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Orientation: Women are involved in both a work and a family domain. Work-family enrichment is a concept that describes how these domains can enrich each other through the transfer of resources from one domain to the other.Research purpose: The objective was to determine the relationship between work resources,home resources, work engagement, family engagement and work-family enrichment. The aim was also to test two models representing work-to-family and family-to-work enrichment as mediators.Motivation for the study: By investigating work-family enrichment, as a new research concept,and its antecedents and outcomes, this study will add to the positive side of the work-family interface literature and provide information to organisations.Research design, approach and method: A cross-sectional survey design was used in this study with a sample of female workers (N = 420) in South Africa. Polychoric correlations, fit indices, structural equation modelling and testing mediation were used to analyse the data.Omegas and alpha coefficients were employed to determine the reliability.Main findings: A positive relationship between work-family enrichment and its antecedents and outcomes was found. Furthermore, work-family enrichment (W-FE) mediated (large effect)the relationship between work resources and work engagement and family-work enrichment mediated (small effect) the relationship between home resources and family engagement.Practical/managerial implications: The results provide more insight and understanding to organisations and female workers on the benefits of being involved in both the domain of work life and the domain of family life.Contribution/value-add: The study contributes to the limited research undertaken on work family enrichment within the South African context. The present study also contributes to the literature on the use of the newly developed MACE Work-Family Enrichment Instrument.

Orientation: An instrument based on a theoretical model is necessary to measure the positive side of the work-family interface.Research purpose: To develop items for measurement of work-family enrichment based on the elements contained within a theoretical model and to evaluate the latent trait functioning of these items.Motivation for the study: Major limitations exist regarding the conceptualisation and scale development of the positive side of the work-family interface.Research design, approach, and method: A quantitative research approach using scale development procedures was employed to develop the 95-item instrument. A cross-sectional survey design was used to collect data randomly from selected employees; data were processed using Rasch analysis.Main findings: The five-category scale works well for the most part, although a four-category scale could be considered. Thirty-five items either over-fitted or under-fitted the work-family enrichment model. Person ability was measured in the low to middle ranges of work-family enrichment. Participants’ experience of work-family enrichment could be represented accurately. Sub-scale items displayed misfit, bias or both.Practical/managerial implications: The developed instrument can be investigated further to identify work-family enrichment factors that can measure workers’ experience of enrichment in their work and family domains.Contribution/value-add: This study furthers theory building and empirical research in industrial psychology, by developing a new theory-based measuring instrument for the positive side of the work-family interface in the South African context. This study expanded on the model proposed by Greenhaus and Powell, by including all five categories of resources gains. Furthermore, the total of the resources was diversified, since some of the content of these resources encompasses multiple meanings

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Orientation: The focus of this study was to investigate the relationship between socio-demographic characteristics and the work–home interaction in different occupational groups in South Africa.Research purpose: The main research aim of the study was to investigate the socio-demographic predictors of negative and positive work–home interaction of South African employees.Motivation for the study: Little information is known about the prevalence of work–home interaction within groups. This study is aimed at enabling the researcher and organisations to identify those groups that are at risk of negative interference and which are prone to positive interaction, to allow for the development of appropriate strategies and intervention programmes.Research design, approach and method: A cross-sectional survey design was used in the study. A sample (N = 2040) was taken from four South African industries (i.e. the police service, the earthmoving equipment industry, mining and nursing). A socio-demographic questionnaire and the Survey Work–Home Interaction-Nijmegen (SWING) were used.Main findings: The results indicated that robust predictors included occupation, gender and language for negative work–home interference; occupation, age and language for positive work–home interference; occupation and language for negative home–work interference; and occupation, age, education and language for positive home–work interference.Practical/managerial implications: The implications of the study are that negative and positive work–home interaction is uniquely associated with socio-demographic characteristics. Work–life balance initiatives should, therefore, be carefully tailored to address the needs of each socio-demographic group.Contribution/value-add: The findings of the study suggest answers to the management of the work–home interaction among various socio-demographic groups in organisations.