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  • 标题:Differences in work-family conflict, technology & other issues resulting from work schedule and travel requirements of salespeople: an exploratory study.
  • 作者:Totten, Jeff W. ; Schuldt, Barbara A. ; Donald, Duane
  • 期刊名称:Academy of Marketing Studies Journal
  • 印刷版ISSN:1095-6298
  • 出版年度:2004
  • 期号:July
  • 语种:English
  • 出版社:The DreamCatchers Group, LLC
  • 摘要:The first purpose of this exploratory study was to add to the body of knowledge related to work-family conflict (WFC), particularly in the area of the impact of family members' health issues on careers. The second purpose was to address the impact of information technology security issues on salespeople's lives and careers. The authors designed and distributed a survey on work-family conflict and technology issues to 35 salespeople they knew. Items from two previously-developed scales were borrowed, and new items and questions were created. Significant differences related to work schedule and travel requirements were found with regard to length of employment, amount of time spent on selling tasks, and tension over how much time is spent on travel. Limitations and implications for future research are then addressed.
  • 关键词:Work-life balance

Differences in work-family conflict, technology & other issues resulting from work schedule and travel requirements of salespeople: an exploratory study.


Totten, Jeff W. ; Schuldt, Barbara A. ; Donald, Duane 等


ABSTRACT

The first purpose of this exploratory study was to add to the body of knowledge related to work-family conflict (WFC), particularly in the area of the impact of family members' health issues on careers. The second purpose was to address the impact of information technology security issues on salespeople's lives and careers. The authors designed and distributed a survey on work-family conflict and technology issues to 35 salespeople they knew. Items from two previously-developed scales were borrowed, and new items and questions were created. Significant differences related to work schedule and travel requirements were found with regard to length of employment, amount of time spent on selling tasks, and tension over how much time is spent on travel. Limitations and implications for future research are then addressed.

INTRODUCTION

A discussion of the effect of aging parents on professional careers took place at a conference in the fall of 2003 among several colleagues. This discussion prompted the researchers to explore the impact of family-related issues (schedule flexibility, care giving responsibility and technology usage) on salespeople's ongoing professional development and careers. A review of the literature revealed the connection of family-related issues, and to a lesser extent, technology issues, to the larger issues of work and family conflict and role conflict and ambiguity.

LITERATURE REVIEW

The psychology, organizational behavior, human resource management, and family sciences literature is full of studies on the impact of work and family conflict on employee productivity, job satisfaction, job loyalty, marital happiness, and physical and mental health, among other attitudinal, physiological, and behavioral consequences. Work-family conflict has been established by prior research to be bi-directional; i.e., it involves two types of conflict, work obligations interfering with family life (work-family conflict, WFC) and family life interfering with work duties (family-work conflict, FWC)(Marchese, Bassham & Ryan, 2002, pp. 145, 146). Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) identified three key types of WFC in their review of existing literature: time-based conflict (e.g., hours worked per week, schedule flexibility, child care demands); strain-based conflict (e.g., tension, depression, irritability, family roles expectations); and behavior-based conflict (role expectations). Boyar, et al. (2003) found through structural equation modeling that work-role conflict and work-role overload were positively related to WFC and thus affected turnover intentions. However, family responsibility was not related to FWC. Namasivayam and Mount (2004) found an unexpected linkage of FWC issues with higher, not lower, job satisfaction. They cautioned that the result may be due to the overwhelmingly Hispanic workforce that participated in the hotel chain study.

