Abstract

This qualitative study uses a grounded theory approach to examine work-family decision-making at the couple-level. It focuses on answering two questions: (1) How do couples develop and enact work-family routines and make non-routine decisions? And, (2) What is the role of identity construal in the way couples carry out their daily work-family responsibilities? By focusing on daily (or micro-role) experiences, I learned that daily work-family decisions are indeed made at the couple-level and that there are three types of daily work-family decisions, including decisions about work-family routines, decisions about immediate, unanticipated changes to routines and decisions about anticipated, scheduled events. Anchoring decisions made by couples over time create the context for decision-making for all three types of daily decisions. In terms of how couples make daily decisions at the work-family interface, I found that they consider multiple cues, including situational cues from their work and family contexts, activities cues, cues from their routines, cues from their relationships with one another, and cues related to family and parenting role expectations, but that the cues to which they attend and the processes for making sense of them varies by the type of decision and the type of couple making the decision. Overall, my analysis of daily decisions revealed that these decisions are made in a manner consistent with a logic of appropriateness, which involves situational recognition and enactment of appropriate behavioral rules. These rules emanate from family role construals. Couples can be classified according to differences in their family role construals and each couple type uses different appropriateness rules, and thus tends to favour different choices for both anchoring and daily decisions. From a practical perspective, the results of this study have implications for couples looking for better strategies to meet their work and family responsibilities and for supervisors looking for better ways to support employees’ efforts in carrying out their various roles. Theoretically, this research complements past work-family research, which has predominately focused on individual-level models and the negative aspects of combining personal roles with paid work. Also, it extends applications of identity theory in work-family science by broadening our understanding about the role of identity construals in work-family decisions.