To what extent do the positive versus negative work

To what extent do the positive versus negative work-home and home-work
interactions (WHI) affect perceived WLB?
Introduction
There are four types of WHI: positive impact of work to family/non-work and
family/non-work to work (enhancement, facilitation) and negative impact of work to
family/non-work and family/non-work to work (conflict) (Demerouti, Bakker, & Bulters,
2004; Frone, 2003). The concept of work-home interaction becomes more and more
popular; however, there is not much discussion on how it is related to perceived WLB (from
overall appraisal perspective). In the study the possible relationships between workhome/home-work interaction and WLB will be tested.
Study sample
The sample included 262 respondents (101 males, 161 females) aged 20-68, working in Polish
small and medium enterprises (SME) from the Lower Silesia and Podlasie voivodeships. The
group was randomly selected from the database of the cooperating research company. The
respondents participated in the study voluntarily and completed the questionnaire at their
workplace.
Measures
Work-Home and Home-Work interactions
The questionnaire originally developed by Geurts et al. (2005) was translated into Polish by
Mościcka-Teske and Merecz-Kot (2012). 22-items allows to measure four types of workhome interaction:
-negative work-home interaction (WHI-);
-negative home-work interaction (HWI-);
-positive work-home interaction (WHI+);
-positive home-work interaction (WHI-).
Respondents completed the questionnaire by referring to statements on 4-point scale (1“never”, 4-“always”). The reliability of the adapted scale was also good and similar to
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original version (Cronbach’s alphas: WHI- = 0.89, HWI- = 0.80, WHI+ = 0.73, HWI+ = 0.74;
0.79 for the whole scale).
Perception of WLB
The respondents answered three pairs of questions related to (1) work, (2) family and (3)
leisure issues. First question referred to the actual situation, the second to the ideal one.

“On average, how much time do you currently (1) spend working, (2) devote to the
people close to you, (3) spend with family or for own pleasures?” (response scale from 1definitely too little to 5 definitely too much).

“How much time usually would like to devote to (1) work, (2) family and (3) leisure?”
(1- definitely less to 5- definitely more).
The indirect index of WLB perception was operationalized as the difference (discrepancy)
between time actually spend working, with family and for leisure and the time that the
respondents would like to devote to work, family and leisure.
We chose the devotion of time as the index suitable to represent the perception of WLB for
few reasons:
-
time balance entails other variables important in the WLB issue - commitment and
satisfaction;
-
time is an important indicator of the commitment (it absorbs the energy), which in turn
influence the fatigue and the ability to regenerate; lack of rest which is the result of being
excessively absorbed by work (when work takes a lot of time and energy) results in
dissatisfaction and loss of commitment;
-
devotion of time indirectly is the index of the commitment no matter if it is the
commitment based on duty or pleasure (hobby);
-
without the time based balance one cannot talk about any balance; when there is a time
based imbalance the other (balance of commitment, energy, satisfaction, etc.) are illusory;
-
the time actually devoted to particular activity is a test and a measure of declared
commitment (not vice versa); devoted time not necessarily follows the declaration of
commitment.
Initially the answers were scored on a 5-point scale which was re-scored – the answers
definitely too little and too little were aggregated into one point as well as the answers
definitely more and more. Thus shortened, 3-point scale was created ranged from 1- little/less
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to 3 - much/much more. The index of this discrepancy was calculated by subtracting the score
from ideal scale from the score from actual scale. The three variables were created: 1)
Perception of time-based work balance; 2) Perception of time-based family balance; 3)
Perception of time-based leisure balance.
These variables took the values between <-2; 2>. The value greater than zero indicated that
the respondent would like to spend more for a given activity (perception of time-based
imbalance); the value less than zero indicated that the respondent would like to spend less
time for a given activity (perception of time-based imbalance); the value oscillated around
zero indicated that the respondent devoted for a given activity as much time as he /she wanted
(perception of time-based balance).
Analyses
We performed:

linear regression analyses where indices of perception of WLB were the dependent
variable and the scores of the SWING questionnaire were independent variables.

the cluster analysis with use of the k-means method to group the respondents with
similar quality of WLB;

the one-way non-parametric analysis of variance (Kruskal-Wallis test) with post-hoc
tests (Dunn test) to compare the indices of WLB perception between groups of
respondents with different quality of WLB.
Statistical analyses were performed with the use of the statistical package PS IMAGO v.21
(former SPSS). The p value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Conclusions

The one calculated regression model showed that the extent in which the positive versus
negative work-home and home-work interactions affect perceived WLB was considerable
large (14%) and it limits only to the perception of balance in the work domain. The 86%
the variance of the WLB perception as measured in this study depended on the variables
not included in the model.

Based on the cluster analysis we distinguished four groups of respondents with different
quality of WLB – those who (1) experienced work-life interactions in both directions very
Projekt finansowany ze środków funduszy norweskich,
w ramach programu Polsko-Norweska Współpraca Badawcza
realizowanego przez Narodowe Centrum Badań i Rozwoju
often; (2) experienced mainly positive interactions; (3) experienced often interactions in
both directions; (4) experienced rare interactions in both directions. The between group
comparisons showed not many significant differences between groups showing similar
perception of WLB across the study sample.

In terms of the quality of the interaction group the study sample was not diverse. The
differences mainly related to the frequency of interaction rather than to their valence
(negative vs positive). The group experiencing mostly negative interactions in either
direction was not distinguished. This is one of the limitations of the study sample and
probable reason for which the differences in WLB perception were not demonstrated.

The significant correlations between WLB perception and SWING questionnaire were
only for the perception of time-based work balance and were low (Spearman’s rho -.18 to
.28).

We conclude that WLB measured as the frequency of particular work-home, home-work
interaction (SWING questionnaire) and the perception of WLB measures as the difference
between time actually devoted and time that a person would like to devote to particular
activity are separate phenomena. One can have many interactions in both directions (even
those negative) and still perceive his/her WLB as good.

The continuation of work on a reliable and valid measure of WLB perception is our
indication for future research.
References

Demerouti, E., Bakker, A. B., & Bulters, A. J. (2004). The loss spiral of work pressure,
work-home interference and exhaustion: Reciprocal relations in a three-wave study.
Journal of Vocational Behavior, 64(1), 131-149. doi:10.1016/S0001-8791(03)00030-7

Frone, M. R. (2003). Work-family balance. In J. C. Quick & L. E. Tetric (Eds.),
Handbook of occupational health psychology (pp. 143-162). Washington, DC: American
Psychological Association.

Geurts, S., Taris, T., Kompier, M., Dikkers, J., van Hooff, M., & Kinnunen, U. (2005).
Work-home interaction from a work psychological perspective: Development and
validation of a new questionnaire, the SWING. Work & Stress: An International Journal
of Work, Health & Organisations, 19(4), 319-339. doi:10.1080/02678370500410208
Projekt finansowany ze środków funduszy norweskich,
w ramach programu Polsko-Norweska Współpraca Badawcza
realizowanego przez Narodowe Centrum Badań i Rozwoju

Mościcka-Teske, A., & Merecz-Kot, D. (2012). Polish adaptation of SWING
questionnaire (Survey Work-Home Interaction - Nijmegen). Medycyna Pracy, 63(3), 355369; [In Polish].
Results will be published in a separate document. To cite this information please use
following references: Andysz A., Merecz D.: „Enhancing the effectiveness of work – life
balance initiatives use”, EFFECT. Project raport 2015.
Projekt finansowany ze środków funduszy norweskich,
w ramach programu Polsko-Norweska Współpraca Badawcza
realizowanego przez Narodowe Centrum Badań i Rozwoju