How family-friendly work environments affect work/family conflict: A meta-analytic examination

We report a meta-analytic examination of the value of five facets of family-friendly work environments (FFWEs) in reducing work/family conflict (WFC). Cumulation of 38 studies (total N = 13,605) suggests that facets of FFWE may provide less assistance to workers in managing WFC than one may hope, as none explained more than seven percent of the variance in WFC. A family-friendly work culture seems most influential in reducing WFC. Importantly, spousal support and FFWEs explain different portions of variance in WFC, suggesting that FFWEs are uniquely valuable to workers in achieving work/ family balance. Implications for research and practice are discussed. When authors reported separate correlations for different subgroups (e.g., males and females), samples, administrations (as in a longitudinal study), or measures of the same construct, those correlations were examined separately. The studies included in this meta-analysis are listed in the references prefixed with an asterisk.     

Unionization decisions of members and nonmembers of an employee association

The determinants of intent to unionize were investigated using the responses of 405 employees of a large public university, 243 of whom were members of an employee association. Members and nonmembers indicated significantly different levels of union vote intent, general beliefs, specific beliefs, and normative pressures. They also used a different union vote decision model. General beliefs about unions appear to play a significantly greater role in unionization decision of nonmembers. On the other hand, while considering unionization, specific beliefs about unions were significantly more important for association members. Association members were less likely to vote for unionization.     

Measurement equivalence of Watson and Clark's 18 surrogate measures of negative affectivity: Applying the principle of tetrad differences to an incomplete correlation matrix

Watson and Clark concluded, based primarily on a subjective analysis of the positive manifold of 87 intercorrelations, that 18 personality measures were manifestations of the same stable and pervasive trait of negative affectivity. Confirmatory factor analysis to test a one-factor measurement model was not possible, since only an incomplete matrix of correlations (87 out of 153) was available. In this paper, the principle of tetrad differences was applied to an incomplete correlation matrix to test for a general factor across the 18 measures. This principle assesses the equivalence of different measures hypothesized to tap into the same construct. Of the 614 first-order partial correlations, only 44 (7.2%) failed to satisfy the principle of tetrad differences, indicating support for a common underlying trait. In addition, confirmatory factor analysis and Herman's one-factor test provided support for a general factor across a subset of the 18 scales for which a complete matrix of correlations was available.