The Duality of Multiple Roles: Examining The Moderating Effects of Role Occurrence Proximity

Abstract Workers hold multiple roles within and across life domains in contemporary work settings. Role theory suggests these roles can either interfere with each other (role strain) or provide mutual benefits (role gain), but these perspectives are typically studied separately. We integrate both by proposing a dual-path model, arguing that holding more roles can simultaneously lead to greater benefits and interferences. Drawing on role integration and temporal literature, we introduce role occurrence proximity —the extent to which roles occur closely in time—as a key moderator that amplifies both strain and gain. Using a two-wave time-lagged survey of 202 participants, we found that the number of roles held is positively related to role gain, especially when roles occur in close temporal proximity. Contrary to expectations, we did not find significant relationships between the number of roles and role strain, regardless of role occurrence proximity. These findings suggest that multiple roles foster gain rather than strain, and that temporal patterns of role engagement shape how workers experience the benefits of their multiple roles. Supplementary analyses further revealed that, among others, role strain emerged specifically when work and nonwork roles overlap in the late morning and late evening, suggesting that it is episodic. All in all, this research extends role theory by highlighting how proximity and temporal patterns of role occurrence shape the consequences of holding multiple roles.