Trouble at the Border? Gender, Work, and the Work-Home Interface

Scott Schieman, University of Toronto
Paul Glavin, University of Toronto

We address three questions: 1) Are schedule control and job autonomy associated differently with the work-home interface? 2) Do schedule control and autonomy interact with different forms of work-home role blurring to influence levels of work-to-home conflict? 3) Do any of these observed associations differ for women and men? We apply a gender view of border theory and propositions about resourceful versus demanding work conditions in the work-home interface. Analyses of the 2002 National Survey of the Changing Workforce reveal that schedule control and autonomy are associated positively with work-home role blurring, although the effects are stronger among men. The association between role blurring and work-to-home conflict is greater at higher levels of schedule control. The findings challenge the view that schedule control and autonomy function uniformly as resources that help people manage the work-home border. Implications for research on gender, the work-home interface, and border theory are discussed.