Abstract
Dual-earner couples are increasingly prevalent and encounter demands arising from each partner's commitment to various work and life domains. Unfortunately, there has been little theoretical progress in explaining how dual-earner couples navigate worklife shock events, which we define as disruptive, novel, and critical events that require investment of a couple's resources. Drawing from identity and sensemaking theories, we develop a theory of work-life shock events to explain how dual-earner couples perceive and respond to these events. We theorize that partners initially make sense of the event as individuals and then engage in couple-level sensemaking. We argue that each individual's shock intensity perceptions are shaped by the shock event's characteristics and the identity factors of role salience hierarchy and future self. A subsequent couplelevel process of sensemaking ensues, influenced by the salience of the originating domain and partner role, as well as relational identity factors. Couple-level shock intensity perceptions result in the couple's decision regarding resource investment in the shock event's originating domain. We discuss implications for future research and for organizations.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 194-212 |
| Number of pages | 19 |
| Journal | Academy of Management Review |
| Volume | 44 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 1 2019 |
Fingerprint
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Business, Management and Accounting(all)
- Strategy and Management
- Management of Technology and Innovation
Cite this
Work-life events theory : Making sense of shock events in dual-earner couples. / Crawford, Wayne S.; Thompson, Merideth J.; Ashforth, Blake.
In: Academy of Management Review, Vol. 44, No. 1, 01.01.2019, p. 194-212.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Work-life events theory
T2 - Making sense of shock events in dual-earner couples
AU - Crawford, Wayne S.
AU - Thompson, Merideth J.
AU - Ashforth, Blake
PY - 2019/1/1
Y1 - 2019/1/1
N2 - Dual-earner couples are increasingly prevalent and encounter demands arising from each partner's commitment to various work and life domains. Unfortunately, there has been little theoretical progress in explaining how dual-earner couples navigate worklife shock events, which we define as disruptive, novel, and critical events that require investment of a couple's resources. Drawing from identity and sensemaking theories, we develop a theory of work-life shock events to explain how dual-earner couples perceive and respond to these events. We theorize that partners initially make sense of the event as individuals and then engage in couple-level sensemaking. We argue that each individual's shock intensity perceptions are shaped by the shock event's characteristics and the identity factors of role salience hierarchy and future self. A subsequent couplelevel process of sensemaking ensues, influenced by the salience of the originating domain and partner role, as well as relational identity factors. Couple-level shock intensity perceptions result in the couple's decision regarding resource investment in the shock event's originating domain. We discuss implications for future research and for organizations.
AB - Dual-earner couples are increasingly prevalent and encounter demands arising from each partner's commitment to various work and life domains. Unfortunately, there has been little theoretical progress in explaining how dual-earner couples navigate worklife shock events, which we define as disruptive, novel, and critical events that require investment of a couple's resources. Drawing from identity and sensemaking theories, we develop a theory of work-life shock events to explain how dual-earner couples perceive and respond to these events. We theorize that partners initially make sense of the event as individuals and then engage in couple-level sensemaking. We argue that each individual's shock intensity perceptions are shaped by the shock event's characteristics and the identity factors of role salience hierarchy and future self. A subsequent couplelevel process of sensemaking ensues, influenced by the salience of the originating domain and partner role, as well as relational identity factors. Couple-level shock intensity perceptions result in the couple's decision regarding resource investment in the shock event's originating domain. We discuss implications for future research and for organizations.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85059758367&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85059758367&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.5465/amr.2016.0432
DO - 10.5465/amr.2016.0432
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85059758367
VL - 44
SP - 194
EP - 212
JO - Academy of Management Review
JF - Academy of Management Review
SN - 0363-7425
IS - 1
ER -