On the edge of identity: Boundary conflict and workplace fit

This dissertation offers the construct of external and internal boundary preferences as a frame for understanding identity, identification, and conflicts among work, home, and self. External boundary preferences explain how individuals vary in their desires to affiliate with strong-identity organizations. Internal boundary preferences explain how individuals vary in their desires to work in organizations that facilitate either the segmenting or integrating of the work and non-work domains. Of particular focus in this dissertation are the consequences of those preferences being met or not. As boundary preferences are not met, conflicts occur. Management literature refers to “work-family conflict” when people experience friction between home and work domains. This dissertation introduces the construct of “work-self conflict” to refer to the friction that occurs between individual and organizational identities. These types of “boundary conflicts” occur as the result of various mismatches between the individual's preferred and actual workplace boundaries, as conceptualized by person-environment (P-E) fit. Findings are based on 440 alumni from Arizona State University who completed mail questionnaires. Results from hierarchical regression analysis showed boundary conflicts affecting three well-researched organizational behavior outcomes: satisfaction, stress, and identification. The effects of external boundary conflict are also shown for a newly operationalized expanded model of identification, which includes disidentification, ambivalent (or schizo-) identification, and neutral identification. This dissertation proposes and tests two models as applications of these boundary theories: one model for external (identity) boundaries and work-self conflict, and one model for internal (domain) boundaries and work-family conflict. Results showed support for the operationalization of the expanded model of identification and mixed support for the effects of boundary conflict on pertinent outcomes. Boundary conflict was shown to partially mediate people's work needs and supplies, and perceived control moderated the relationship between fit and boundary conflict.