Informational Support And Cognitive Appraisal Of The Work-Family Interface

There are amount of literatures and achievements in the present research of work and family interface. Most of them are about work-family conflict. Meanwhile, more and more researchers have focused on the positive side of it, such as work-family enrichment. Lots of researches have examined the antecedent variables and outcomes of work-family conflict and work-family enrichment, but few have investigated the methods of intervention. Some researchers have used theories from other domains, such as time management, stress management and emotion management, and improved some methods and strategies to help employees cope with work-family conflict. As Greenhaus and Beutell contend that work-family conflict is a stressor generated from competing interrole demands, it is reasonable to introduce theories from stress domain to work-family research. Some theories have been used to explain the process underlying the interaction of work and family (e.g. conservation of resources theory, the transactional model of stress). The current research is based on the transactional model of stress (also named cognitive model of stress and coping).It is generally thought that the combination of work and family is difficult and stressful. However, according to the transactional model of stress, no situation or event is stressful of itself, it is how we cognitive or explain a particular event that matters. We respond in different ways depend on different cognition and different explanations of the event. Therefore we can influence the respond of employees by changing their cognitive appraisals of work-family combination. And there are existing research examined that a specific form of social support, namely informational support, can exert influence on people’s cognitive appraisals. In the current study we examined whether two types of theories, that is scarcity theory and role expansion theory, can exert influence on employees’cognitive appraisals regarding work and family interface. This is of important theoretical and practical significance.Study1. We have translated and revised the Cognitive Appraisal of Work and Family Combination Scale. The scale is composed of primary appraisal and secondary appraisal. The primary appraisal contains4factors, Harm/Loss appraisal, Threat appraisal, Challenge appraisal, Benign/Irrelevant appraisal. Then we examined the construct validity through factor analysis.Study2. We conducted an experiment to examine whether cognitive appraisals regarding work-family combination can be influenced by providing different information. We showed two groups of participants with expansion theory or scarcity theory. Then we asked them to complete the cognitive appraisal scale. We examined the differences in4factors of primary appraisal and secondary appraisal. Results showed that there are significant difference on threat appraisal and irrelevant appraisal, and no difference on harm/loss appraisal, challenge appraisal and secondary appraisal.At last we explained the results of the study and the limitations of the design, we also pointed out the theoretical and practical implications and directions for future research.