Gain or Loss? Examining the double-edged sword effect of challenge demand on work-family enrichment

Abstract

The balance of work and family has received widespread attention from managers and researchers in recent years. Previous research claims that job demand, as a kind of pressure felt by employees, reduces employees’ work motivation, increases employee fatigue and anxiety, and hinders work-family enrichment. However, different job demands (e.g., challenge demand and hindrance demand) have different effects on employees. Challenge demand, which gives individuals the opportunity to acquire new knowledge and promote personal growth, influences work-family enrichment in a complex way. However, few researches pay sufficient attention to the mechanism of the double-edged effect in the relationship between challenge demand and work-family enrichment. In addition, although scholarly research on job demand and work-family enrichment has increasingly focused on within-person fluctuations in recent years, how to examine the “dynamic” effects of challenge demand on work-family enrichment has received little attention. Therefore, based on conservation of resource theory and uncertainty management theory and from static and dynamic perspectives, we comprehensively examined the effects of challenge demand on work-family enrichment by clarifying the different attributes of challenge demand (daily level model, average level model, daily shift model, and variability model). We tested our hypothesis by conducting a diary study of 105 participations over 10 working days. Data were collected via a job demand scale, work absorption scale, relaxation scale, and work-family enrichment scale. First, we recorded control variables (gender, marital status, and spouse’s work status) during the weekends. Second, researchers collected daily data (challenge demand, hindrance demand, work absorption, relaxation, and work-family enrichment) from 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. each workday. Ultimately, 645 valid data points at the within-person level were available for 81 participants. Using SPSS 24.0, Mplus 7.0, and R software, we conducted a multilevel path analysis to examine the theoretical model. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to examine the validity of the key variables (challenge demand, work absorption, relaxation, and work-family enrichment), and the results confirmed that the present study had good discriminant validity. The results of multilevel path analysis showed that the following. (1) In the static model, challenge demand had double-edged sword effects on work-family enrichment at the within-person level (daily level model); in the average level model (between-person level), the average level of challenge demand positively predicted chronic work absorption and negatively predicted chronic relaxation, and the mediating effect of chronic relaxation was stronger than that of chronic work absorption. (2) In the dynamic model, directionality of daily shifts in challenge demand negatively affected daily work absorption and daily relaxation in the daily shift model (within-person level). Only the mediating role of daily relaxation was significant; in the variability model (between-person level), the variability level of challenge demand had a negative impact on chronic work absorption and chronic relaxation, and only the mediating role of chronic relaxation was significant. The study makes critical contributions both theoretically and practically. (1) The static model indicated that, through the gained and deleted paths, the double-edged sword effect of the relationship between daily challenge demand, average level of change demand, and work-family enrichment was significant. (2) Through the dynamic model, this study explored the negative effect of challenge demand fluctuations on work-family enrichment in two forms, namely, daily shift directionality and the variability of challenge demand. Practically, this study suggests that managers should fully recognize the double-edged sword effect of challenge demand.