Employee Work-family Conflict Research Articles

How do work-family practices influence employee work-family conflict? Moderations of commitment-based HRM and human capital

PurposeThe paper aims to clarify the relationship between organizational work-family practices and employee work-family conflict in light of the boundary conditions of commitment-based human resource management (HRM) and employee human capital.Design/methodology/approachThe paper opted for a multi-source, multi-level design and surveyed 1,717 individuals (including CEOs, HR managers and employees) from 159 firms in China. The model was tested using hierarchical linear modeling.FindingsThe paper provides empirical insights that the effect of work-family practices on work-family conflict is indispensably dependent on the adoption of commitment-based HRM. In addition, employee human capital further moderated this interaction in that the effect of work-family practices on reducing work-family conflict was most salient with high-education employees who were embedded in a high-commitment HRM system.Research limitations/implicationsTesting the hypotheses in the Chinese context has both its merits and drawbacks. Specific results are pursuant to the Chinese context. Therefore, a cross-cultural comparative study is called upon.Practical implicationsThe paper includes implications for organizations striving to minimize employee work-family conflict.Originality/valueThis paper primarily applies the resource-building perspective to examine the synergistic effects of organizational resources (targeting work-family practices together with general commitment-based HRM) and individual intellectual resources (human capital) on employee work family conflict.

How Work Family Conflict Effect on Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intention

Turnover is the desire to leave organisation is a serious problem, especially in the hospitality industry. Turnover intention is the beginning of real turnover can caused by a number of factors including job satisfaction and work-family conflict. This study aims to analyse the effect of work family conflict on job satisfaction and turnover intention. Using a sample of 235 employees at a four-star hotel, data was collected by distributing questionnaires. This study used Amos SEM to test the hypothesis. The results showed that employees tend to decide to leave the organization when they do not feel job satisfaction. Work-family conflict was found to be a trigger in reducing job satisfaction. In addition, work-family conflict can significantly increase employees' intention to leave the organization. However, organizations must still be able to maintain employee work family conflict to enhancing job satisfaction in reduce the desire to leave the organization.

How does abusive supervision differentiation affect employee work-family conflict? A moderated chain mediation model

Purpose This study aims to explore the mechanism of abusive supervision differentiation on employee work-family conflict, and examine the chain mediating role of work-related rumination and organizational citizenship behavior/deviant workplace behavior, as well as the moderating role of work-family boundary segmentation preference. Design/methodology/approach The authors designed two studies: Study 1 was a scenario experiment with 120 Master of Business Administration students. To further explore this finding, the authors conducted a multiwave survey in Study 2 with 345 employees from various organizations. Findings The results of Study 1 showed that abusive supervision differentiation had a positive effect on work-related rumination, and work-related rumination mediated the relationship between differentiated abusive supervision and organizational citizenship behavior/deviant workplace behavior. The results of Study 2 not only confirmed the conclusions of Study 1 but also revealed that organizational citizenship behavior/deviant workplace behavior significantly affected work-family conflict. Abusive supervision differentiation had a positive effect on work-family conflict through work-related rumination and organizational citizenship behavior/deviant workplace behavior. In addition, work-family boundary segmentation preference negatively moderated the relationship between organizational citizenship behavior and work-family conflict. Originality/value First, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first paper to test the spillover effect of abusive supervision differentiation on the family domain through a chain mediation model. It extends the research on abusive supervision differentiation from the work domain to the family domain. Second, previous research has highlighted role conflict or role insufficiency as significant factors contributing to work-family conflict. However, this study suggests that abusive supervision differentiation from workplace managers can also trigger work-family conflict, providing a new perspective in the study of precursors to work-family conflict.

Are there work-family conflict differences between male and female employees?

