Wendy J. Casper

A review of research methods in IO/OB work-family research.

A methodological review was conducted of work-family (WF) research published in industrial-organizational psychology and organizational behavior journals over a period of 24 years (1980-2003). Content analysis was conducted on 225 individual studies published in 210 articles to categorize methodological features, including the research design, sources of data used, data analysis techniques, reliability and validity of measures used, and sociodemographic characteristics of the samples. Results support many of the criticisms of WF research and suggest that scholars publishing WF research in industrial-organizational psychology and organizational behavior journals could make greater use of longitudinal and experimental research designs, gather more multisource data, and move beyond the individual level of analysis. Adopting more diverse conceptualizations of family, including a greater proportion of racial and ethnic minorities, and studying workers in occupations other than managerial or professional positions also appear warranted. Finally, methodological trends varied across specific WF content areas, which suggests that distinct methodologies might be useful to advance knowledge of specific WF topics.

How Important Are Work-Family Support Policies? A Meta-Analytic Investigation of Their Effects on Employee Outcomes

This meta-analysis examines relationships between work-family support policies, which are policies that provide support for dependent care responsibilities, and employee outcomes by developing a conceptual model detailing the psychological mechanisms through which policy availability and use relate to work attitudes. Bivariate results indicated that availability and use of work-family support policies had modest positive relationships with job satisfaction, affective commitment, and intentions to stay. Further, tests of differences in effect sizes showed that policy availability was more strongly related to job satisfaction, affective commitment, and intentions to stay than was policy use. Subsequent meta-analytic structural equation modeling results indicated that policy availability and use had modest effects on work attitudes, which were partially mediated by family-supportive organization perceptions and work-to-family conflict, respectively. Additionally, number of policies and sample characteristics (percent women, percent married-cohabiting, percent with dependents) moderated the effects of policy availability and use on outcomes. Implications of these findings and directions for future research on work-family support policies are discussed.

Work-family conflict, perceived organizational support, and organizational commitment among employed mothers.

This study investigated the impact of work interfering with family (WIF) and family interfering with work (FIW) on womens organizational commitment and examined both the direct and moderating effects of their perceived organizational support. Participants were 143 professional employed mothers with at least 1 preschool-age child. The study found that WIF was positively related to continuance organizational commitment but unrelated to affective commitment, and FIW was not related to either form of organizational commitment. Results also indicated that perceived organizational support exhibited a main effect on both types of commitment.

The Roles of Self-Efficacy and Task Complexity in the Relationships Among Cognitive Ability, Conscientiousness, and Work-Related Performance: A Meta-Analytic Examination

Although cognitive ability and conscientiousness have been found to predict work-related performance, less is known about whether and when certain mediating variables help explain these relationships. This study examined meta-analytically whether self-efficacy mediates the cognitive ability-performance and conscientiousness-performance relationships, and whether task complexity moderates the extent to which self-efficacy mediates these relationships. Results indicated that cognitive ability and conscientiousness positively relate to self-efficacy, but that the magnitude of these relationships varies with task complexity. Furthermore, results showed that self-efficacy mediates the relationships of cognitive ability and conscientiousness with performance on simple tasks, but not on complex tasks. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Examining the factor structure of participant reactions to training: A multidimensional approach

Increased understanding of the content of participant reactions to training is a necessary step in improving their construct validity and usefulness. This study examines the factor structure of a large database of participant reactions to training and explores the emergence of a utility factor. The results suggest that participant reactions are multidimensional and that utility judgments represent an underlying dimension. Treating reactions as unidimensional may mask their true relationship to other measures of training effectiveness. Participant reactions are by most accounts the principal means by which organizations evaluate training programs (Bassi, Benson, and Cheney, 1996; Saari, Johnson, McLaughlin, and Zimmerle, 1988). According to Training magazine (Geber, 1995) approximately 86 percent of organizations use participant reactions to evaluate their training efforts. Furthermore, for most of those organizations, participant reactions are the sole means of evaluation. Consequently, improving the “technology” of participant reactions has great potential for enhancing an organization’s ability to evaluate the effectiveness of its training programs. The purpose of this research is to identify strategies for improving participant reactions as one part of a comprehensive training evaluation methodology. Kirkpatrick (1959, 1996) describes four levels of training evaluation. This framework has served as the organizing scheme for training evaluation for both practitioners and researchers. Level I represents the reactions of participants to training, usually collected through questionnaires administered at the

