Integrating work–family conflict and enrichment: understanding the moderating role of demographic variables

Abstract

Purpose For more than a decade, efforts to integrate the two major perspectives of work–family studies, namely, work–family conflict and work–family enrichment have started advancing not only in western context but also in non-western contexts as well. However, both conflict and enrichment emerging from the family front have often been neglected in previous studies. The purpose of this paper is to test the integration of two major work–family perspectives, that is, work–family conflict and work–family enrichment in an Indian context. Design/methodology/approach The current study involves a multi-sectoral survey of sales employees belonging to manufacturing, information technology, fast-moving consumer goods, pharmaceuticals and financial services using standard scales. The sample consisted of 330 sales employees working in some of the major firms coming under these sectors. Structural equation modelling (SEM) using analysis of a moment structures was used to test the integrated model. In addition, multi-group SEM was used to test the impact of select demographic variables on the integrated model. Findings Results of SEM suggested that for sales employees in Indian organizations, work–family conflict follows a matching domain principle, whereas, work–family enrichment follows both matching and cross-domain principles. Further, it was found that marital status and annual salary emerge as moderators in the integrated model. Research limitations/implications The present study confirmed that similar-domain relationships are stronger than cross-domain relationships, supporting findings from previous research with regard to work–family conflict. In addition, the results contradicted the studies conducted in western countries wherein the same domain effect is observed with respect to both types of enrichment, that is, work to family enrichment (WFE) and family to work enrichment (FWE). The present study confirms a similar and cross-domain relationship in the case of both types of enrichment. It means that both WFE and FWE have a positive impact on both jobs and family satisfaction. Practical implications Organizations so far have been trying ways to reduce stress to reduce work to family conflict. However, there is a need to incorporate policies that facilitate work–family enrichment. Such policies may focus more on support for both married and unmarried employees’ sales employees. Originality/value This study contributes to work–family literature by attempting to integrate both conflict and enrichment perspectives, which has rarely been done in the Indian context.

The impact of the work-family conflict on employee engagement, performance, and turnover intention

“…Organizations must try ways to reduce stress to reduce WFC and to incorporate policies that facilitate work–family enrichment (Jain and Nair, 2020). It is imperative that organizations understand the importance of the balance between work and family, since the conflict between these spheres of life result in several consequences for both the individual and the organization.…”

Review of work–life interface: a systematic literature analysis

“…Identity based theory (Nath and Dwivedi, 2020) Boundary theory (Bhumika, 2020) Conservation of resource theory (S. J. Thakur and Bhatnagar, 2017); (Bansal and Agarwal, 2020); (Jain and Nair, 2020b); (Jain and Nair, 2020a); (Garavan et al, 2021) Broaden and build theory, Engagement theory (Rastogi and Chaudhary, 2018) Role theory (Baral and Sampath, 2019); (Vatharkar and Aggarwal-Gupta, 2020); (Shanmugam and Agarwal, 2019) Social Exchange theory, Source attribution theory, Cross domain theory (Premchandran and Priyadarshi, 2020) Social exchange theory (Rastogi et al, 2019) (Padhi and Pattnaik, 2017) 4.3 Antecedents, mediators, moderators and outcomes with work-life interface in India…”

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

“…While the previous clusters are focused on individual and organisational dimensions, this cluster is related to the family and its interpersonal functioning. In this specific case, the family becomes a resource (Cazan et al , 2019), and not just a problematic element with role expectations, but also a buffering factor for a worker's well-being (Kinnunen et al , 2003; Deng and Gao, 2017; Xu et al , 2018), wherein the family offers support (O’Driscol et al , 2003; Goh et al , 2015; Jamaludin et al , 2018), personal enrichment and detachment (Mauno et al , 2011; Wang, 2017; Jain and Nair, 2020), reaching work-life satisfaction and enrichment (Lim et al , 2012; Lu and Kao, 2013; Dishon-Berkowitz, 2014; Kalliath et al , 2017; Nielsen et al , 2020). The gender theme wherein female entrepreneurs offer a different point of view about entrepreneurship from the perspective of sensitivity and creative thinking is mentioned again (Cloninger et al , 2015).…”