‘Family’ in organizational research: a review and comparison of definitions and measures

✍ Scribed by Teresa J. Rothausen

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 168 KB
• Volume: 20
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0894-3796
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1379(199911)20:6<817::aid-job953>3.0.co;2-e

✦ Synopsis

Interest in the impact of family on work has grown in recent years; family is emerging as a signi®cant source of understanding work attitudes and behaviors. However, no consensus and little discussion exists regarding how organizational researchers should de®ne and measure `family'. In this article, I reviewed the de®nitions of family in other literatures and those implied by measures of family used in organizational research on work attitudes and behaviors. Analysis revealed ®ve substantive themes in the measurement of family by organizational researchers: perceptions about the importance of the family role to the individual, attitudes toward family, numbers and types of dependents, the role played in the family, and the support available from family members. I then discussed the need for a comprehensive measure of dependents, and developed a new measure, Responsibility for Dependents (RFD). I examined the ®ve types of measures empirically, and discussed empirical and conceptual dierences between measures of family. Finally, I addressed issues regarding the measurement of family for organizational research, including the need for more inclusive and diverse measures and the need for further research.