Balancing Multiple Worlds: Norm Discrepancies Between Professional and Personal Contexts and Employee Satisfaction

Abstract

Several studies have shown that a person’s identities and perceived norms shift between social environments, including work and home environments, while substantial research on norms has demonstrated that both injunctive and descriptive norms form powerful motivators of thought and behavior in both workplace and social environments. This study examined two major reference groups for employees: their coworkers, and their friends and family. A new methodology, norm clustering, was employed, allowing us to visualize how norms “cluster” or correlate with one another based on endorsements within the two social environments, and how those clusters might differ. Using survey data collected from 250 employees at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large public and private companies, I analyzed how norms and attitudes about the environment, the role of the public and private sectors, and unethical pro-organizational behavior cluster within the two reference groups. Using this data, I also assessed whether discrepancies between the norms and attitudes in each reference group and employees’ own personal norms and attitudes predict lower job and life satisfaction. Results were mixed: while no discrepancies significantly predicted life satisfaction, and discrepancy between personal norms and friend and family norms did not significantly predict job satisfaction, discrepancy between personal norms and coworker norms, as well as between coworker norms and friend and family norms, did significantly predict lower job satisfaction. Potential reasons for these mixed results, and implications for future research, are discussed.