The knife cuts on both sides: Examining the relationship between cross‐domain communication and work–family interface

Abstract

Our study aimed to understand how cross‐domain communication via technology affects employees’ work–family interface. We examine the relationships among cross‐domain communication, role‐based resource loss and gain, and the bidirectional forms of work–family conflict and enrichment. Building on Conservation of Resources theory, we expect that cross‐domain communication has positive effects on role‐based resource loss and gain as well as both work–family conflict and enrichment. Furthermore, we suggest that the relationships between cross‐domain communication and role‐based resource loss and gain vary across different levels of role response expectations and role relationship quality. We test our ideas with data from two studies. Results confirm the role of cross‐domain communication on work–family conflict and enrichment through role‐based resource loss and gain. We also find significant interactions involving cross‐domain communication, role response expectations, and role relationship quality on both work‐ and family‐based resource loss and gain as well as on the mediating effects of family‐based resource loss. Practitioner points Cross‐domain work and family communication is not always harmful to employees’ work and family interface. When employees engaged in cross‐domain communication perceive high work (family) response expectations and high‐quality work (family) relationships, they experience more personal resource losses and gains within the family (work) domain. Managers need to educate employees regarding both the pros and cons of cross‐domain work and family communication and provide them with explicit rules about how they can navigate the double‐edged functions of communicating across work and family domains. Training employees to manage communications across domains will enable them to reduce potential work–family conflict and enhance work–family enrichment.

The Invisible Leash: The Impact of Organizational Expectations for Email Monitoring After-Hours on Employee Resources, Well-Being, and Turnover Intentions

“…That is, OEEM encourages recurring work-related thoughts outside of the workplace. Thus, OEEM should decrease work–life balance because successful management of the balance between roles requires considerable protection and recovery of emotional and cognitive resources (Wan et al, 2019). Similarly, depletion of resources inhibits the ability to effectively balance the domains and satisfaction with their respective roles in each (Greenhaus et al, 2003).…”

Staying in touch, yet expected to be? A diary study on the relationship between personal smartphone use at work and work–nonwork interaction

“…While personal smartphone use at work is instrumental in connecting and reconciling different life domains (Wan, Shaffer, Lau, & Cheung, 2019), it could be a mixed blessing to employees in terms of how the work and nonwork domain interact (Dora et al, 2019). This process of interaction between a person’s work and nonwork domain is known as work–nonwork interaction (WNI) and may be positive or negative regarding how one’s functioning in both domains is perceived (Geurts & Demerouti, 2004; Geurts et al, 2005).…”

“…Boswell & Olson‐Buchanan, 2007; Derks, van Duin, Tims, & Bakker, 2015). More recent studies, however, point at the importance of taking underlying employee experiences associated with communication technologies into account to provide a more comprehensive picture of diverse effects of their use on WNI (Hunter et al, 2019; Wan et al, 2019).…”

“…Thereby, we expand border theory by integrating a social communication perspective to daily nonwork permeations of the work domain border enabled by personal smartphone use at work. Despite the notion that smartphones have emerged as a primary means of social connectivity that is frequently used in the workplace, the underlying mechanisms of how personal smartphone use at work operates at the work–nonwork interface are hardly understood (Wan et al, 2019). In this regard, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the social benefits (i.e.…”

“…Personal smartphone use at work has been proposed to occur proactively and is aimed at connecting and reconciling various life domains (Wan et al, 2019). By moving back and forth between their work and nonwork lives, personal smartphone use at work increases the chance that an employee’s functioning in one domain is influenced by demands from the other domain (Geurts & Demerouti, 2004), a dynamic process which is referred to as work–nonwork interaction (WNI; Geurts et al, 2005).…”