One area of the work-family literature that has received more attention lately is that of the impact of caregiver arrangements and related issues on employees' attitudes and behavior (e.g., see Kossek & Ozeki, 1998). To some extent, more research seems to have been done on child care than on elder care. The research on child care, however, has been more from the perspective of measuring the impact of providing assistance (e.g., child care centers) on reducing WFC (see Marchese, Bassham & Ryan, 2002, p. 147). Jansen et al. (2003) found that having to care for a chronically sick child or other family member at home was a significant risk factor for WFC for men but not for women. Marks (1998) found that women suffered more psychological distress from care giving for disabled children/parents/spouses. However, while being a caregiver generated more WFC than not being a caregiver, there were no significant gender differences in terms of increased WFC. Kossek, Colquitt and Noe (2001) conducted an extensive examination of care giving decisions and work performance and found that "managing elder care interacts with variables to influence employee outcomes more negatively than does managing child care, especially when caregiving is at home or by a family member" (p. 40). Personal resources, health and age are postulated to affect how much influence aging parents have on family decision making (Watson, Srisupandit & Tung, 2002). Rose and Hartmann found that family responsibilities still fall primarily upon women, that "neither society nor employers have found good ways to mesh those [responsibilities] with job demands," and consequently, women suffer salary setbacks when they take career breaks to care for family members (Bernstein, 2004, p. 58; also see Hymowitz, 2004).

Research on WFC has also been done on the salesforce, involving work environment and mental health (Borg & Kristensen, 1999), coping strategies (Nonis & Sager, 2003), and turnover intentions (Netemeyer, Brashear-Alejandro & Boles, 2004). Boles, Wood and Johnson (2003) focused research on the interrelationships of WFC and role conflict with multiple dimensions of job satisfaction, paying particular attention to gender differences. In fact, they did find gender differences with WFC: women realize more satisfaction with work, coworkers and company policies when WFC is reduced, whereas men realize more satisfaction with pay, supervisors, promotion and policies when WFC is reduced (Boles, Wood & Johnson, 2003, p. 109).

Little research was found in terms of the influence of technology on salespeople's careers and role conflict (e.g. see Boles & Sunoo, 1998; Prewitt, 1998). Salesperson technophobia was found to be related to age and education level of salespeople and was a contributing factor to increased role stress (Rich, 2000). Since the terrorism attacks on September 11, 2001, and given the subsequent passage of the Patriot Act, the authors decided to investigate attitudes toward computer security issues both at home and in the sales office. In order to better cope with family versus work issues, more and more employees are working from home; thus technology issues may now become a part of family/work issues. Anecdotally, salespersons have commented that having the flexibility to work at home and to have flexible work schedules has helped with family issues.

Based on the literature review and the anecdotal experiences of the authors, the purpose of the study was two-fold: first, to add to the body of knowledge regarding the impact of family members' health issues on salespeople's careers; second, to assess the impact of home/office information technology security issues on salespeople's lives.

METHODOLOGY

A questionnaire was originally designed in November 2003 and subsequently pretested on students in an upper-level Marketing class at a southern regional university. As a result of the pretest, wording on the two uses of technology questions was changed from "use computers" to a broader, less confusing, "use any kind of technology". For the three questions regarding how far respondents lived from family members, the response categories were changed from region of the state to distance in miles (less than 20, less than 60, less than 100, or greater than or equal to 100). The final version of the questionnaire contained 28 numbered questions, with three of the numbered questions containing a total of 33 Likert-type statements. The first set of questions on the final questionnaire addressed the following topics: length of employment with current employer, travel expectations of job, extent of travel, hour worked per week, work schedule flexibility, use of technology at work and at home for work purposes, online work assessment, and percentage of time spent on sales tasks (selling, meetings, paperwork, etc.).

A search of the three volumes of the Marketing Scales Handbook yielded two scales that appeared to be appropriate for the authors' assessment of family-related issues. Chonko and Burnett (1983) developed a 27-item scale that measured role conflict (Bruner & Hensel, 1998). One segment (four items) from Chonko and Burnett's scale was used in our study; this segment represented Factor 3: Family and addressed time spent working, socializing (with customers and other salespeople), and traveling. This particular segment was deemed to be more relevant to the study at hand than the role conflict and ambiguity scales developed by Rizzo, et al. (1970). Responses were measured on a five-point scale ranging from "Complete agreement" to "No agreement."

