Interaction of work-family conflict, LMX, and sex in organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behaviors

Abstract

The current study examined the three-way interaction among work-family conflict, leader-member exchange (LMX), and sex in predicting organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB). Specifically, it was hypothesized that LMX would alleviate detrimental effects of work-family conflict on organizational commitment and OCB in women but not in men. Work-family conflict was measured by family interfering work (FIW). In a sample of 325 workers, the three-way interaction among FIW, LMX, and sex was significant for affective commitment, normative commitment, and OCB toward organization (OCB-O). In particular, LMX alleviated the negative impact of FIW on affective commitment, normative commitment, and OCB-O among women, but not among men. This pattern was not observed on continuance commitment or OCB toward individuals (OCB-I). Implications and future research directions were discussed.