The "What", "Why" and "Whom" of Interrole Interference Among Home-Based Teleworkers.

Abstract

Many employees are drawn to work-from-home arrangements based on expectations that such arrangements will help them manage both work and home life more effectively. Yet, mixed empirical findings suggest that telework arrangements do not uniformly result in less interrole interference (i.e., work-home and home-work interference). Applying and extending a border theory perspective, the present research offers insight into what factors may predict interrole interference, mediating mechanisms that may explain why such interference occurs, and a moderator that tests for whom interference is most damaging when employees work from home. Specifically, we test cross-role interruption behaviors as a predictor of interrole interference, with recovery experiences as a mediator of this relation and work-life border segmentation preference as a moderator. A sample of 504 home-based teleworkers recruited through Amazon's Mechanical Turk participated in a three-wave survey. Results from a structural equation modeling approach support our overall model. However, the extent and valence of the impact of cross-role interruption behaviors had on teleworkers' interrole interference depended on the direction of the interruption, type of recovery experience, and personal work-life border preference. These findings provide theoretical and practical insights that may help explain the gap between expected and actual occurrence of interrole interference in home-based telework arrangements.