Good, Page and Young (1996) used a 13-item scale adapted from Fournier (1981) to measure work and family conflict (Bruner, James & Hensel, 2001). The items addressed self-image and esteem, impact on productivity, spousal career conflict, and contentment with current city. A five-point Likert-type scale was used to measure responses, ranging from "Strongly disagree" to "Agree strongly," with "Not applicable" as the fifth scale point. Since specific questions that measured the impact of family members' health on one's sales career could not be found, four questions were added to the work and family conflict scale: health of spouse/significant other, health of parents or spouse's parents, health of children, and anticipation of career move/change due to health issues in next five years.

A search of the literature did not reveal any scales that were up-to-date and relevant to current technology issues (security, training, viruses, and computer usage). Therefore the authors developed a 12-item Likert-type scale, using the same five-point scale that was used by Good, Page and Young (1996), to measure work and family conflict possibly stemming from technology-related issues.

The final series of questions dealt with demographics, including gender, age, marital status, number of children, state of residence, and education, computer usage (number at home, Internet access), and family information (parents living, distance from parents, distance from children, and primary caregiver).

A cover letter was prepared according to university Institutional Review Board guidelines. The questionnaire and cover letter were combined to produce a booklet format and printed at a local office supply store.

A convenience sample was used in this exploratory study. Surveys were distributed by hand and through e-mail to 35 salespeople known by the researchers. The salespeople were employed by business-to-consumer companies. All 35 surveys were completed during December 2003 and used in this exploratory study. The surveys were edited, coded and inputted into ABstat[TM] as a database. The data was cleaned, and then frequencies, descriptive statistics, and both parametric and nonparametric statistics were calculated.

DISCUSSION

Twenty (57%) of the 35 survey participants were women. Twelve (34%) of the respondents were between the ages of 35 and 44 and ten (29%) were between the ages of 45 and 54. Twenty-five salespeople (74%) were married. Thirty-three participants reported having one computer at home. All but one person had Internet access from home. Of those 34 with Internet access at home, 16 (47%) used a dial-up modem while 17 (50%) had broadband access to the Internet. Thirteen (37%) of the 35 respondents have earned an undergraduate degree, while another seven (20%) have earned a graduate degree. Just over half (51%) indicated that both parents were still alive, while 26% indicated that only one parent was still living. Nineteen (70%) out of 27 who answered the question reported that they lived less than 20 miles from their parents. Ten (42%) out of 24 who responded to the question reported that they lived less than 20 miles from their spouse's parents. Thirty participants (86%) said they have children; of these, 43% have two children and 30% have one child. Thirteen (45%) of the 29 who answered reported that they have one child under the age of 18, while another ten (34%) have two children less than 18 years of age. Twenty-two of the thirty parents (73%) indicated that they lived less than 20 miles from their children. With regard to being the primary caregiver for parents, only one out of the 35 participants reported that they had that responsibility. All of the respondents lived in one southern state.

Descriptive statistics for ratio and interval scale-based questions are provided in Table 1 and briefly discussed in this section, along with frequencies from categorical questions. The respondents have been with their present employers an average of 65.26 months (or almost five and a half years). Over three-fourths of the salespeople (77%) are required to travel as part of their jobs. Twelve people (44%) indicated that they had to travel two to three times a week, while another eight people (30%) had to travel on a weekly basis. Of the 27 who indicated that they had to travel, 15 (56%) said that their travel did not require an overnight stay. Respondents averaged 52.57 hours of work per week, with four people reporting 70 hours a week as their workload. Eighteen salespeople (51%) indicated that they had a flexible work schedule. Most (97%) reported daily usage of any kind of technology (computers, registers, etc.) at work; meanwhile, nine (26%) reported using technology at home for work monthly versus six (17%) who used it daily at home. Twelve respondents (34%) rarely or never used technology at home for work purposes. Most of the salespeople (91%) indicated that their use of the Internet for work is more than it was a year ago; only three people said their Internet work usage had remained the same.

