Work and Family: An Organizational Science Overview
- LAST REVIEWED: 30 March 2017
- LAST MODIFIED: 30 March 2017
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199846740-0121
- LAST REVIEWED: 30 March 2017
- LAST MODIFIED: 30 March 2017
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199846740-0121
Introduction
Work and family constitute the primary broad domains in a person’s life. The interface between the work and family domains attracts multidisciplinary research attention, including scholarship from management and industrial/organizational psychology as well as family and women’s studies, sociology, and social work, among others. Generally, scholars in the organizational sciences are interested in how interactions between work life and family life, or more broadly nonwork roles, influence organizational and individual outcomes. Scholarship is published among a wide, and often siloed, set of journals which has resulted in a fragmentation of knowledge. Yet, within the organizational sciences, scholarship is often concentrated in a core set of related journals (see Journals). In part because of the fragmentation of the literature, the field is replete with jargon and terms. Here, definitions for the primary work-family constructs are provided. For simplicity we focus on four constructs/concepts commonly examined within the literature. Work-family conflict (or interference) is defined as a bidirectional process wherein the demands and responsibilities of one domain (e.g., work) interfere with another domain (e.g., family). Alternatively, work-family enrichment (or enhancement), which is also conceptualized as a bi-directional process, is defined as participation in one domain (e.g., family) facilitating performance in another domain (e.g., work). Work-family balance likely has the most contested definition, but is often defined in terms of one’s satisfaction with managing work and family demands simultaneously. Finally, partner crossover is conceptualized in terms of stressors/strains of one partner crossing over and influencing stressor/strain experiences of his/her partner. Additional definitions are provided within sections.
Journals
Although there is no management journal devoted exclusively to research regarding the work-family interface, there are a number of journals that include work-family topics in their scope. For example top management journals such as Academy of Management Journal and Academy of Management Review both publish work on work-family related topics. Collectively, over seventy peer-reviewed journals, across a host of interrelated fields, frequently publish on work-family related topics. The list below concentrates on high-quality journals in which work-family research from management and related fields (e.g., industrial/organizational psychology) most frequently appears. Other relevant journals publishing work-family research, outside of management and industrial/organizational psychology, include: American Journal of Sociology, American Sociological Review, Journal of Marriage and Family, Gender & Society, and Social Forces.
Human Relations. 1947–.
Published monthly by Sage; broad-based journal publishing research and review pieces related to work-related social relationships; increasing presence in terms of publishing quality work-family research.
Journal of Applied Psychology. 1917–.
Monthly publication of the American Psychological Association. Publishes primarily empirical articles that make novel contributions and advance theory in applied psychology; conceptual pieces are also permitted. Breadth of topics covered has expanded in recent years; work-family issues explicitly identified as an area of interest. Considered a top journal for work-related psychology.
Journal of Business and Psychology. 1986–.
Published quarterly by Springer; broad-based journal publishing research related to organizational science; increasing presence in terms of publishing quality work-family research.
Journal of Management. 1975–.
Top management journal published bimonthly by Sage. Includes empirical research and theoretical work, including an annual review issue. Website identifies a collection of work-family articles under JOM Articles of Interest.
Journal of Occupational Health Psychology. 1996–.
Top occupational health psychology journal published quarterly by the American Psychological Association; focuses on publishing interdisciplinary research on improving employee well-being, safety, and performance; emphasizing theory and methodological rigor. The journal is highly respected as an outlet for work-family research.
Journal of Organizational Behavior. 1980–.
A quarterly publication of Wiley that includes theoretical and empirical articles on a variety of organizational behavior topics. Especially focused on cross-level and multi-level research addressing individual, group, and/or organizational levels.
Personnel Psychology. 1948–.
Published quarterly by Wiley. Accepts empirical research, review articles, and theory pieces. A top-ten journal for human resource management and organizational behavior research. Top paper of 2015 was a work-family article.
Journal of Vocational Behavior. 1971–.
Published quarterly by Elsevier; publishes research related to both work behavior (broadly defined) and career development; historically was a primary outlet for work-family research but has become less focal as other journals have started to more regularly publish work-family research.
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login.
How to Subscribe
Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here.
Article
- Abusive Supervision
- Adverse Impact and Equal Employment Opportunity Analytics
- Alliance Portfolios
- Alternative Work Arrangements
- Applied Political Risk Analysis
- Approaches to Social Responsibility
- Assessment Centers: Theory, Practice and Research
- Attitudes
- Attributions
- Authentic Leadership
- Automation
- Bayesian Statistics
- Behavior, Organizational
- Behavioral Approach to Leadership
- Behavioral Theory of the Firm
- Benefits
- Between Organizations, Social Networks in and
- Brokerage in Networks
- Business and Human Rights
- Business Ethics
- Career Studies
- Career Transitions and Job Mobility
- Certified B Corporations and Benefit Corporations
- Charismatic and Innovative Team Leadership By and For Mill...