<span lang="EN-US">Work and family are the most important parts of human life that cannot be easily separated. Therefore, individuals must have the ability to balance their responsibilities in work and family life to become individuals with positive and loyal behavior at work. In balancing work and family, conflicts and dilemmas often arise in determining the priorities of these two things, giving rise to a situation called work-family conflict. This research aims to (1) describe employee work-family conflict based on gender (men and women), and (2) examine differences in employee work-family conflict based on gender. This research uses quantitative research methods with a comparative descriptive research type. The research sample was 100 employees of Padang State University. The research results show that there are differences in work-family conflict between male and female employees.</span>

Pengaruh Budaya Kerja, Beban Kerja dan Work Family Conflict terhadap Kinerja Karyawan: Studi Pada PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (Persero) Unit Pelaksana Pengatur Beban (UP2B) Sistem Minahasa

This research was conducted at PT. PLN (Persero) Minahasa System Load Regulatory Implementation Unit (UP2B). Based on the data found, the achievement of employee performance at PT. PLN (Persero) UP2B Minahasa system looks not optimal. This study takes a theme entitled, Influence of Work Culture, Workload and Work Family Conflict on Employee Performance (Study at P.T. State Electricity Company (Persero) Load Regulatory Implementing Unit (Up2b) Minahasa System). This study aims to analyze the influence of organizational culture, workload and leadership style on employee performance. The object of this research is all employees of PT. State Electricity Company (Persero) Minahasa Systems Load Regulatory Unit (UP2B). This research was conducted on 98 respondents using a quantitative descriptive approach. The method of data analysis is done by Partial Least Square analysis. The results of the study show that organizational culture has a positive and significant effect on employee performance. Workload has a negative and significant effect on employee performance and Work Family Conflict has a positive and negative effect and is not significant on employee performance.
 Keywords: Work Culture, Workload, Work Family Conflict, Employee Performance, State Electricity Company Minahasa System

An Alpha, Beta and Gamma Approach to Evaluating Occupational Health Organizational Interventions: Learning from the Measurement of Work-Family Conflict Change.

Given the rapid growth of intervention research in the occupational health sciences and related fields (e.g. work-family), we propose that occupational health scientists adopt an “alpha, beta, gamma” change approach when evaluating intervention efficacy. Interventions can affect absolute change in constructs directly (alpha change), changes in the scales used to assess change (beta change) or redefinitions of the construct itself (gamma change). Researchers should consider the extent to which they expect their intervention to affect each type of change and select evaluation approaches accordingly. We illustrate this approach using change data from groups of IT professionals and health care workers participating in the STAR intervention, designed by the Work Family Health Network. STAR was created to effect change in employee work-family conflict via supervisor family-supportive behaviors and schedule control. We hypothesize that it will affect change via all three change approaches—gamma, beta, and alpha. Using assessment techniques from measurement equivalence approaches, we find results consistent with some gamma and beta change in the IT company due to the intervention; our results suggest that not accounting for such change could affect the evaluation of alpha change. We demonstrate that using a tripartite model of change can help researchers more clearly specify intervention change targets and processes. This will enable the assessment of change in a way that has stronger fidelity between the theories used and the outcomes of interest. Our research has implications for how to assess change using a broader change framework, which employs measurement equivalence approaches in order to advance the design and deployment of more effective interventions in occupational settings.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s41542-022-00122-y.

How and When Supervisor Bottom-Line Mentality Increased Employee Work-Family Conflict

Beyond perspectives proposed in past studies, we offer a new account based on a stressor-detachment perspective and propose the negative effect of supervisor bottom-line mentality (BLM) on employees' work-family conflict through psychological detachment. We then contend that employee trait optimism as a boundary condition on this relationship. Using multi-wave survey data, we found empirical evidence on our moderated mediated model. This study highlights the importance of considering the cross-domain effects of supervisor BLM. Our research extends the existing BLM literature and offer implications on the practical interventions that organizations can take to buffer the detrimental effects of supervisor BLM.

Putting Families at the Center: the Role of Family System in Employee Work-Family Conflict and Voice Behavior.

