In Sickness and in Health: The Role of Housework Engagement in Work Productivity despite Presenteeism

Abstract

The present study is one of the first to investigate the effects of housework engagement on work productivity despite sickness presenteeism and to explore personality traits (i.e., conscientiousness) and gender differences among couples. Based on a sample of 180 heterosexual couples, an integrated model of both housework and workplace realities was proposed and tested based on the actor-partner interdependence model using structural equation modeling. The results verify that the higher the degree of women’s conscientiousness, the greater their and their partners’ level of productivity despite presenteeism. In addition, the higher the couple’s perception of partner support is, the greater their level of work productivity despite health problems, for both men and women. Results also confirm that housework engagement mediates the relationships between both conscientiousness and perceived partner support and work productivity despite health problems, for women, but not for men. This study denotes an advance in the literature on the relationships between personal and social resources within the family domain and work productivity despite sickness presenteeism. The findings support the applicability of the resource perspective of the Job Demands-Resources theory (JD-R) (i.e., motivational branch) to housework, as well as extend existing presenteeism models by providing evidence for the inclusion of the family domain in explaining this organizational phenomenon.

Uma Teoria Do Presenteísmo Para Além Da Doença E Uma Ferramenta Para Sua Mensuração

“…Refere-se a funcionários que comparecem ao trabalho, mas que o desempenham de maneira ineficiente por apresentar sintomas leves como dor ou fadiga (Leal & Ferreira, 2021). Alguns argumentam que a frequência ao trabalho, mesmo com desempenho reduzido, é essencial para permanecer no emprego (Ruhle et al, 2020).…”

Do Gender and Gender Role Orientation Make a Difference in the Link between Role Demands and Family Interference with Work for Taiwanese Workers?

“…People are, thus, forced to renegotiate border crossing and border management between work and non-work spaces and between on-job time and off-job time to maintain balance and satisfaction [56]. It is, thus, imperative that organizations should be fully aware of the potential downsides of work-to-life integration, such as exhaustion, reduced productivity, and diminished work-life balance [57,58]. Furthermore, organizations need to invest in training the employees' for constructive boundary management [56,57], in order to ensure satisfaction in work (e.g., productive work performance), family (e.g., housework engagement) [57], and personal (e.g., recovery activities) [58] domains.…”

“…Finally, Clark's work-to-family border theory [56] is increasingly relevant in the post-pandemic "new normal" of work-non-work integration. As work-life boundary enactment strategies (e.g., segmentation, integration) have important implications for well-being, productivity, and family members' welfare, future research needs to disentangle previous contradictory findings [57,58].…”