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Work–Family Balance, Well-Being, and Organizational Outcomes: Investigating Actual Versus Desired Work/Family Time Discrepancies

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the current study was to describe and test two new correlates of work–family balance, based on discrepancies between actual and desired hours spent in the work domain (work hour discrepancy, WHD) and family domain (family hour discrepancy, FHD).

Design/Methodology/Approach

Participants were 330 employees of a moderate-sized, southeastern university who responded to a survey sent via e-mail.

Findings

Analyses indicated support for the utility of work and FHD scores for individual and organizational outcomes. Data also indicated FHD predicted work–family balance, well-being, and intention to leave above and beyond the individual components of actual and desired family hours, whereas WHD did not predict beyond individual components. Work–family balance mediated relationships between FHD and quality of life, stress, depression, and intention to leave.

Implications

This study provides support for incorporation of discrepancy indices in future work–family research. FHD predicted outcomes over and above the individual components of actual and desired hours whereas WHD did not, suggesting that compatibility between what an individual desires and experiences in the family domain may have a stronger influence on well-being and organizational outcomes compared to compatibility in the work domain.

Originality/Value

These results are important given past focus on concepts such as work schedule fit (e.g., Moen, It’s about time: couples and careers, 2003), in that we extend past findings by also incorporating fit between values and experiences in the family domain, and linking discrepancies with work–family balance, well-being, and organizational outcomes.

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Notes

  1. As suggested by Edwards (2002), we first considered both algebraic and absolute differences to test our hypotheses of discrepancies predicting the outcomes in order to determine if the results revealed the “same substantive conclusions” (p. 363). Results strongly supported our a priori notion to use of the absolute difference when predicting the outcomes and are available from the first author upon request.

  2. As recommended by the Editor, we conducted regression analysis to examine the effects of WHD and FHD simultaneously. Results revealed that both WHD and FHD significantly predicted work–family balance (p < .05), quality of life (p < .05), and perceived stress (p < .05). And whereas WHD also significantly predicted organizational commitment (p < .05) and intention to leave (p < .05), FHD did not. These patterns were also observed in the correlation table (with the exception of the relationship between FHD and intention to leave).

  3. No significant differences were found when comparing gender, age, marital status, and organizational tenure of sample employees to the population they were drawn from.

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Correspondence to Heather N. Odle-Dusseau.

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Odle-Dusseau, H.N., Britt, T.W. & Bobko, P. Work–Family Balance, Well-Being, and Organizational Outcomes: Investigating Actual Versus Desired Work/Family Time Discrepancies. J Bus Psychol 27, 331–343 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-011-9246-1

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