Respondents were then asked to allocate 100% of their time in a typical week among seven sales-related tasks. Over half the time was allocated on two tasks: selling (planning, calling, prospecting, presentations) and sales follow-up (customer service, training).

The first set of scale questions dealt with time spent working, socializing with customers, socializing with other salespeople, and traveling. A five-point rating scale was used to measure agreement with the four statements, with 1 reflecting "complete agreement" with the statement. Means ranged from 1.80 for time spent socializing with other salespeople to 1.91 for time spent working and time spent socializing with customers (see Table 1). Respondents felt there was very much agreement between them and family members on how they spent their time in these four areas.

The next set of scale questions dealt with WFC issues, including new items on family members' health. For purposes of analysis, any "5" score was dropped since it represented "not applicable," leaving a four-point scale. As seen in Table 1, respondents tended to agree with positive self-related statements (e.g., able to do things) and spousal career statements (e.g., spouse content with his/her job). Salespeople tended to disagree with negative self-related statements (e.g., feel useless), conflict statements (e.g., spouse's career conflicts with mine), and all four health-related career-impact statements.

The last set of scale questions focused on technology issues (see Table 1); respondents tended to agree with most of the statements. Participants tended to disagree with only two statements: my spouse uses the home computer for work and time spent on computer takes away from family time.

Scale reduction was attempted through the use of common factor analysis. Given the sample size of 35, the common factor analysis could not be accomplished. Surveys were also administered to marketing students (potential future salespeople) at the same time. That data set, as of yet unanalyzed, will be combined with the 35 in order to have a sufficient sample size to perform common factor analysis and test the new scale items. We acknowledge that the inability to conduct common factor analysis on the scale items, especially the new items, is a major weakness of this paper.

Given the scope of the exploratory research undertaken, the authors decided to focus on significant differences by work schedule, travel requirements, and other demographic factors in this paper. Significant gender differences were discussed in an earlier paper (see Totten, Schuldt & Donald, 2004). Significant differences were also found for work schedule and travel requirement factors (see Tables 2-4). For the scale-based questions, the Kruskal-Wallis One-way ANOVA by Ranks (KW) was selected over the independent t test and ANOVA due to the sample sizes falling below 30. KW is also equivalent to the Mann-Whitney U test when k=2 (see Sheskin 1997, p. 397).

Salespeople who were required to travel averaged a longer period of employment with their current employers (about two years), worked almost 15 more hours per week, and were less satisfied with the city in which they lived, than did those who were not required to travel (see Table 2). Traveling salespeople spent more time selling, traveling, and entertaining, and less time in meetings, and doing sales follow-up and paperwork than did their nontraveling counterparts.

Of the twenty-seven salespeople who do travel as part of their job, several significant differences were found regarding whether they had to stay overnight or not (see Table 3). Those who had to stay overnight tended to spend more time on selling, travel, and entertaining, and less time doing sales follow-up, paperwork, and professional development than did those who did not have to stay overnight during their travels. Those salespeople staying overnight also reported some tension between their family and themselves over how much time they spent socializing with customers and on traveling itself. On the other hand, they reported less frustration when they get home from work and a more positive attitude with themselves than did salespeople who did not have to stay overnight.

With regard to having a fixed or flexible work schedule, salespeople with fixed schedules (e.g., 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) reported working about 11 less hours per week than did their counterparts who had flexible schedules (see Table 4). Those with fixed schedules tended to spend less time selling, traveling, and entertaining, and more time in meetings and on sales follow-up, professional development and paperwork tasks than did those with flexible schedules. However, they reported less self-assurance and more frustration when coming home than did those salespeople with flexible schedules.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

There are several limitations that need to be addressed first. The analyses were limited by the small sample size of 35 (or fewer, depending on variable and analytical method). The sample is not a representative sample, since it was a convenience sample and also drawn from a small region of the United States. The study also is affected by the use of borrowed scales and the appropriateness of added items (see Engelland, Alford & Taylor, 2001 for cautions in such use). In hindsight, the 10-item sales activity classification taxonomy developed by Moncrief (1986) should, perhaps, have been used instead of the sales tasks developed by the authors. The scale items also need to be carefully examined through factor analysis and reliability analysis.

IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

Given the exploratory nature of this study and the small sample size, any implications to be drawn are speculative at best. The identified relationships between travel and time spent on tasks as well as WFC tensions appear to confirm what one would assume from an anecdotal point of view. Salespeople who travel will typically spend more time on travel-related tasks and are likely to encounter some tension at home over the amount of time they spend on the road.

A larger sample size is needed to test whether or not these generally significant differences between salespeople who travel and those who don't, can be generalized to a larger population. A wider geographic range of participants is also warranted. The scales need to be tested and further refined by other researchers. The authors are also gathering more data as one of several next steps in this vein of research.

REFERENCES

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Boles, J. S., J. A. Wood & J. Johnson (2003). Interrelationships of role conflict, role ambiguity, and work-family conflict with different facets of job satisfaction and the moderating effects of gender. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 23(2), 99-113.

Boles, M. & B. P. Sunoo (1998, January). Do your employees suffer from technophobia? Workforce, 21.

Borg, V. & T. S. Kristensen (1999). Psychosocial work environment and mental health among traveling salespeople. Work & Stress, 13(2), 132-43.

Boyar, S. L., C. P. Maertz, Jr., A. W. Pearson & S. Keough (2003). Work-family conflict: A model of linkages between work and family domain variables and turnover intentions. Journal of Managerial Issues, 15(2), 175-90.

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Chonko, L. B. & J. J. Burnett (1983). Measuring the importance of ethical situations as a source of role conflict: A survey of salespeople, sales managers, and sales support personnel. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 3 (May), 41-47.

Engelland, B. T., B. L. Alford & R.D. Taylor (2001). Cautions and precautions on the use of "borrowed" scales in marketing research. Marketing Advances in Pedagogy, Process, and Philosophy, Society for Marketing Advances, 152-153.

Fournier, D. G. (1981), PROFILES-Personal reflections on family life and employment stressors. In Bruner, James & Hensel (2001), Marketing scales handbook, volume III, 1633.

Good, L. K., T. J. Page Jr. & C. E. Young (1996). Assessing hierarchical differences in job-related attitudes and turnover among retail managers. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 24(2), 148-56.

Greenhaus, J. H. & N.J. Beutell (1985). Sources of conflict between work and family roles. Academy of Management Review, 10(1), 76-88.

Hymowitz, C. (2004, March 30). While some women choose to stay home, others gain flexibility. The Wall Street Journal, B1.

Jansen, N. W. H., I. Kant, T. S. Kristensen & F. J. N. Nijhuis (2003). Antecedents and consequences of work-family conflict: A prospective cohort study. Journal of Occupational And Environmental Medicine, 45 (May), 479+.

Kossek, E. E., J. A. Colquitt & R. A. Noe (2001). Caregiving decisions, well-being, and performance: The effects of place and provider as a function of dependent type and work-family climates. Academy of Management Journal, 44 (February), 29-44.

Kossek, E. E. & C. Ozeki (1998). Work-family conflict, policies, and the job-life satisfaction relationship: A review and directions for OB/HR research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83(2), 139-49.

Marchese, M. C., G. Bassham & J. Ryan (2002). Work-family conflict: A virtue ethics analysis. Journal of Business Ethics, 40 (October), 145-154.

Marks, N. F. (1998). Does it hurt to care? Caregiving, work-family conflict, and midlife well-being. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 60 (November), 951-66.

Moncrief, W. C. III (1986). Selling activities and sales position taxonomies for industrial salesforces. Journal of Marketing Research, 23 (August), 261-270.

