SELF-REGULATION OF BOUNDARIES FOR THRIVING, ENRICHMENT, AND BALANCE ACROSS THE WORK-NONWORK INTERFACE

Abstract

This three-essay project explores boundary management and work-nonwork enrichment to explain how thriving in the work domain relates to thriving in the nonwork domain. The Cross-Domain Thriving model proposed in Study 1 theorizes that when employees experience growth and energy at work, they create and deplete resources within and across roles and individual boundary management strategies, role congruency, and ease of transition moderate the degree to which thriving translates into enrichment and/or conflict across roles. Study 2 tested aspects of the cross-domain thriving model and found that neither work nor nonwork thriving was related to increased time-based conflict, but both forms of thriving predicted enrichment gains across domains. Moreover, higher levels of work-nonwork role segmentation were associated with a stronger relationship between learning in nonwork roles and affective and efficiency enrichment gains in the nonwork-to-work direction. In the work-to-nonwork direction, role congruency and cycling boundary management behavior were related to greater developmental and affective enrichment, respectively. Cycling also strengthened the positive relationship between vitality at work and work-to-nonwork capital enrichment. Study 3, a qualitative study investigating work and nonwork thriving in employees working from home during a pandemic, suggested the importance of boundary management skills as demands on learning and energy increase. Findings highlight how key employer actions and employee regulatory behavior can leverage the benefits of growth and energy in work and nonwork domains.