Work-home interference among recently graduated employees: Does a change in work centrality between graduation and employment matter?

Abstract

This study examined the association of two work-related factors, namely working hours and fulfilment of expectations related to work-home balance, with work-home interference for two groups of recently graduated Belgian employees based on their change in work centrality between graduation (T1 = 2004) and current employment (T2 = 2007), i.e. employees with increasing work centrality (n = 43) and employees with decreasing work centrality (n = 75). In addition, the moderating effect of self-management as a coping skill is investigated for both associations. By means of hierarchical regression analyses, three main conclusions have been withdrawn. First, working longer hours leads to more work-home interference, independent of respondents’ change in work centrality. Second, respondents whose expectations regarding work home balance have been fulfilled experience less work-home interference than those whose expectations have not been fulfilled. This association is, however, only found for respondents with decreasing work centrality. Finally, self-management as a coping mechanism only moderates the effect of expectation fulfilment on work-home interference for respondents with decreasing levels of work centrality, but does not influence the relationship between working hours and work-home interference.