Dawn S. Carlson

Using signaling theory, this research examines the role that social support during pregnancy plays in reducing work–family guilt upon returning to work after maternity leave. Specifically, we consider four sources of social support (two from the work domain: supervisor and coworkers; and two from the non-work domain: spouse and friends) and the signaling effect they have on a mother’s work–family guilt upon returning to work after maternity leave and her subsequent job and family satisfaction. Based on a sample of 247 women who completed surveys both before taking maternity leave and upon returning to the workforce, we found that supervisor, coworker, and friend support enhanced job satisfaction through reduced work-induced guilt. Further, both supervisor and spouse support contributed to family satisfaction through reduced family-induced guilt. Spouse support reduced family-induced guilt significantly more than coworker support, offering some modest support for domain specificity. Further, when considering the interaction of within-domain effects, we found that the work domain sources of support interact to provide a stronger effect on job satisfaction, but the non-work domain sources do not interact significantly. This provides an enlightening look at social support’s different roles in working mom guilt during a pivotal time in a woman’s life, her return to work after childbirth.

Do fathers experience discrimination during pregnancy? YES! In this study, we explore the experience of fathers’ pregnancy discrimination (FPD), or the perceived unfavorable treatment of fathers in the workplace due to their wives expecting a baby. Applying the action regulation model of work–family balance, we examine FPD as a resource barrier that impacts both the father’s perceived work–family balance and the father’s and mother’s turnover. In a sample of 247 expectant fathers across four time periods using a newly developed and validated measure of FPD, we examine the four different action strategies that fathers might use in reaction to the resource barrier of FPD to attain work and family goals. Policy use (engagement strategy) was ineffective, but going the extra mile (changing strategy) was effective in achieving greater perceived work–family balance. For those who used disengagement strategies, the father’s desire for the mother to turnover (sequencing strategy) contributed to the mother’s turnover while the father’s turnover intention (revising strategy) contributed to the father’s turnover as avenues for goal attainment. This research provides an empirical examination of the four action strategies simultaneously invoked in response to a resource barrier (FPD) with implications for perceived balance and actual turnover.

Purpose: This research provides an empirical test of Andersson and Pearson’s (1999) theoretical incivility spiral. Rather than investigate the incidence of incivility perpetration following incivility victimization in face-to-face interactions, this study tests for evidence of an incivility spiral due to communications enacted through information and communication technology (ICT) based on affective events theory (AET) (Weiss and Cropanzano, 1996). Further, the moderating impacts of both gender and incivility climate on this relationship are considered. Design/methodology/approach: The sample for this Time 1–Time 2 survey-based research was comprised of 354 full-time working adults from a wide range of organizations. We employed hierarchical moderated regression analyses as our primary data analytic technique. Findings: Results demonstrate that victims of ICT incivility at Time 1 are likely to be perpetrators of ICT incivility at Time 2. Furthermore, this relationship is stronger for men than it is for women and is exacerbated in cultures that have a low tolerance for ICT incivility. Originality/value: This is the first known test of the incidence of an incivility spiral due to communications enacted through ICT. There is special cause for concern given the often-impersonal nature of ICT use (and abuse) in organizations. Individuals may feel emboldened by the distance and perceived safety ICT mediation affords and may be less likely to moderate their online interactions with colleagues. Absent the physical intimacy and non-verbal signals that face-to-face interactions provide, individuals may be more likely to perpetuate incivility in ICT interactions even if there is no implicit intent to harm others.

This research examines the detrimental impact of remote employees' work‐to‐family conflict (WFC) on divorce intentions for both the remote employee and spouse. Building upon the spillover‐crossover framework and relative deprivation theory, we examine the paths of spillover to the remote employee's divorce intentions, crossover influences of a remote employee's WFC on divorce intentions through the spouse (i.e., relative deprivation, resentment toward the employee's remote work, and relationship tension), and crossback of the remote employee's WFC through the spouse and back to their own divorce intentions. Surveying 311 remote employees and their spouses at two‐time points, we find that remote employee WFC predicts divorce intentions for the remote employee through the spillover path. Further, the remote employee WFC crosses over to the spouse through two different paths to impact spouse divorce intentions. Taken together, our research extends the existing WFC literature and broadens our understanding of the spillover and crossover effects through which remote employees' WFC could undermine both partners' perceptions of the marital relationship.

