Equilibrio en acciónpotenciando el bienestar a través de los recursos personales en la conciliación trabajo-vida

Abstract

The overall aim in this doctoral thesis is to show how the relationship between work and personal life contributes to improve peoples’ well-being, not only at work -through enhancing their work engagement-, but in their life in general -making them feel fulfilled or "flourishing"-. Based on the Work-Home Resources Model (ten Brummelhuis & Bakker, 2012), this thesis presents the results of three empirical studies. In the first one, a quantitative cross-sectional study involving healthcare workers (N=510), we analyze the role of 'social comparison orientation' as a key resource to reduce the negative impact of job demands on work-life conflict experiences, and consequently improve well-being at work - e.g., work engagement -. Second, with a large multisectoral sample (N= 797), we study the positive experience of work-personal life balance by analyzing the validity in Spanish language of a reduced work-family enrichment scale (Kacmar et al., 2014). Finally, using a quantitative diary study methodology (N= 200), we analyze the relationship between two resource-oriented behaviors -i.e., job crafting and leisure crafting- and how both are related to the well-being, not only of employees, but also of their partners. The results derived from this doctoral thesis provide a valuable contribution to the field of Organizational Psychology. First, the results highlight the importance of considering social comparison orientation as a key and crucial resource to mitigate the damage that job demands can exert on health among nursing staff. Secondly, the validation in Spanish of the reduced work-family enrichment scale offers guarantees about the adequacy of this scale in Spanish samples. Not only it is the first study carried out in a Spanish-speaking context, but it also provides evidence on the equivalence of measurement according to gender, type of employment contract and type of work schedule. This equivalence is key to make comparisons between these groups. Finally, the relevance of both job crafting and leisure crafting as proactive behaviors that generate new resources from the work domain to the leisure domain is emphasized. Similarly, empirical evidence is presented on the mechanisms through which job crafting is related to well-being in the lives of employees and their partners, highlighting the positive crossover process of well-being between employees and their partners. In conclusion, the theoretical and practical implications derived from this dissertation significantly enrich our understanding of the essential factors that influence well-being, both in the work and in peoples’ lives, as well as the measurement of some of these factors in a reliable and valid manner.