A Meta-Analytic Review of Outcomes of Work-Family Enrichment

A meta-analytic review of outcomes of work-family enrichment

1. Introduction

        Work-family enrichment, also used interchangeably in some literature as work-family facilitation, or work-family positive spillover, refers to the process through which the participation of family improves the performance in work, or vice versa. The work-family model is accordingly analyzed through the two directions: work interference with family (work to family model) and family interference with work (family to work model). How do these two models differ? The work to family model emphasizes on the impact from work-domain variables, such as job involvement, hours spent at work, and schedule flexibility, on the family. The family to work model, in contrast, emphasizes on the impact from family-domain variables, such as family involvement, hours spent at family, and number of children, on the work.

        This meta-analysis focuses on the outcomes of work-family enrichment: life satisfaction, family satisfaction, and job satisfaction. Life satisfaction is a way of measuring emotion well-being, self-concepts, self-perceived ability to cope with daily life, etc. Family satisfaction, in this context used interchangeably with marital satisfaction, refers to one’s satisfaction with family members, family communication, sharing positive experience, etc. Job satisfaction concerns about if one is content with his or her working conditions.

        Because of the increase in dual-earner family and single-parent households, the discussion of how the family role and work role affect each other becomes necessary. Moreover, it’s important to understand how the work and family roles improve each other rather than undermine each other.

2. Method

2.1 Search strategy and criteria for inclusion

        I searched two online databases: Google Scholar and American Psychological Association (APA) PsycNet, using the keywords “work”, “family”, “enrichment”, “facilitation”, “positive spillover”, “effect”, and “outcome”. For APA PsycNet, I used the Advanced Search feature, and searched the above words in the “Keywords” category. Initially, Google Scholar output 16,800 results, and PsycNet outputs 2,495 results. In order to be selected to be meta-analyzed, the articles should fulfill the following criteria:

1. Published in English

2. Published between 2002 and 2017

3. Provide correlations between the outcome and predictors, or information such as the correlation of coefficient, or covariance, that allow the computation of correlation

4. Provide at least one variable of interest: job satisfaction, affective commitment, family satisfaction, and life satisfaction. Family satisfaction can also be used interchangeably with marital satisfaction.

5. Studies should analyze through either work-to-family direction, or family-to-work direction, or both.