Research on remote work remains without consensus as to its benefits, with continued questions about which factors may enable it to be more beneficial to employees working remotely. Applying Conservation of Resources theory, we explore the impact of ‘resource caravans’ on ‘work–family balance’ and subsequent ‘well‐being’ in a sample of 446 remote workers. Our findings contribute to ongoing sociological debates by showing exactly how flexibility and control play a role in the remote workplace. Specifically, our model revealed that ‘sense of control’ over home was most beneficial for ‘work–family balance’ among experienced remote workers who had high levels of ‘schedule flexibility’, whereas ‘work–family balance’ benefited from lower levels of ‘schedule flexibility’ among new remote workers. Resources from the home domain were most critical for ‘work–family balance’, which mediated the effects of the ‘resource caravan’ from the home domain on overall employee ‘well‐being’.

While there may be no difference in terms of the love, care, and bond shared between parent and child, relationships created through adoption are often viewed less favorably in our society compared with those that possess a biological tie. Integrating minority stress and family systems theories, we seek to better understand working adoptive parents’ experiences and how the perceived stigma of being an adoptive parent negatively impacts a variety of work and family outcomes. Using a sample of 501 couples that adopted a child, we find that work–family conflict mediates the relationship between perceived adoption stigma and primary effects (i.e. job satisfaction and depression) as well as spillover effects (i.e. family satisfaction and parent–child bonding) for the job incumbent. Further, we find that the employee’s perceived adoption stigma also has crossover effects to their spouse, negatively impacting the spouse’s depression, family satisfaction, and parent–child bonding. Implications for theory and practice, limitations, and future research are discussed.

We use the conservation of resources (COR) theory to propose a work-family model of stress in remote work. We propose that interruptions from family are a unique hindrance stressor, detrimental for the employee’s challenge and hindrance stress responses in remote work, which, in turn, have distinct effects on resource-oriented attitudes and states of both the employee and spouse. Namely, we expect that both partners’ satisfaction with the work arrangement, employee engagement, and spouse family overload will be associated with the way the employee experiences stress in remote work (stress response). We also integrate the effort-recovery model to examine whether two types of breaks taken by employees while working remotely replenish resources lost through interruptions. Using a sample of 391 couples, we find support for all hypotheses that pertain to the employee. Findings involving the spouse support the primacy of the resource loss tenet in COR theory, in that these detrimental effects are significant in crossing over to the spouse via hindrance but are not significant via challenge stress. We discuss the implications of these findings, emphasizing that interruptions are harmful for both types of stress experienced by remote employees (i.e., lower “good” and higher “bad” stress responses), and interruptions appear to have far-reaching effects on both partners. However, choosing to use breaks for both nonwork goals and self-care can buffer these otherwise detrimental effects.

Does everyone around you seem to be juggling the work and family roles more successfully than you? This research examines the influence of social comparison of work–family balance in the work role overload to emotional exhaustion relationship through two paths – a spillover path to both job and family emotional exhaustion for the job incumbent and a crossover path to the spouse to their own family emotional exhaustion. Further, we examine whether the personality trait of social comparison orientation exacerbates these processes. We used matched responses over two time periods from 403 dual-earning, married couples living in the United States to test our hypotheses. We found support for all our hypothesized relationships. Social comparison plays a role in individuals’ perception of work–family demands, which may contribute to undesirable consequences for both the job incumbent and the spouse.

Summary: Using a sample of 297 working mothers across three time periods (their last trimester of pregnancy, while on maternity leave, and after returning to the workplace), we examined the role of vicarious abusive supervision, beyond their own experience of abusive supervision, on turnover intentions through experiences of maternal mental health. Utilizing the unfolding model of turnover and Conservation of Resources theory, we found that experiencing the shock event of vicarious abusive supervision contributed to job‐related negative emotions as well as postpartum depressive symptoms in working new moms. Further, this experience of vicarious abusive supervision contributed to job‐related emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions, even after controlling for the mother's own experience of being targeted with abusive supervision behaviors. Finally, we examined the moderating role of financial dependence on this process and found that when working mothers' families were financially dependent on her job, the mothers were less likely to have turnover intentions. Implications for research and practice are provided.