Exploring the moderating role of core self-evaluation in the relationship between demands and work-family enrichment

Abstract

Purpose Extant literature reveals that the personality variable, core self-evaluation (CSE) which represents an employee’s self-assessment of himself has rarely been researched with respect to sales employees. The purpose of this paper is to identify the role of personality variable, core self-evaluation (CSE), in the relationship between demands and work – family enrichment. In this study, CSE has been treated as a moderating variable in the relationship between demands and work-family enrichment. This paper also aims to validate the CSE scale developed by Jugde et al. (2003) in Indian context. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected through structured questionnaires from 330 sales employees belonging to firms from some of the major sectors of Indian industry namely, Manufacturing, IT, FMCG, Pharmaceuticals and Financial Services. The study first validated the CSE scale in the Indian context using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Further, moderated regression analysis (MRA) was used to test the model. Findings The present research supported the 12-item CSE scale in the Indian context. Also, results of MRA suggested that, irrespective of higher work demands, sales employees having higher CSE experience higher levels of work to family enrichment (WFE). In addition, higher CSE employees tend to experience higher levels of FWE at the family front. Research limitations/implications In an emerging economy such as India wherein sales professionals are facing a lot of work demands, organizations should invest in their frontline employees to be able to deliver value for money to the customers and thereby gain competitive advantage. With this realization, managers should acquire and retain frontline employees with positive core self-evaluation. Therefore, organizations should select and try to retain candidates with positive core self-evaluations. Practical implications Corporates should focus on nurturing sales employees’ positive CSE to make sure that their employees can contentedly adjust to various challenging work situations. In addition practices like job transitions, empowerment, enrichment and rewarding employees for their desired performance might be some of the interventions which positively impact core self-evaluations. Originality/value This study contributes to work – family literature by addressing the role of CSE in achieving WFE and FWE among sales employees in Indian context.

Work–family enrichment: an integrative review

“…Butler et al, 2005;Mauno and Rantanen, 2013;Presti and Mauno, 2016), decision latitude (Grzywacz and Marks, 2000), autonomy (e.g. Grzywacz and Butler, 2005;Rastogi et al, 2016;Salehi et al, 2015;Voydanoff, 2004) and skill discretion (Baral and Bhargava, 2011a;Butler et al, 2005;Carlson et al, 2011a, b) (2) Increase in skill level/variety (Baral and Bhargava, 2011a;Butler et al, 2005), learning opportunities (Voydanoff, 2004), meaningful work (Voydanoff, 2004), respect, occupational prestige (Huang et al, 2019;Voydanoff, 2004), job security (Carlson et al, 2011a, b), time adequacy (Lingard et al, 2010) (3) Reduction in work demands (Butler et al, 2005;Jain and Nair, 2019), workload (Ghislieri et al, 2017a, b), work time pressure (Brosch and Binnewies, 2018;Voydanoff, 2004), organization time demands (Wayne et al, 2006)…”

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“…On the other hand, personal resources refer to employees' own positive psychological capacities that they use to successfully control their work environments (Xanthopoulou et al, 2009). For example, core self-evaluations serve a protective role in the presence of work demands (Jain and Nair, 2020). Within studies of technostress, the former has been defined as technostress inhibitors 1…”

“…On the other hand, personal resources refer to employees’ own positive psychological capacities that they use to successfully control their work environments (Xanthopoulou et al , 2009). For example, core self-evaluations serve a protective role in the presence of work demands (Jain and Nair, 2020). Within studies of technostress, the former has been defined as technostress inhibitors [1] These mitigation mechanisms analogous to job resources are aimed at increasing the performance, well-being, and efficiency of the employee by creating support systems to manage technostressors.…”

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