This study advances understanding of work-family enrichment (WFE) through a systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis, assessing its effects on workplace satisfaction and performance. It identifies how WFE enhances job satisfaction, mental health, and organizational commitment by examining the interplay between work experiences and family life, supported by conducive workplace cultures and policies. The research, noting a growth in WFE studies, calls for further exploration of how workplace policies, leadership, and gender dynamics impact WFE. This aims to guide effective HR practices, promoting a supportive environment for balancing professional and personal life.
Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management for Complex Work Environments
TopIntroduction
The organizational theory critically explains the work-family interface regarding positive spillover from family to work and work to family life. In recent years, the positive theory on work-family enrichment has attracted the attention of behavior and organizational scholars. Greenhaus and Powell (2006) described work-family enrichment as the instrumental and affective paths. The instrumental path deals with direct improvement in the performance of an individual in his family life role; on the other side, the affective path deals with indirect improvement in the performance of a life role. The transference of positive psychological effects generated in one role to another and the direct influence of knowledge, skills, and abilities generated in one role to another provided a base for the conceptual dual-path model built by Greenhaus and Powell (2006).
Resources accumulation and transference of the resources generated in one life role increase the performance of employees in another life role (Carlson et al., 2006). For example, the conflict and problem-solving skills developed in the work role can help individuals handle and solve conflicts with their children, spouses, parents, and other family members. In the same way, the nurturing behavior developed in the family increases the individual performance at work by transferring this nurturing behavior to nurture the subordinates and watching, helping them grow and achieve their full potential. Rothbard (2001) exemplified the affective pathway as the indirect transference of positive affect from one life role to another, resulting in more engagement in life roles. Greenhaus and Powell (2003) noted that resources must transfer from one life role to another life role; the successful application of these resources in life's role is vital to increasing performance and positive affect.
The life roles are at the center stage of WFE theory. The term 'role' presents an individual's behavior rather than a position occupied by an individual. Super (1980) identified nine different roles as “child, student, worker, partner, parent, citizen, homemaker, leisure, and pensioner” individuals perform in their lives. Super (1990) incorporated the concept of “life-space” in the self-concept and career development theory. Individual's personal and contextual factors contribute to balancing work-life. Individuals should clearly understand the significance of life roles, exposure to the environment, accumulated role experiences, and life-role beliefs. Allport (1963) defined four life-role aspects: role expectations, role conceptions, role acceptance, and role performance. The volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity in organizational and family domains stimulated corporations and scholars to understand the theoretical implications of WFE at the individual employee and organizational levels.