienced control mediates the relationship between 3 sources of work environment structure—technology, autonomy, and participative decision making—and psychological ownership of the job and (to a lesser extent) the organization. The authors proposed implications of the findings and directions of further research.

Locus of Control and Well-Being at Work: How Generalizable are Western Findings?

Managers from 24 geopolitical entities provided data on work locus of control, job satisfaction, psychological strain, physical strain, and individualism/collectivism. The hypothesis that the salut...

A test of the Maslach Burnout Inventory in three samples of healthcare professionals

Structural equation modelling with LISREL was used to investigate the factor structure of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). Emotional exhaustion was the most robust of the MBIs three factors, followed by depersonalization, while the personal accomplishment factor performed weakly. A new measurement model was developed in a sample of 197 nurses consisting of the emotional exhaustion and depersonalization dimensions, which were measured with five and two empirical MBI indicators, respectively. A test of invariance of the two-factor model across three samples (i.e. one calibration sample of nurses, and two validation samples consisting of hospital laboratory technicians and hospital managers with an effective sample size of 445) produced a good fit for the proposed two-factor model. Assessment of psychometric properties of the two-factor model produced (1) internal consistencies comparable to those reported in the literature for the MBIs originally specified emotional exhaustion and depersonalization scales, and (2) correlations with criterion variables that were all in the expected direction and magnitude, comparable to those produced by the originally specified scales. Theoretical implications for the use of the two-factor model in burnout research are discussed.

Work/family conflict, psychological well‐being, satisfaction and social support: a longitudinal study in New Zealand

A survey of employed workers was conducted at two time periods to assess relationships between work‐family conflict, well‐being, and job and family satisfaction, along with the role of social support from work colleagues and family members. Levels of work‐to‐family interference (WFI) were found to be uniformly higher than family‐to‐work interference (FWI). However, at each time period FWI showed more consistent negative relationships with well‐being and satisfaction, indicating that family‐to‐work interference may have a greater bearing on employees’ affective reactions. There were few cross‐time relationships between work‐family conflict and these reactions, which suggests that the association of work‐family conflict with well‐being and satisfaction may be time‐dependent. Although there was some evidence that social support from work colleagues moderated the relationship of WFI with psychological strain and family satisfaction, family support did not display a consistent moderator influence. Instead, both forms of support tended to exhibit direct (rather than moderator) relationships with the outcome variables. Implications of the findings for research and interventions are discussed.

Moderating Effects of Perceived Control and Need for Clarity on the Relationship Between Role Stressors and Employee Affective Reactions

Abstract The authors examined the salience of perceived control and need for clarity as “buffers” of the adverse consequences of role stressors by using hierarchical regressions on role ambiguity and role conflict, with job satisfaction and psychological strain as the criterion variables. In a sample of U.S. and New Zealand employees, perceived control was directly associated with higher satisfaction and reduced strain but displayed no moderating effect on stressor-outcome relationships. Need for clarity, on the other hand, was a significant moderator of the relationship of role ambiguity and conflict to both satisfaction and strain; that finding suggests that researchers could give more attention to dispositional variables in examining the correlates of role stressors.

Understanding Workaholism: Data Synthesis, Theoretical Critique, and Future Design Strategies

Workaholism involves a personal reluctance to disengage from work, which is evidenced by the tendency to work irrespective of external demands. While the term workaholism has been widely used by the public for over 30 years, scientists are only beginning to explore the behavior in depth. To date, most research has occurred on an ad hoc basis, emerging from a wide variety of paradigms without being explicitly linked to theory. The current article presents three methods for defining workaholism and a précis of relevant measures, then provides an integrated overview of research relating workaholism to individual well-being. Three models implicit in existing workaholism research (addiction, learning, and trait theory) are expounded and critiqued, and four new procedures for researching workaholism are suggested. Finally, an integrated, multidisciplinary approach is proposed as an essential element in encouraging rigorous debate and continued development of workaholism theory.

Psychological ownership in small family-owned businesses: Leadership style and nonfamily-employees’ work attitudes and behaviors

Using a sample of 229 nonfamily employees working in 52 small family-owned businesses, we examined the relationships between owner-managers’ leadership style and employees’ psychological ownership of the family business and their job. We also examined whether psychological ownership mediated the link between leadership style and employees’ organizational attitudes and behaviors. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analysis confirmed transformational and transactional leadership as contextual facilitators of psychological ownership for the family business and for the job. Passive (laissez-faire) leadership was negatively related to employees’ ownership feelings for the family business. Psychological ownership of the organization and the job mediated the relationship between leadership style and affective organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions. In addition, feelings of psychological ownership for the family business mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Organizational interventions for balancing work and home demands: An overview

Abstract The effective management of work and non-work demands can have a significant effect on workers’ health and performance. The last decade especially has seen an explosion of work-life balance research, resulting in substantial theoretical and practical advances. However, the published literature on organizational interventions to improve work-life balance is extremely sparse. In this paper, we provide some prominent examples of empirical research concerning work-life balance organizational interventions and note that these fall into three main groups: initiatives addressing working time and/or working hours, collaborative action research focused on improving workplace equity and performance levels, and initiatives to embed work-life balance within organizational cultures. We also comment on some common difficulties faced by researchers in evaluating interventions. The specific examples presented here illustrate challenges to research on the effectiveness of work-life balance interventions. We encourage researchers to reconsider the use of merely descriptive rather than more rigorous research designs and to investigate the long-term effectiveness of organizational strategies to enhance work-life balance.