Reconceptualizing Work-Family Conflict for Business/marriage Partners: A Theoretical Model
指出现有工作-家庭冲突模型难以适用于夫妻共同经营企业的情境，基于多学科理论构建了新概念框架，识别了这类特殊关系下冲突的前因与后果。
Little research has been conducted on the dynamics of husbands and wives running businesses together. The number of businesses run by husbands and wives working together full time in the U.S. has been estimated at more than 700,000 (Greene and Greene 1994), and is growing each year. These couples have been underexamined within the family business literature, even though the dynamics of the business/marriage relationship can have profound consequences on the success of the business. One of the most important concepts pertaining to family relationships that has emerged from the literature is work-family conflict. Our study will begin with brief review of prior models of work-family conflict. We conclude that it is difficult to fit business/marriage partners into existing models, and new definition and model of work-family conflict is needed for them. We use theories from several different research streams to develop conceptual framework to capture the dynamics of this relationship. This framework identifies antecedents and consequences of work-family conflict for business/marriage partners. In summary, this article addresses the following research question: How can work-family conflict be explained within the unique work-family relationship held by marriage and business partners? Prior Models of Work-Family Conflict Work-family conflict has been defined as a form of interrole conflict in which the role pressures from the work and family are mutually incompatible in some respect (Greenhaus and Beutell 1985). Participation in one role (work or family) is made more difficult by virtue of participation in the other role. Work conflict is defined as the extent to which an individual experiences incompatible role pressures within the work domain, and family conflict is defined as the extent to which an individual experiences incompatible role pressures within the family domain (Kopelman, Greenhaus, and Connolly 1983). Thus, work, family, and work-family (interrole) conflict are three measures of role conflict, measured at the individual level. In these definitions, it is assumed that the work and family domains are separate, and that individuals experience conflict at work with one set of people (a role set consisting of individual role senders) and at home with different role set. The role sender in the family domain (spouse) may pressure the individual to engage in family activities, while there is an opposing pressure from the role sender at work (superior) to engage in work activities. These role senders typically observe the individual's performance within only one domain. Therefore, the attributions of role senders regarding the causes of the individual's behavior tend to be domain-specific. The individual's attempts to explain poor work or family performance in terms of variables in the other domain are likely to be met with some skepticism (Greenhaus and Beutell 1985). For example, Kopelman, Greenhaus, and Connolly (1983) developed and tested model of work, family, and interrole conflict [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 1 OMITTED]. Work conflict was measured with items that relate to an individual's superior(s) such as: At work I receive incompatible requests from two or more people. Most of the family conflict items had as the source of conflict rather than family. Take for example: My spouse and I have different ideas about spending time with relatives. The interrole conflict items pertained to excessive work time, schedule conflicts, and fatigue or irritability. Kopelman, Greenhaus, and Connolly (1983) found that 13 percent of the variance in work-family conflict was explained by work conflict and family conflict. The Kopelman, Greenhaus, and Connolly (1983) model has been extended in subsequent research (for example, Greenhaus and Parasuraman 1994; Higgins, Duxbury, and Irving 1992). However, all prior models depict work-family conflict as an internal state experienced by an individual. …