PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the importance of self‐efficacy in facilitating the joint management of work and family and in predicting the well‐being of employed mothers.Design/methodology/approachVia a self‐report questionnaire, data were obtained from 300 full‐time professional women on measures of: work interfering with family (WIF), family interfering with work (FIW), self‐efficacy, emotional health, organizational commitment, and turnover intentions. Multiple regression analysis was used to examine the relations among these variables and to test for the mediation effects of self‐efficacy.FindingsThree key findings emerged: self‐efficacy was a significant predictor of FIW and WIF, and of all three indices of well‐being; the greater the interference between work and family, the more women felt emotionally exhausted, the less committed they were, and the more likely they were to consider changing jobs or opting out of the market; and self‐efficacy mediated the relationships between FIW and WIF and all three indices of well‐being.Originality/valueFindings confirm the importance of self‐efficacy in the adjustment of employed mothers. They also extend previous works by showing that efficacy beliefs not only impact general areas of well‐being, such as emotional health, but more active components of functioning as well like turnover intentions. Exactly how self‐efficacy leads to effective coping and limits the negative impacts of FIW and WIF on women's well‐being are critical issues that deserve additional attention.
In response to growing concerns with explaining how work and family interfere with each other and with statistical approaches that do not capture the way in which predictors interact, this study tested statistical interactions involving personal and social resources of 410 full‐time employed women and men. The results indicate that self‐efficacy is a strong predictor of family interfering with work (FIW) and work interfering with family (WIF). Gender moderates the relation between supervisor support and WIF moderates the impact of efficacy beliefs and instrumental support at home on FIW. Specifically, while supervisor support is negatively related to WIF in women and men, high levels of support more strongly affected men's perceptions of WIF. In low self‐efficacy men, high levels of support at home improved their perceptions of FIW but these perceptions worsened in women. These findings contrast with earlier research that focus predominantly on the predictive value of structural demands (for example, the number of hours worked per week and family size). This study shows that gender plays a critical yet intricate role as a predictor of the successful management of work and family roles: it is not gender per se but its interaction with personal and social variables that informs us about differences in the experience of employed parents.
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