TY - JOUR
T1 - Emotional resources link work demands and experiences to family functioning and employee well-being
T2 - the emotional resource possession scale (ERPS)
AU - Ilies, Remus
AU - Ju, Huirong
AU - Liu, Yukun
AU - Goh, Zen
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Work-family research predominantly focused on role incompatibilities with theorizing often rooted in resource depletion mechanisms derived from Conservation of Resources (COR) theory. However, researchers have largely neglected resource accumulation processes also part of COR, due to the lack of appropriate conceptualization and operationalization of resource possession. To address this deficiency, we propose that emotional resource accumulation, as a COR mechanism, is distinct from emotional resource depletion in explaining work-family linkages; to enable empirical tests of this mechanism, we develop the Emotional Resource Possession Scale (ERPS), at both state and trait levels. We describe four studies demonstrating that the ERPS has discriminant validity against emotional exhaustion and emotional energy, and differential relationships with positive and negative affect. Our results show that resource-generating (work engagement and co-worker support) and resource-depleting (quantitative job demands and emotional labour) constructs have differential associations with the ERPS (and also with emotional exhaustion). Finally, our findings show that the ERPS has incremental validity, over and above emotional exhaustion, in predicting family performance and life satisfaction. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of considering resource depletion and accumulation as distinct processes, and assessing them as such, for theory on work and family and on employee well-being.
AB - Work-family research predominantly focused on role incompatibilities with theorizing often rooted in resource depletion mechanisms derived from Conservation of Resources (COR) theory. However, researchers have largely neglected resource accumulation processes also part of COR, due to the lack of appropriate conceptualization and operationalization of resource possession. To address this deficiency, we propose that emotional resource accumulation, as a COR mechanism, is distinct from emotional resource depletion in explaining work-family linkages; to enable empirical tests of this mechanism, we develop the Emotional Resource Possession Scale (ERPS), at both state and trait levels. We describe four studies demonstrating that the ERPS has discriminant validity against emotional exhaustion and emotional energy, and differential relationships with positive and negative affect. Our results show that resource-generating (work engagement and co-worker support) and resource-depleting (quantitative job demands and emotional labour) constructs have differential associations with the ERPS (and also with emotional exhaustion). Finally, our findings show that the ERPS has incremental validity, over and above emotional exhaustion, in predicting family performance and life satisfaction. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of considering resource depletion and accumulation as distinct processes, and assessing them as such, for theory on work and family and on employee well-being.
KW - Emotional resources
KW - well-being
KW - work-family balance
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85078936501&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/1359432X.2020.1718655
DO - 10.1080/1359432X.2020.1718655
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85078936501
SN - 1359-432X
VL - 29
SP - 434
EP - 449
JO - European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology
JF - European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology
IS - 3
ER -