15445: Exploring Benevolence Values and Gendered Work-Home Boundaries in Dual-Earner Couples (session 25494)

Against a backdrop of unprecedented architectural evolution in workplace dynamics, and increasing prevalence of dual-earner households, in the current study we develop theory explaining variation in work engagement. Building from a social role theory (SRT) frame, we test a model exploring cross-partner relationships between benevolence values, partner segmentation preferences and downstream work engagement. In a multi-wave, partner-matched survey of 176 dual-earner couples from the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK), we find support for a model predicting gendered relationships between male (female) partner benevolence values and male (female) partner segmentation preferences. Coinciding with the implications of SRT framing, while female partners’ benevolence values are associated with stronger segmentation preferences, male partners’ benevolence values are associated with weaker segmentation preferences. We also find that segmentation preferences are associated with downstream work engagement. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these results.

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