Pursuing personally valued goals in work and family is important for many people, yet research has only partially addressed how individuals can actively manage the work–family interface. We examined the role of action regulation at the work–family interface (AR-WF) as an integrated individual-level approach to attain favorable work–family outcomes through the selection and pursuit of goals at the work–family interface. We investigated the relation of AR-WF to theoretically derived correlates and outcomes in two time-lagged studies with samples from the USA and Germany, based on a newly developed and validated measure to assess AR-WF. Overall, results showed that AR-WF is positively related to dispositional self-regulation, work and family role commitment, work and family goal regulation, and work and family social support. In contrast, AR-WF was largely unrelated to work and family role demands and segmentation or integration boundary enactment. AR-WF further positively related to work and family goal attainment, as well as work–family enrichment beyond related constructs. However, AR-WF was also positively related to increased work-to-family conflict. We discuss how a focus on action regulation can be useful for attaining a better understanding of the active role that people play in managing multiple role demands at the work–family interface.

在工作和家庭中追求个人重视的目标对许多人来说很重要，但是研究仅部分解决了个人如何积极管理工作与家庭的关系。我们研究了工作 - 家庭界面 (AR-WF) 中行动调节的作用，作为通过选择和追求工作 - 家庭界面的目标来实现有利的工作 - 家庭结果的综合个人层面方法。我们基于新开发和验证的评估 AR-WF 的措施，研究了 AR-WF 与来自美国和德国的样本的两项时间滞后研究中理论推导的相关性和结果的关系。总体而言，结果表明 AR-WF 与性格自我调节、工作和家庭角色承诺、工作和家庭目标调节以及工作和家庭社会支持呈正相关。相比之下，AR-WF 在很大程度上与工作和家庭角色需求以及细分或整合边界制定无关。AR-WF 进一步与工作和家庭目标的实现以及相关结构之外的工作 - 家庭丰富度呈正相关。但是，AR-WF也与工作与家庭冲突的增加呈正相关。我们讨论了对行动调节的关注如何有助于更好地理解人们在管理工作-家庭界面的多种角色需求方面所发挥的积极作用。