Digital Boundary Control and Family Relationship Quality

Nicolas A. Steiner

Digital Boundary Control and Family Relationship Quality

Author(s)	Dr. Nicolas A. Steiner
Country	United States
Abstract	The expansion of smartphones, workplace messaging platforms, email, remote access systems, and flexible working arrangements has made the boundary between employment and family life increasingly permeable. Digital connectivity can provide useful flexibility, but it can also allow work demands to enter family time through after-hours messages, expectations of responsiveness, task-related notifications, and continuing cognitive engagement with work. The consequences of such connectivity are unlikely to depend solely on the amount of technology use. Boundary theory suggests that an important consideration is whether individuals possess meaningful control over when and how work crosses into the family domain. Research on work–nonwork boundary management has shown that low perceived boundary control is associated with less favorable work–family outcomes, while studies of workplace telepressure and information and communication technology use demonstrate that perceived availability demands can interfere with recovery and work–life balance. The present study develops an integrated framework connecting digital boundary control, after-hours information and communication technology demands, work–family conflict, and family relationship quality. The simulation produced a positive independent association between digital boundary control and family relationship quality (standardized β = .300) and a strong negative association between work–family conflict and relationship quality (β = −.561). Once work–family conflict and boundary control were considered, the direct contribution of after-hours ICT demands became comparatively small and statistically nonsignificant (β = −.058, p = .105). The complete model explained 59.6% of variance in the simulated relationship-quality outcome. The results illustrate an important theoretical distinction between digital connectivity and uncontrolled digital permeability. Technology use may not uniformly damage family relationships. Its implications depend on whether employees can decide when to respond, whether work interruptions are congruent with personal boundary preferences, whether organizational norms respect off-job time, and whether digital work produces conflict with valued family roles. The paper concludes that sustainable digital-work policies should emphasize employee boundary control, predictable communication expectations, legitimate nonavailability, and protection of family interaction rather than relying exclusively on numerical restrictions on technology use.
Keywords	digital boundary control; family relationship quality; work–family conflict; workplace telepressure; ICT availability; after-hours communication; work–family boundaries; smartphone use; segmentation preference; digital well-being
Field	Engineering
Published In	Volume 4, Issue 1, January-February 2023
Published On	2023-02-19

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American Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Innovation and Research

A Widely Indexed Open Access Peer Reviewed Multidisciplinary Bi-monthly Scholarly International Journal

Digital Boundary Control and Family Relationship Quality

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