Boundary management strategies reflecting the discourse-dependent nature of work-spouse relationships

Abstract

The work-spouse relationship has gained scholarly and popular media attention in recent years. Because the relationship is a blend of friendship, workplace relationship, and intimate partnership, work spouses may have the need to justify and explain the relationship to each other and to external parties to help them make sense of the relationship and to establish its legitimacy. I used the concept of discourse-dependency to analyze interviews with 20 people in a work-spouse relationships and found that they engage in boundary management strategies, specifically naming and labeling, to legitimize their work-spouse relationships.

Keywords:

• Discourse-Dependency
• Labeling
• Workplace Friendships
• Work-Spouse Relationship

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Katy Biddle, Jennifer Edwards, Casey Hauser, Jeanette Jara, Alex Kritselis, Komal Nautiyal, Katie Noland, Alex Ratcliff, and Leila Schmidt for their assistance on this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.