Namasivayam, K. & D. J. Mount (2004). The relationship of work-family conflicts and family-work conflict to job satisfaction. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 28(2), 242-250.

Netemeyer, R. G., T. Brashear-Alejandro & J. S. Boles (2004). A cross-national model of job-related outcomes of work role and family role variables: A retail sales context. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 32 (Winter), 49-60.

Nonis, S. A. & J. K. Sager (2003). Coping strategy profiles used by salespeople: Their relationships with personal characteristics and work outcomes. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 23 (Spring), 139-150.

Prewitt, M. (1998, December 7). Technophobes may hold key to better utilization of computers. Nation's Restaurant News, no page indicated.

Rich, G. A. (2000). An empirical examination of technophobia among salespeople and its resulting impact on role ambiguity and role conflict. Marketing Advances in the New Millennium, Society for Marketing Advances, 231-34.

Rizzo, J. R., R.J. House & S. I. Lirtzman (1970). Role conflict and ambiguity in complex organizations. Administrative Sciences Quarterly, 15, 150-63.

Sheskin, D. J. (1997). Handbook of parametric and nonparametric statistical procedures. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. Totten, J. W., B.A. Schuldt & D. Donald (2004). An exploratory study of the impact of family & technology issues on sales careers with a focus on gender differences. Academy of Marketing Studies, forthcoming. Watson, S., P. Srisupandit & W. Tung (2002). The influence of aging parents in family decision making in sandwich generation households. Marketing Management Association 2002 Proceedings, 43.

Jeff W. Totten, Southeastern Louisiana University Barbara A. Schuldt, Southeastern Louisiana University Duane Donald, Southeastern Louisiana University Andree Taylor, Southeastern Louisiana University
Table 1: Descriptive Statistics

 Standard
Variable Mean Deviation

Length of employment (months) 65.26 50.01
Hours worked per week 52.57 10.39
Time spent selling (%) 35.14 10.25
Time spent in meetings (%) 10.00 5.82
Time spent traveling (%) 9.57 8.08
Time spent entertaining (%) 5.86 4.62
Time spent on sales follow-up (%) 16.14 6.54
Time spent on professional development (%) 8.57 5.23
Time spent on paperwork (%) 15.00 8.66
Agreement on time spent working * 1.91 0.89
Time spent socializing with customers 1.91 0.89
Time spent socializing with other salespeople 1.80 0.80
Agreement on time spent traveling 1.86 0.97
Able to do things as well as others (#) 3.49 0.51
Personal concerns reduceproductivity 2.34 0.77
Family has resources to meet desired lifestyle 2.82 0.64
Spouse's job/career conflicts with mine 2.15 0.53
I certainly feel useless at times 1.71 0.71
Family problems cause loss of time at work 2.33 0.69
Inclined to feel like I'm a failure 1.51 0.66
Nervous/tense/frustrated when I get home 2.11 0.76
Take a positive attitude toward myself 3.23 0.49
I am satisfied with myself 3.32 0.48
Spouse is content with his/her work status 3.11 0.42
I'm content with spouse's work status 3.04 0.44
I'm content with city in which I live 2.82 0.80
Spouse's health has affected my career plans 1.70 0.61
Kid's health affected my career plans 1.60 0.50
Parents' health affected my career plans 1.56 0.50
Make career move due to family health 1.63 0.56
Using computers is more important in job (#) 3.74 0.44
Required to login using password at work 3.74 0.44
Required to login when accessing from home 3.74 0.45
Spouse uses home computer for work 1.96 0.60
Family uses computer for non-work activities 3.00 0.61
Time on computer takes away from family 2.33 0.55
Company is overly concerned about security 3.14 0.49
I'm concerned about work computer security 2.86 0.60
I'm concerned about home computer security 2.89 0.58
Company provides adequate training 3.09 0.45
Careful to ensure work anti-virus is up-to-date 2.86 0.60
Careful to ensure home anti-virus is up-to-date 2.83 0.57

