Blurring Work-Home Boundaries and Their Impact of Work-Home Conflict and Enhancement

Recently, growing interest has been turned toward the inherent boundaries between the work and home domains and how these boundaries are created. There have been discussions surrounding the increasing permeability of these boundaries and even their disintegration altogether. Among the various reasons for these tendencies is an increased flexibility in the hours and place of work (e.g., teleworking from home), causing work and home to become more intertwined. Other contributing factors include modern technical conveniences, such as the Internet, mobile phones and laptops, which make it possible to work and be reached by others almost anywhere and at any time. In light of the increasing disintegration of work-home boundaries, the question arises as to its consequences. Do blurring boundaries lead to more conflicts or do they have a positive impact? Data for this study were collected through an online survey among employees in nine companies in the German micro- and nanotechnology sector (n=321, response rates between 65 % and 95,5 %). Work-home/home-work conflict and enhancement were measured using the four scales of the Survey Work-home Interaction—Nijmegen (SWING) questionnaire (Geurts et al., 2005). The extend of a blurred work-home boundary was measured with 6 items focused on the work to nonwork permeability (e.g., “I am also available during my leisure time for work concerns (e . g. via cell phone)”). A structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis was applied. Work to nonwork permeability showed a positive association with work-life conflict, but no significant effect on life-work conflict and the both enhancement scales. We finally discuss the implications of these results.