A MATTER OF MOTIVE: THE ROLE OF AUTONOMY IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOR AND WORK-FAMILY CONFLICT
Open Access
- Author:
- Jones, April Michelle
- Graduate Program:
- Psychology
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- April 17, 2009
- Committee Members:
- Alicia Grandey, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Alicia Grandey, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Jeanette Cleveland, Committee Member
Robert Drago, Committee Member
Susan Mohammed, Committee Member - Keywords:
- organizational citizenship behavior
autonomy
work-family conflict - Abstract:
- Research on the effects of helping behaviors in the workplace has mainly focused on various positive organizational- and individual-level outcomes. However, over the past few years, this area has seen an increase in empirical investigation into the potential darker side of these behaviors, primarily in terms of employee well-being. Specifically, researchers have demonstrated a positive link between helping behaviors in the workplace and employee job stress, role overload, and work-family conflict. In an effort to both replicate and extend these findings, the current study seeks to determine whether the positive association between helping behaviors and work-family conflict is moderated by employee autonomy. Furthermore, the mediating variables of positive and negative affect, role overload, and hours worked are examined as mediators of this moderating effect. One-hundred sixteen employees from diverse occupations were surveyed with regard to their helping behavior frequency at work and the level of autonomy they perceived in undertaking these behaviors. Additionally, each participants’ spouse completed measures pertaining to the focal respondent’s strain- and time-based work-family conflict. In support of prior research, the results indicated that organizational citizenship behavior was not associated with work-family conflict, while individual initiative was positively associated with time-based work-family conflict and this relationship was partially mediated by role overload. While the moderating effect of autonomy was not supported, the findings did suggest that autonomy moderated the relationship between individual initiative and negative affect. Implications of this work and future research are addressed.