Variable Median Mode

Length of employment (months) 54 24, 36, 60
Hours worked per week 50 40
Time spent selling (%) 30 30
Time spent in meetings (%) 10 5
Time spent traveling (%) 10 10
Time spent entertaining (%) 5 5
Time spent on sales follow-up (%) 15 10, 20
Time spent on professional development (%) 10 5
Time spent on paperwork (%) 10 10
Agreement on time spent working * 2 2
Time spent socializing with customers 2 2
Time spent socializing with other salespeople 2 2
Agreement on time spent traveling 2 1
Able to do things as well as others (#) 3 3
Personal concerns reduceproductivity 2 3
Family has resources to meet desired lifestyle 3 3
Spouse's job/career conflicts with mine 2 2
I certainly feel useless at times 2 2
Family problems cause loss of time at work 2 3
Inclined to feel like I'm a failure 1 1
Nervous/tense/frustrated when I get home 2 2
Take a positive attitude toward myself 3 3
I am satisfied with myself 3 3
Spouse is content with his/her work status 3 3
I'm content with spouse's work status 3 3
I'm content with city in which I live 3 2
Spouse's health has affected my career plans 2 2
Kid's health affected my career plans 2 2
Parents' health affected my career plans 2 2
Make career move due to family health 2 2
Using computers is more important in job (#) 4 4
Required to login using password at work 4 4
Required to login when accessing from home 4 4
Spouse uses home computer for work 2 2
Family uses computer for non-work activities 3 3
Time on computer takes away from family 2 2
Company is overly concerned about security 3 3
I'm concerned about work computer security 3 3
I'm concerned about home computer security 3 3
Company provides adequate training 3 3
Careful to ensure work anti-virus is up-to-date 3 3
Careful to ensure home anti-virus is up-to-date 3 3

Variable n

Length of employment (months) 35
Hours worked per week 35
Time spent selling (%) 35
Time spent in meetings (%) 35
Time spent traveling (%) 35
Time spent entertaining (%) 35
Time spent on sales follow-up (%) 35
Time spent on professional development (%) 35
Time spent on paperwork (%) 35
Agreement on time spent working * 35
Time spent socializing with customers 35
Time spent socializing with other salespeople 35
Agreement on time spent traveling 35
Able to do things as well as others (#) 35
Personal concerns reduceproductivity 35
Family has resources to meet desired lifestyle 33
Spouse's job/career conflicts with mine 27
I certainly feel useless at times 35
Family problems cause loss of time at work 33
Inclined to feel like I'm a failure 35
Nervous/tense/frustrated when I get home 35
Take a positive attitude toward myself 35
I am satisfied with myself 34
Spouse is content with his/her work status 27
I'm content with spouse's work status 27
I'm content with city in which I live 34
Spouse's health has affected my career plans 27
Kid's health affected my career plans 30
Parents' health affected my career plans 32
Make career move due to family health 30
Using computers is more important in job (#) 35
Required to login using password at work 35
Required to login when accessing from home 35
Spouse uses home computer for work 26
Family uses computer for non-work activities 28
Time on computer takes away from family 30
Company is overly concerned about security 35
I'm concerned about work computer security 35
I'm concerned about home computer security 35
Company provides adequate training 35
Careful to ensure work anti-virus is up-to-date 35
Careful to ensure home anti-virus is up-to-date 35

* For the next four statements, 1=complete agreement and
5=no agreement.

(#) For the remaining statements, 1=strongly disagree and
4=agree strongly; 5=not applicable (dropped from analysis).

Table 2: Significant Kruskal-Wallis Differences by Travel
Requirements (Must Travel)

 Travel Travel not
 required required
Variable (mean) (mean)

How long have you been working 70.8 months 46.5 months
 with present employer?
How many hours/week worked? 55.9 hours 41.25 hours
Percentage of time spent selling? 37.4% 27.5%
Percentage of time spent in 09.1% 13.1%
 meetings/conferences?
Percentage of time spent in travel? 12.4% 0.0%
Percentage of time spent entertaining? 7.4% 0.6%
Percentage of time spent on 14.6% 21.3%
 sales follow-up?
Percentage of time spent on paperwork? 11.9% 25.6%
I am content with the city in which 2.69 3.25
 I live.