- Charismatic and Transformational Leadership
- Compensation, Rewards, Remuneration
- Competitive Dynamics
- Competitive Heterogeneity
- Competitive Intensity
- Computational Modeling
- Conditional Reasoning
- Conflict Management
- Considerate Leadership
- Cooperation-Competition (Coopetition)
- Corporate Philanthropy
- Corporate Social Performance
- Corporate Venture Capital
- Counterproductive Work Behavior (CWB)
- Creativity
- Cross-Cultural Communication
- Cross-Cultural Management
- Cultural Intelligence
- Culture, Organization
- Data Analytic Methods
- Decision Making
- Diversity
- Diversity and Firm Performance
- Diversity and Inclusion, Global Perspective on
- Dynamic Capabilities
- Emotional Labor
- Employee Aging
- Employee Engagement
- Employee Ownership
- Employee Voice
- Empowerment, Psychological
- Entrepreneurial Firms
- Entrepreneurial Orientation
- Entrepreneurship
- Entrepreneurship, Corporate
- Entrepreneurship, Women’s
- Equal Employment Opportunity
- Ethics
- Executive Succession
- Faking in Personnel Selection
- Family Business, Managing
- Feedback
- Financial Markets in Organization Theory and Economic Soci...
- Findings, Reporting Research
- Firm Bribery
- First-Mover Advantage
- Fit, Person-Environment
- Forecasting
- Founding Teams
- Global Leadership
- Global Talent Management
- Goal Setting
- Grounded Theory
- Hofstedes Cultural Dimensions
- Human Capital Resource Pipelines
- Human Resource Management
- Human Resource Management, Strategic
- Human Resources, Global
- Human Rights
- Humanitarian Work Psychology
- Humility in Management
- Impression Management at Work
- Imprinting
- Influence Strategies/Tactics in the Workplace
- Information Economics
- Innovative Behavior
- Intelligence, Emotional
- International Economic Development and SMEs
- International Economic Systems
- International Strategic Alliances
- Job Analysis and Competency Modeling
- Job Crafting
- Job Design
- Job Satisfaction
- Judgment and Decision Making in Teams
- Knowledge Sharing and Collaboration within and across Firm...
- Leader-Member Exchange
- Leadership Development
- Leadership Development and Organizational Change, Coaching...
- Leadership, Ethical
- Leadership, Global and Comparative
- Leadership, Strategic
- Learning by Doing in Organizational Activities
- Licensing
- Management History
- Management In Antiquity
- Managerial and Organizational Cognition
- Managerial Discretion
- Meaningful Work
- Mentoring
- Multinational Corporations and Emerging Markets
- Multiteam Systems
- Neo-institutional Theory
- Neuroscience, Organizational
- New Ventures
- Organization Design, Global
- Organization Development and Change
- Organization Research, Ethnography in
- Organization Theory
- Organizational Adaptation
- Organizational Ambidexterity
- Organizational Behavior, Emotions in
- Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCBs)
- Organizational Climate
- Organizational Control
- Organizational Corruption
- Organizational Hybridity
- Organizational Identity
- Organizational Justice
- Organizational Legitimacy
- Organizational Networks
- Organizational Paradox
- Organizational Performance, Personality Theory and
- Organizational Responsibility
- Organizational Surveys, Driving Change Through
- Organizations, Big Data in
- Organizations, Gender in
- Organizations, Identity Work in
- Organizations, Political Ideology in
- Organizations, Social Identity Processes in
- Overqualification
- Passion
- Paternalistic Leadership
- Pay for Skills, Knowledge, and Competencies
- People Analytics
- Performance Appraisal
- Performance Feedback Theory
- Planning And Goal Setting
- Proactive Work Behavior
- Psychological Contracts
- Psychological Safety
- Real Options Theory
- Recruitment
- Regional Entrepreneurship
- Reputation, Organizational Image and
- Research, Ethics in
- Research, Longitudinal
- Research Methods
- Research Methods, Qualitative
- Resource Redeployment
- Resource-Dependence Theory
- Resources
- Response Surface Analysis, Polynomial Regression and
- Role of Time in Organizational Studies
- Safety, Work Place
- Selection
- Selection, Applicant Reactions to
- Self-Determination Theory for Work Motivation
- Self-Efficacy
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy In Management
- Self-Management and Personal Agency
- Sensemaking in and around Organizations
- Service Management
- Shared Team Leadership
- Social Cognitive Theory
- Social Evaluation: Status and Reputation
- Social Movement Theory
- Social Ties and Network Structure
- Socialization
- Spin-Outs
- Sports Settings in Management Research
- Stakeholder Theory, Transaction Cost Economics and
- Stakeholders
- Status in Organizations
- Strategic Alliances
- Strategic Human Capital
- Strategy
- Strategy and Cognition
- Strategy Implementation
- Stress
- Structural Contingency Theory/Information Processing Theor...
- Team Composition
- Team Conflict
- Team Design Characteristics
- Team Learning
- Team Mental Models
- Team Newcomers
- Team Performance
- Team Processes
- Teams, Global
- Technology and Innovation Management
- Technology, Organizational Assessment and
- the Workplace, Millennials in
- Theory X and Theory Y
- Time and Motion Studies
- Training and Development
- Training Evaluation
- Trust in Organizational Contexts
- Turnover
- Unobtrusive Measures
- Validity
- Virtual Teams
- Whistle-Blowing
- Work and Family: An Organizational Science Overview
- Work Contexts, Nonverbal Communication in
- Work, Mindfulness at
- Workplace Aggression and Violence
- Workplace Coaching
- Workplace Commitment
- Workplace Gossip
- Workplace Meetings
- Workplace, Spiritual Leadership in the
- World War II, Management Research during