An Examination of Proxy Measures of Workplace Spirituality: A Profile Model of Multidimensional Constructs

The purpose of this paper is to suggest a theoretical foundation to operationalize the constructs of spirituality from existing established measures. Several constructs from existing literature - perceived organizational support, affective organizational commitment, and intrinsic job satisfaction are used to measure aspects of workplace spirituality. As a result, a profile model of multidimensional constructs is used to explain the conceptual relationships.

Family-supportive organization perceptions and organizational commitment: the mediating role of work-family conflict and enrichment and partner attitudes.

The present study aims to explain the processes through which family-supportive organizational perceptions (FSOP) relate to employee affective commitment. We suggest multiple mechanisms through which this relationship transpires-(a) the focal employees experience of work-to-family conflict and enrichment and (b) the attitudes of the employees spouse/partner. Hypotheses are tested with data from 408 couples. Results suggest that employee FSOP is positively associated with employee commitment through both employee work-to-family experiences and partner attitudes. FSOP was positively related to employee work-to-family enrichment, which was positively associated with employee affective commitment. FSOP was negatively associated with employee work-to-family conflict, which related to a partners more positive attitude toward the employees work schedule and higher commitment to the employees firm. Partner commitment was positively and reciprocally related to employee affective commitment. These relationships partially mediated the FSOP-employee affective commitment relationship and varied as a function of parental status and single- versus dual-earner couple status but not as a function of employee gender. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Doing More with Less: An Analysis of Work Life Balance Among Layoff Survivors

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to examine how increased work overload of layoff survivors relates to their work‐life balance and job and life satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach – Survey methodology was used to collect data from 510 layoff survivors in a high tech company. Regression analyses and structural equation modeling were used to test the hypotheses. Findings – The study found that layoff survivors experience higher levels of workload which impact overall role overload that negatively affects work‐life balance. Findings suggest that high workloads experienced by layoff survivors contribute to reduced job and life satisfaction through reduced work‐life balance as a mediating mechanism. Research limitations/implications – The data used in this paper is cross‐sectional and conducted within a single organization. Also, most of the data is obtained from self report survey data and subject to common method bias. As such, longitudinal studies are recommended for future research. Originality/value – This study makes a contribution by joining two distinct research streams – the job loss literature with research on work‐family issues. Findings suggest that high workloads experienced by layoff survivors contribute to reduced job and life satisfaction with work‐life balance acting as a mediator. Future research should determine whether these findings generalize to diverse layoff survivors in distinct industries, and assess whether these phenomena change over time.

Child care satisfaction: The effects of parental gender and type of child care used

A survey of 1675 parents of preschool-aged children revealed higher levels of satisfaction with child care provided by relatives and byau pairs in the family’s home as compared to either center-based care or home care providers. Parental satisfaction with these latter two forms of child care did not differ significantly. Mothers in general were more satisfied with their child care than fathers. However, child care satisfaction was a significant predictor of work/family balance for both genders.

Support for part-time work as a channel to female employment: the moderating effects of national gender empowerment and labour market conditions

Using a multi-source data set collected across eight European countries, this article examines how characteristics of both the organizational environment and the larger national context relate to the organizational-level variable of womens employment. Our study revealed that, in countries that were high in gender empowerment measure (GEM), establishments that were more supportive of part-time work options also employed a higher proportion of women. One reason for this relationship may be that in high-GEM countries offering part-time employment is a way for an organization to signal its support for work–life balance, something that makes it more attractive to women. In countries with low GEM, an establishments greater support for part-time work was associated with employing a greater proportion of women only when establishments experienced recruitment difficulties. Key differences in gender empowerment between countries are discussed.