Gender role beliefs and fathers’ work-family conflict

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the part that gender roles play in fathers’ work-family experiences. The authors compared two models (gender role as a correlate and as a moderator) and hypothesized that gender role beliefs play an important factor related to fathers’ experiences of work-family conflict. Design/methodology/approach – Participants completed an online survey that consisted of questions related to work and family experiences. The final sample consisted of 264 employed, married fathers. Findings – Results showed a relationship between traditional gender role beliefs and number of hours spent at work and at home. Additionally, number of work hours was related to time-based work-to-family conflict, but not strain-based work-to-family conflict. The results supported the expectation that work hours mediate the relationship between a father's traditional gender role beliefs and time-based work-to-family conflict. Research limitations/implications – Limitations of this study include the use cross-sectional and self-report data. Future research might want to expand the theoretical model to be more inclusive of fathers of more diverse demographic backgrounds, and assess the model with a longitudinal design. Practical implications – A key theoretical implication gleaned from the study is that work-family researchers should include the socially constructed variable of gender roles in their work-family research. Findings provide support for the contention that organizations need to ensure that mothers’ and fathers’ unique needs are being met through family-friendly programs. The authors provide suggestions for specific workplace strategies. Originality/value – This is one of the first studies that focussed on fathers’ experiences of the work-family interface. The results clarify that traditional gender role beliefs give rise to fathers’ gendered behaviors and ultimately work-family conflict.

Being stressed in the family or married with work? A literature review and clustering of work-family conflict

“…It recalls the gender topic (Yavas et al, 2008;Mauno et al, 2012;Cloninger et al, 2015;Akanji et al, 2020;Liu and Fan, 2020) because psychological distress is usually related to women due to role conflict (Posig and Kickul, 2004;Aaltion and Huang, 2007;Edwards, 2008;Battistelli et al, 2013;Buehler and O' Brien, 2011;Ma et al, 2014). Most cultures around the world are used to excluding or inflicting stress upon women more than on men (Noor, 2003;Raskin, 2006;Wang et al, 2010;Ren and Foster, 2011;Beigi et al, 2012;Janasz et al, 2013;Huffman et al, 2014;Hassan et al, 2017;Scott, 2018), thus expecting a woman to be more bound by family roles in the management of the house and children. Women are forced to make a choice between work and family life or between working as an employee, freelancer, or entrepreneur (Winter et al, 2006;Karatepe, 2010;Deng and Gao, 2017) and organising their work-family balance (Beutell, 2010;Zhanh et al, 2012; No Adisa et al, 2017), as well as trying to reach some flexibility (Hill, 2005;Offer and Schneider, 2011;Konig and Cesinger, 2015;Moen, 2017).…”

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“…Menurut Roboth (2015) work family conflict timbul karena ketidakcocokan antara tunturan pekerjaan dan keluarga. Huffman et al, (2014) menjelaskan work family conflict merupakan tekanan yang dialami individu sebagai akibat dari pertentangan antar anggota kelompok yan berbeda yaitu pekerjaan dan keluarga. Kurangnya kemampuan ibu bekerja untuk bersikap adil terhadap peran yang dijalaninya juga akan menimbulkan work family conflict (Akbar, 2017).…”

Does it matter where you live? Examining the impact of gender, gender egalitarianism and city context on the work–family interface

“…(e.g. Huffman et al , 2014), as well as between traditional male gender norms and lower levels of well-being among men (e.g. Kim et al , 2020).…”