Does work-to-family guilt mediate the relationship between work-to-family conflict and job satisfaction? Testing the moderating roles of segmentation preference and family collectivism orientation

Abstract

We test whether work-to-family guilt mediates the relationship between work-to-family conflict and job satisfaction, and extend the contingent perspective of source attribution by exploring the moderating roles of segmentation preference and family collectivism orientation. Using a scenario experiment in Study 1 (N = 66), we found evidence supporting the mediating role of work-to-family guilt. In Study 2, we tested a moderated mediation model. Using survey data collected from Chinese bank employees and their spouses (N = 145), we found that the positive relationship between a person's work-to-family conflict rated by his or her spouse and the person's work-to-family guilt was stronger when the person preferred to segment work from family. We also found that the negative relationship between work-to-family guilt and job satisfaction was stronger for people with high levels of family collectivism orientation. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.