Impact of Absolute and Relative Commute Time on Work–Family Conflict: Work Schedule Control, Child Care Hours, and Life Satisfaction

Abstract

Flexibility is crucial when employees manage their work and family demands and their commute between home and work. The current study examined the direct and moderation effects of variables from multiple domains including work schedule control (work domain), childcare hours (family domain), and life satisfaction (overall life domain). The impact of the geographic context on work–family conflict was tested with two contextual variables that were generated with Geographic Information System (GIS) technology, where ‘absolute’ and ‘relative commute time’ were investigated in relation to work–family conflict. The participants participated in the National Study of Changing Workforce and completed an online survey on many work and family related variables. Results support the fact that commute time has an impact on work–family dynamics, that life satisfaction can influence this relationship, and that it is important to consider neighborhood in future research to better comprehend work–family interface issues. The study also highlights the importance of urbanization, relative and absolute commute time, etc. in impacting work–family conflict. Additionally, the study discusses the impact of COVID-19 on commute and one’s work–family dynamics. Future research directions are put forward to better understand work and family experiences in the post COVID-19 world.

Playing Roles in Work and Family: Effects of Work/Family Conflicts on Job and Life Satisfaction Among Junior High School Teachers

“…Life satisfaction refers to an individual's overall evaluation of his/her life quality (Lambert, 2010;Corrigan et al, 2013;Erdamar and Demirel, 2016), which influenced by life experience, interpersonal relationship, family environment (Erdamar and Demirel, 2016), demographic factor (e.g., gender) (Kates, 2007), and the relationship between work and family (Erdamar and Demirel, 2016). Studies exploring conflict and life satisfaction show that both types of work-family conflict have a significant negative correlation with life satisfaction (Mesmer-Magnus and Viswesvaran, 2005;Naz et al, 2011;Bai et al, 2021). Therefore, we propose that:…”

“…The work attitude, behaviors and mental health of teachers at this crucial stage may have long-term impact on these sensitive students (Lane, 2012;Cuypers, 2017). However, studies have shown that junior high school teachers are facing with higher level of work/family conflict (Tanoi et al, 2012;Hu et al, 2016;Sorensen et al, 2017;Asriani, 2018), which may negatively affect their mental health (Hu et al, 2016;Ahmad and Islam, 2019;Bai et al, 2021) and further influence the quality of what they teach their students (Lane, 2012;Cuypers, 2017;Gu and Wang, 2021).…”

“…In addition, teachers' emotional state is also worth taking into account when we explore the effects of work/family conflicts. Work/family conflicts are a source of stress for individuals to play different roles but fail to meet the requirements of roles at the same time (Bai et al, 2021;Delgado-Bello et al, 2021). Studies have shown that individuals with blurred role boundaries and high role conflict are more likely to experience emotional exhaustion (Liu et al, 2015).…”

Work-Family Conflict, Happiness and Organizational Citizenship Behavior Among Professional Women: A Moderated Mediation Model

“…This sense of occupation also leads to work and family conflict. According to relevant data, female employees generally spend more time on housework than male employees ( Bai et al, 2021 ). Most male employees devote their energies and resources to the work field and are less involved in family affairs ( Klotz et al, 2018 ).…”

Increased Working From Home in Vocational Counseling Psychologists During COVID-19: Associated Change in Productivity and Job Satisfaction

“…There is evidence that commuting times may threaten work-life balance ( Bai et al, 2021 ). As a positive consequence of WFH, commuting days per week decreased between February 2020 and February 2021 in Switzerland ( Galliker et al, 2021a ).…”