Work-family conflict has become one of the most prominent challenges of modern-day work and a prominent research topic. However, the “family” in the work-family interface has been undertheorized, while research focuses on the workplace factors and individual characteristics in relation to work-family conflict (WFC). Placing the family at the center of theorizing, we adopt the Contextual Model of Family Stress (CMFS) as an overarching framework, which conceptualizes the family as a complex system comprising the family members, the environment in which they are situated, and their interactions with the environment and with one another. Guided by CMFS, we theorized WFC as a disturbance to the family’s structural and psychological contexts, which creates strain on the family well-being. Furthermore, we argued that family strain could produce strain and stress back to the focal workers, which reduces their voice behaviors at work. We further argue that workers’ work-family segmentation preference will shape their experience of WFC and moderate the indirect effect of WFC on employee voice behavior through family well-being. We collected data across two multi-wave, time-lagged surveys in America (M-Turk, N = 330) and in China (organization employees, N = 209). We found that employee-rated family well-being mediates the negative relationship between WFC and voice behavior, and the indirect relationship is stronger as the employees’ preference for segmentation is higher. The results open up a promising avenue for more nuanced inquiry into the family system framework and its role in the work-family interface.

How do authoritarian and benevolent leadership affect employee work–family conflict? An emotional regulation perspective

How do authoritarian and benevolent leadership affect employee work–family conflict? An emotional regulation perspective

The Boss's Long Arm: The Differential Impact of Authoritarian and Benevolent Leadership on Spousal Family Satisfaction.

The extant studies on leadership are replete with employee, coworker, and leader outcomes, however, research is still nascent on leadership’s crossover into employees’ family members’ lives. To examine leadership’s impact on the work–family interface, we draw on conservation of resources theory (COR) and crossover theory and investigate how authoritarian leadership and benevolent leadership affect spousal family satisfaction. We examine the mediating influence of work–family conflict (WFC) and work-family facilitation (WFF), and the moderating impact of spouses’ need for control. Our model was tested with multisource, mutiwave data from 207 Chinese married dyads. The results suggest that, as expected, the positive relationship between benevolent leadership and spousal family satisfaction is fully mediated by WFF, and the negative relationship between authoritarian leadership and spousal family satisfaction is fully mediated by WFC. Findings further suggest that the negative relationship between employee WFC and spousal family satisfaction is stronger for spouses with a higher need for control. Thus, authoritarian leadership, through its negative influence on WFC appears to be universally detrimental for spousal family satisfaction, however, even more so for spouses with a higher need for control. These results underscore the importance of acknowledging leadership’s impact at work reaching far beyond the job incumbent.

Family supportive supervisor behavior and promotive voice: When and why are there gender differences in work–family?

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the differential association of family supportive supervisor behavior on promotive voice under different gender. Further, while employees’ self-concept factors have received considerable attention in the research on the triggering mechanism of employee voice, the authors’ knowledge about how and when family factors affect employee voice remains underdeveloped.Design/methodology/approachAccording to the resource conservation theory and gender role theory, the authors constructed a research model to investigate the influence and boundary of family supportive supervisor behavior on employee promotive voice and tested their research model using a paired data of 332 married employees and their direct supervisors of enterprises in China.FindingsThe findings suggest that family supportive supervisor behavior has a positive effect on employee promotive voice. Family supportive supervisor behavior can strengthen employee promotive voice by improving work-to-family enrichment and reducing work–family conflict, yet no significant mediation effect was found regarding family-to-work enrichment and conflict. Furthermore, family supportive supervisor behavior is more likely to improve female employee work–family enrichment and assuage male employee work–family conflict and thus enhance employee promotive voice.Originality/valueThis study sheds light on the different influential paths of family supportive supervisor behavior on promotive voice of employees of different genders and provides references for enterprises to motivate employees’ promotive voice.

