Telecommuting and Work-Family Conflict: The Moderating Role of Work-Family Integration

Abstract

Telecommuting, an increasingly popular work mode, blurs the boundary between employees’ work and family life. Existing literature suggests that telecommuting enables employees to better manage work and family demands and thus reduces work-family conflict. However, meta-analyses have reported null or small effects of telecommuting on work-family conflict (Allen, Johnson, Kiburz, & Shockley, 2013; Gajendran & Harrison, 2007), suggesting the existence of important moderators. In this study, we argue that telecommuters’ work-family integration (WFI) plays an important role in moderating the relationship between telecommuting and work- family conflict. Drawing upon role conflict theory, we propose that telecommuting increases work stress and family stress, and in turn work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict, among telecommuters who have a high level of WFI. In contrast, telecommuting decreases work stress and family stress, and in turn work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict, among tele...