The critical role of co-worker involvement: An extended measure of the workplace environment to support work-life balance

This paper extends the work of Thompson, Beauvais, and Lyness (1999, Journal of Vocational Behavior, 54, 392-415) on work-family culture by considering the role co-workers play. The proposed extended measure encompasses non-work spheres beyond the family as it has been established that much of the extant research does not include a large part of the workforce - those without childcare responsibilities (Kelliher, Richardson & Boiarintseva [2019, Human Resource Management Journal, 29, 101]). The extended measure constitutes Thompson et al.'s (1999) three original dimensions plus two additional dimensions: co-worker involvement (support and consequences) and gender expectations. Two quantitative studies confirmed that the extended measure is robust for different types of workers (part- and full-time, males and females). The co-worker dimensions were significantly associated with several outcome measures; however, the gender expectation dimensions added little additional variance in relation to employee outcomes. The results support the inclusion of co-workers as an important dimension of the workplace environment that supports work and life balance.