Family Supportive Supervisor Behavior and Promotive Voice

While employees’ self-concept factors have received considerable attention in the research on the triggering mechanism of employee voice, our knowledge about how family factors affect employee voice remains underdeveloped. According to the resource conservation theory and gender role theory, we constructed a research model to investigate the influence and boundary of family supportive supervisor behavior on employee promotive voice, and tested our research model using a paired data of 332 married employees and their direct supervisors of enterprises in China. Findings suggest that: (1) Family supportive supervisor behavior has a positive effect on employee promotive voice. (2) Family supportive supervisor behavior can strengthen employee promotive voice by improving work-to-family enrichment and reducing work-family conflict, yet no significant mediation effect was found regarding family-to-work enrichment and conflict. (3) Furthermore, family supportive supervisor behavior is more likely to improve female employee work-family enrichment and assuage male employee work-family conflict, and thus enhance employee promotive voice. These findings have insightful theoretical as well as practical implications for managing employee voice.

The Paradox of Citizenship Cost: Examining a Longitudinal Indirect Effect of Altruistic Citizenship Behavior on Work-Family Conflict Through Coworker Support.

The objective of this study was to address the paradox of citizenship cost by hypothesizing an indirect rather than a direct effect of altruistic citizenship behavior (ACB) on employee work–family conflict (WFC) through coworker support (CWS). Data were gathered in a three-wave longitudinal survey of employees from private commercial banks (N = 318). A multiple linear autoregressive longitudinal mediation model was analyzed with partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results indicate that rather than directly, ACB affects indirectly employee WFC through CWS. This indirect effect is negative, which reflects that the costs of citizenship behavior are paradoxical. The present study contributes to the ongoing debate on the positive and negative outcomes of employee citizenship behavior by providing empirical evidence on the beneficial rather than harmful effect of performing such behavior. For organizational managers, promoting a culture of CWS by encouraging altruistic behaviors can be a most viable strategy to reduce WFC among their employees. The study discusses its limitations and provides future research directions.

A tale of two countries: How do employees with disabilities respond to disability inclusive HR practices in tourism and hospitality industry?

Though inclusive initiatives generally and disability inclusive practices particularly can contribute to the sustainable development goals in the tourism industry, the tourism research has been scarce about the work and life experiences of employees with disabilities and the impact of disability inclusive initiatives on such experiences. This study aims to unravel how disability inclusive HR practices influence work-family interface outcomes among employees with disabilities. South Korean and Vietnamese tourism and hospitality industries served as the contexts for comparative analysis of our research model. Valid responses were collected from 394 employees with disabilities from Vietnam-based companies and from 368 employees with disabilities from Korea-based companies. The results unveiled that in both samples, disability inclusive leadership mediated the nexuses between disability inclusive HR practices and work-family conflict as well as work-family enrichment among employees with disabilities. Leaders’ work-family conflict attenuated the negative relationship between disability inclusive leadership and employee work-family conflict in both research contexts. Nonetheless, while the interactional effect of disability inclusive leadership and leaders’ work-family enrichment was imposed on work-family enrichment among Vietnamese employees with disabilities, this moderation mechanism was not supported in the Korean sample. Implications for disability management literature and practice are discussed.

Is Gender Still Important in Defining the Work Family Conflict of Married Employees in 21st Century?

Is Gender Still Important in Defining the Work Family Conflict of Married Employees in 21st Century?

Supervisor Role Identity Salience and Employee Work-Family Conflict

Drawing upon role identity theory and perspective-taking research, we investigated the relationship between supervisor family identity salience and employee work-family conflict, with supervisor work identity salience as a moderator and perceived supervisor work-family support as a mediator. Using the leader-follower dyadic data, we confirmed the negative indirect effect of supervisor family identity salience on employee work-family conflict through increased perceived supervisor work-family support. Moreover, supervisor work identity salience strengthens the positive effect of supervisor family identity salience on perceived supervisor work-family support. Perceived supervisor work-family support also mediates the interactive effect of supervisor family identity salience and supervisor work identity salience on employee work-family conflict. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

Employee Political Skill, Supervisor-Subordinate Guanxi, and Work-Family Conflict: The Cross-Level Moderating Role of Family-Friendly Practices.

