Looking at spillover from both sides: an examination of work and home flexibility and permeability

ABSTRACT

This study examined how flexibility and permeability in the boundaries surrounding the work and home domains affect the spillover from work to home and home to work. We looked at both flexibility and permeability in each of the two domains using directional and dichotomous measures of both negative and positive spillovers. Multivariate analyses and hierarchical regression showed that for 362 survey respondents, boundary flexibility reduced time- and strain-based spillover from work to home and home to work. Flexibility also was positively related to positive spillover from home to work. Permeability, on the other hand, was positively related to time-based spillover from work to home and from home to work. The results also showed support for the notion of asymmetric permeability, such that the relationships between work boundary permeability and the W→H spillovers were stronger than those between home boundary permeability and the H→W spillovers.

RESUMEN

El presente studio examina como flexibilidad y permeabilidad en relación a las fronteras entre los mundos del trabajo y del hogar influyen la transferencia del trabajo al hogar y del hogar al trabajo. Exploramos la flexibilidad tanto como la permeabilidad en cada mundo, utilizando medidas direcionales y dicotómicas de transferecias negativas and positivas. Los análisis multivariable e análisis de regresión jerárquica mostraron que por los 362 encuestados, flexibilidad en las fronteras redujo la transferencias basadas en el estrés y el tiempo entre el trabajo y el hogar y viceversa. Con aumentos en flexibilidad había también un aumento en transferencia desde el hogar al trabajo. Con permeabilidad, en cambio, se observó una relación positiva entre las transferencias basadas en el tiempo, del trabajo al hogar, y del hogar al trabajo. Los resultados tambien apoyaron el concepto de permeabilidad asimétrica, de manera que las relaciones entre permeabilidad de las fronteras del trabjao y las transferencias del trabajo al hogar fueron mas fuertes que las relaciones entre permeabilidad de fronteras hogar y transferencias del hogar al trabajo.

KEYWORDS:

• flexibility
• permeability
• positive spillover
• work–family conflict

PALABRAS CLAVES:

• flexibilidad
• permeabilidad
• transferencia positiva
• conflicto entre trabajo y familia

Notes on contributors

MaryAnne Hyland is Professor at the Robert B. Willumstad School of Business at Adelphi University. She teaches undergraduate and graduate classes in human resource management. She has published in journals such as Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Management, and Personnel Psychology. Her primary research focus is on flexible work arrangements and managing work/life demands. She received her MHRM and PhD from Rutgers University and has a BBA from Loyola University in Maryland.

David Prottas is Associate Professor at the Robert B. Willumstad School of Business at Adelphi University. He teaches undergraduate and graduate classes in human resource management and negotiation. He has published empirical and theoretical articles in the work/family area. His other areas of research interest include psychological characteristics of the self-employed and outcomes related to self-employment, perceived behavioral integrity, and leadership and management practices. He received his PhD in Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management from the CUNY Graduate Center (Baruch College) after spending more than two decades as a corporate and investment banker in New York, London, Miami, and Buenos Aires. He previously earned his MBA from the University of Chicago and his BA from Vassar College.