Variable [X.sup.2] Significance

How long have you been working 2.85 0.0912
 with present employer?
How many hours/week worked? 12.36 0.0004
Percentage of time spent selling? 5.28 0.0216
Percentage of time spent in 3.78 0.0518
 meetings/conferences?
Percentage of time spent in travel? 18.00 0.0000
Percentage of time spent entertaining? 13.35 0.0003
Percentage of time spent on 6.03 0.0141
 sales follow-up?
Percentage of time spent on paperwork? 11.82 0.0006
I am content with the city in which 2.77 0.0960
 I live.

Table 3: Significant Kruskal-Wallis Differences by Travel
Requirements (Stay Overnight)

 Must stay Overnight stay
 overnight not needed
Variable (mean) (mean)

Percentage of time spent selling? 41.3% 34.3%
Percentage of time spent in travel? 17.9% 08.0%
Percentage of time spent entertaining? 10.0% 05.3%
Percentage of time spent on sales 10.8% 17.7%
 follow-up?
Percentage of time spent on 05.0% 10.7%
 professional development?
Percentage of time spent on paperwork? 8.8% 14.3%
Agreement on time you spend 2.33 1.67
 socializing with customers.
Agreement on how much you travel 2.42 1.53
 on your job.
I am nervous, tense, or frustrated 1.67 2.33
 when I get home from work.
I take a positive attitude toward myself. 3.50 3.00
On the whole, I am satisfied with myself. 3.55 3.13

Variable [X.sup.2] Significance

Percentage of time spent selling? 3.26 0.0710
Percentage of time spent in travel? 13.39 0.0003
Percentage of time spent entertaining? 8.72 0.0032
Percentage of time spent on sales 7.60 0.0058
 follow-up?
Percentage of time spent on 6.19 0.0128
 professional development?
Percentage of time spent on paperwork? 5.15 0.0233
Agreement on time you spend 2.92 0.0877
 socializing with customers.
Agreement on how much you travel 3.72 0.0539
 on your job.
I am nervous, tense, or frustrated 5.04 0.0248
 when I get home from work.
I take a positive attitude toward myself. 4.20 0.0404
On the whole, I am satisfied with myself. 3.11 0.0776

Table 4: Significant Kruskal-Wallis Differences by Work Schedule

Variable Fixed Flexible

How many hours/week worked? 47.1 hours 57.8 hours
Percentage of time spent selling? 29.1% 40.8%
Percentage of time spent in 12.1% 8.1%
 meetings/conferences?
Percentage of time spent in travel? 4.1% 14.7%
Percentage of time spent entertaining? 2.9% 8.6%
Percentage of time spent on sales 19.4% 13.1%
 follow-up?
Percentage of time spent on 12.1% 5.3%
 professional development?
Percentage of time spent on paperwork? 20.3% 10%
I am able to do things as well as most 3.29 3.67
 other people.
I am nervous, tense, or frustrated 2.35 1.89
 when I get home from work.

Variable [X.sup.2] Significance

How many hours/week worked? 9.32 0.0020
Percentage of time spent selling? 11.32 0.0010
Percentage of time spent in 4.51 0.0340
 meetings/conferences?
Percentage of time spent in travel? 16.70 0.0000
Percentage of time spent entertaining? 14.24 0.0000
Percentage of time spent on sales 8.24 0.0040
 follow-up?
Percentage of time spent on 15.19 0.0000
 professional development?
Percentage of time spent on paperwork? 12.77 0.0000
I am able to do things as well as most 3.54 0.0599
 other people.
I am nervous, tense, or frustrated 3.06 0.0802
 when I get home from work.
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