Many studies have examined the negative effects of work-family conflict on society, organizations, and individuals. Nonetheless, alleviating employee work-family conflict is a topic worthy of further investigation. Few studies examine the antecedent variables of work-family conflict from personal skill and Guanxi perspectives. Studies that test the moderating role of family-friendly practices at the organization level are also rare. Accordingly, we collected data from 404 employees of 51 organizations. The research data are time-lagged and multileveled. The results of hierarchical linear model (HLM) show: (1) Employee political skill negatively affects employee perceived work-family conflict; (2) Employee political skill positively affects supervisor-subordinate Guanxi; (3) Supervisor-subordinate Guanxi partially mediates the relationship between employee political skill and employee work-family conflict (that is, employees can use their political skill to build high-quality supervisor-subordinate Guanxi, further reducing their perceived work-family conflict); (4) Organization family-friendly practices negatively moderate the relationship between supervisor-subordinate Guanxi and work-family conflict (that is, in organizations with high level family-friendly practices, the negative relationship between supervisor-subordinate Guanxi and work-family conflict becomes weak); Furthermore, by coding with Mplus software (Muthen & Muthen, Los Angeles, CA, USA), we also find: (5) Organization family-friendly practices moderate the indirect effect of employee political skill on employee work-family conflict. The results have both theoretical and empirical implications. Further research directions are addressed at the end.

Alleviating employee work-family conflict: role of organizations

PurposeThe study aims at exploring the constructive role that organizations can play in enabling their employees move from work-family conflict (WFC) to a more integrated work–life solution.Design/methodology/approachBeing socially and culturally contextual by nature, a qualitative methodology that involved in-depth interviews with the respondents was chosen for the study. This facilitated the respondents to discuss in detail their WFC experiences and the expectations that they hold from their organizations.FindingsThe findings of the study suggested the importance of effective two-way communication between employees and top management, structural and cultural support from the organization and the importance of redesigning and restructuring jobs in an attempt to reduce work-role overload.Practical implicationsOrganizations can foster initiatives that can lead to a healthier work–life balance of the employees, which can further result in a more creative, committed, satisfied and diverse workforce for them.Social implicationsA better work environment that facilitates smoother balance between work and non-work responsibilities can lead to better physical and psychological health of the employees and reduced instances of discord in work and family domains.Originality/valueMost studies on WFC have focused on the adverse impact of WFC; the present study adopts a solution-oriented approach to finding ways in which resourceful entities such as big organizations can take steps in alleviating WFC experiences of their employees.

Moral leadership and employee work–family conflict: A moderated mediation model

We applied conservation of resources theory to propose a moderated mediation model explaining how and when moral leadership influences employees' work–family conflict (WFC). Specifically, we hypothesized that both job clarity and workplace anxiety would mediate the relationship between moral leadership and employees' WFC, and that trust in supervisor would moderate the indirect effect of moral leadership and WFC through job clarity and workplace anxiety. We collected data from 258 employees of 3 companies in China, and their spouses. The findings indicated that job clarity and workplace anxiety mediated the relationship between moral leadership and employees' WFC, and that trust in supervisor strengthened the indirect effect through job clarity and workplace anxiety. Theoretical and practical implications of our findings are discussed regarding how and when moral leadership style reduces employees' WFC.

Human Resource Practices and Work-Family Conflict: the Role of Family and Work Status

According to role theory, employees experience conflict between their enacted roles in the work versus family domain, often resulting in negative individual and organizational outcomes. Flexible work practices such as flextime, in tandem with other HR practices such as higher pay levels or team-based work, have thus gained popularity for their positive impact on employees’ work-family conflict. Related individual variables such as age, gender or family status have also generated research interest owing to their anticipated effects on work-family conflict. However, extant studies have not tested the simultaneous effects of organizational and individual variables on the relationship between HR practices and employee work-family conflict. Using data from the UK Work-Life Balance Study 2011-12 funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, this study tests the effects of HR practices (compensation, team-based work, and flexible work practices) as well as individual variables (gender, family status and managerial status) on employees’ perceived work-family conflict. Results show that gender, family status and managerial status moderate the relationship between flextime and work-family conflict, shedding new light on the differential impact of flextime on different categories of employees – men versus women; married versus unmarried; and managerial versus non-managerial. Conceptual and practical implications are discussed.