Abstract
The present study was designed to map the causal relationships between non-standard working hours and work-home interference (WHI) and home-work interference (HWI). To this purpose, a longitudinal full-panel design was employed. Using such a design, we examined both the causal effects of non-standard working hours on WHI /HWI and the causal effects of WHI /HWI on non-standard working hours. We also investigated the moderating effect of gender in these relationships.
Data were collected in two waves (2002 and 2004) among 337 Dutch employees and self-employed persons who lived together with a partner and had at least one child living in the household. We included evening work and weekend work as types of non-standard working hours. Data were analyzed by means of structural equation modeling.
Results showed that, among women with children, evening work was related to elevated levels of WHI and HWI two years later. A comparable relationship for men with children was not found. A possible explanation for this finding is that for women working at non-standard hours appears to cause WHI and HWI, as working at non-standard hours interferes with their responsibilities at home, which they are still more often accountable for than men.
Furthermore, WHI turned out to be related to an increase in evening work and weekend work two years later for both men and women. A possible explanation for this finding is that workers try to reduce WHI by means of working at non-standard hours.
