Remote and Hybrid Working: Variants, Determinants, Outcomes

Fatma ÇAM KAHRAMAN

Ebru GÖZÜKARA

Margareta TEODORESCU

Fatma ÇAM KAHRAMAN

Adviye Aslı DENİZLİ

2. Conceptual Framework

2.1. Work-Family and Family-Work Conflict

The two main focuses in adulthood family and work-life (Netemeyer et al., 1996: 400). According to Border Theory, there are borders between family and work life. Employees transition between the two domains on a daily basis. While this transition is more frequent for some employees however, it is less frequent for some compared to others (Clark, 2000). The expectations of the two domains with regards to roles are not always compatible, and this leads to conflicts between work and family life (Netemeyer et al., 1996: 400). The concept of work-family conflict is a kind of inter-role conflict where work and family related role pressures are mutually incompatible from various perspectives. That is to say that it becomes more difficult to participate in the work (family) role due to the participation in the family (work) role (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985: 77).

Work-family conflict is addressed as the employee’s fulfillment of work-related duties at home instead of the work environment. Consequently, the job negatively affects the fulfillment of family responsibilities (Noor, 2004: 390). For example, work-family conflict may occur because family meals are missed due to long meetings, or a movie night with friends is interrupted by a work-related phone (Messersmith, 2007: 430). On the contrary, family-work conflict is conceptualized as the employee’s inability to fulfill his/her responsibilities at work due to undertaking responsibilities related to family life (Frone, Russell, & Cooper, 1992: 66).

In the literature, three main forms of work-family conflict were identified: (a) time-based conflict, (b) strain-based conflict, and (c) behavior-based conflict (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985: 77). Time-based conflict is defined as interference of the amount of time required for the role at work with fulfillment of the responsibilities in family, strain-based conflict as impairment in one role due to the nervousness and mental strain due to the second role, and behavior-based conflict as prevention of one role owing to the demand in the second role (Netemeyer et al., 1996: 401).

2.2. Work Stress

Despite the fact that the definition of the concept of stress lacks any certainty, work stress can be defined as one’s feeling of malfunction or awareness of such as a result of conditions or events in her/his workplace (Parker & DeCotiis, 1983:161). In another definition, it is conceptualized the deviation of one’s physical and mental functioning from its normal state in consequence of interacting with the factors in workplace (Beehr & Newman, 1978).

It is stated that work stress, which means an individual’s reaction to excessive workload or job demands that exceed their abilities, is caused by the mismatch between the individual’s competencies and the demands of the business environment (Karasek, 1979). It is argued that the more compatible an individual is with the work environment, the less likely she/he will experience work stress (Morrow & Brough, 2019: 467). It is suggested that many different stressors cause work stress alongside of compatibility. For example, Sonnentag and Frese (2003) mention physical, social, career-related, and role stressors, whereas Parker and DeCotiis (1983) mention other stressors such as aspects of work, organizational structure, relationships, external responsibilities.

Work stress has many different kinds of impact on employees. It is found in the literature that these impacts are often discussed as physiological, psychological, and behavioral outcomes (Beehr & Newman, 1978; Landy & Conte, 2007). For example, cardiovascular diseases (Ross & Altmaier, 1994), gastrointestinal disorders, respiratory and immune system disorders are associated with physiological results. Depression, anxiety, exhaustion (Beehr & Glazer, 2005), impaired well-being (Sonnentag & Frese, 2003), and insomnia (Sabuncuoglu & Tuz, 1996) are associated with psychological results. Alcohol and substance use (Okutan & Tengilimoglu, 2002), quitting job, interpersonal conflict, and diminished performance (Sabuncuoglu & Tuz, 1996) are associated with behavioral results.

2.3. Job-Related Affective Well-Being

Warr (1990) discusses two main dimensions (pleasure and arousal) which are in diagonal axes. Three key indicators of affective well-being are included into “pleasure dimension” and the indicators are sorted as follows (a) displeased-pleased, (b) anxious-contented, and (c) depressed-enthusiastic. Warr remarks that principal types of affect may be located anywhere along those axes, and that the “arousal dimension” on its own is not considered to reflect well-being and its poles are therefore left unlabeled.

Two of the prominent models in literature about well-being are the Vitamin Model (Warr, 1987) and Demand-Control Model (Karasek, 1979). According to the Vitamin Model, which examines the relationship between stressors at work and well-being, there are nonlinear relationships between aspects of job and individual outcomes. Certain aspects of workplace (e.g., salary, meaning of work) has positive impact on well-being to some level, meaning the more does not bring any benefits. This impact is defined as fixed effect and is compared to the effect of vitamin C on the body (Warr, 1987). According to Demand-Control model, the combination of high demands and low autonomy in decision making in jobs which involve high level of strain is harmful to employees’ well-being (Karasek, 1979).

There are many studies which show that factors such as job demands, perceived control, social support in the organizational work environment are important for the well-being of employees (Gilbreath & Benson, 2004; Wong, Hui & Law, 1998). Warr reported (1999: 392) in his review that high level of employee well-being was meaningfully associated with better job performance, lower absenteeism rate, and intention to quit.

2.4. Relationships Between Work-Family Conflict, Work Stress, and Job-Related Affective Well-Being

2.4.1. Work-Family Conflict and Work Stress

In a study on job performance, social support and management of work-family conflict to reduce work stress, it was found that work-family conflict was positively associated with workplace stress (Foy et al., 2019). Similarly, in a study conducted in Malaysia, it was reported that there is a significant positive correlation between work-family conflict and work stress (Jamadin et al., 2015).

2.4.2. Work-Family Conflict and Job-Related Affective Well-Being

It has been observed that studies in the literature mostly focus on the employees’ relationship of work-family and family-work conflict with general well-being rather than job-related affective well-being.

Kinnunen and Mauno (1998) mentioned that work-family conflict has negative consequences on job-related affective well-being, and that family-work conflict has negative consequences on family well-being. Karimi, Karimi, and Nouri (2011) revealed in their research that work-family conflict has effects on both the job-related and general well-being of employees, regardless of their job characteristics. According to the longitudinal study conducted by O’Driscoll et al. (2004), work-family and family-work conflict are related to well-being and satisfaction (job and family satisfaction).

While Brough (2005) put forward work-family conflict as a negative predictor of well-being; Hussin (2014) stated that work-family conflict has stronger direct effects on well-being than family-work conflict. However, according to a study conducted on women with working children, family-work conflict is more associated with well-being than work-family conflict (Noor, 2004).

2.4.3. Work Stress and Job-Related Affective Well-Being

In line with all the mentioned research findings, the following hypotheses have been put forward in this study:

H1: Work stress has a mediating role in the effect of work-family conflict on job-related affective well-being.

H2: Work stress has a mediating role in the effect of family-work conflict on job-related affective well-being.

In addition to these hypotheses, the following research question has also been examined;

Research Question 1: Do participants’ job-related affective well-being, work stress, work-family conflict and family-work conflict levels differ according to their working style?