Work flexibility-ability and work–family conflict: the joint role of willingness and worry

Abstract

PurposeThis study introduced a focus on work flexibility-worry and intended to test whether work flexibility-worry would weaken the strengthening power of work flexibility-willingness on the relationship between work flexibility-ability and work–family conflict from the perspective of person–situation interaction.Design/methodology/approachParticipants were 924 employees recruited by the snowballing technique. They completed questionnaires about demographics and work flexibility. Multivariate stepwise regression was used to analyze the collected data.FindingsResults showed that work flexibility-ability can reduce work-to-family conflict. However, this effect is most pronounced only among individuals with a high work flexibility-willingness who simultaneously experience low work flexibility-worry.Practical implicationsFor organizations that want to provide work flexibility benefits to employees, they should not only pay attention to employees' personal preference for work flexibility but also create a climate in which all employees are allowed to use the flexibility supply without criticism from coworkers and without impacting organizational evaluations, which can benefit employees' functioning in both their work and family roles.Originality/valueThis study clarified the joint role of willingness and worry in predicting the extent to which work flexibility-ability reduces work–family conflict, which helps organizations to better understand the conditions under which work flexibility can better reduce work–family conflict.

An Investigation into Work-Family Balance and Employee Resilience among Female Bankers

“…They have adopted task-based support systems; flexibility in reporting time and for female employees posting female employees recognize their family plasticity. Indeed, as observed by Li et al (2021) flexibility can reduce work-to-family conflict. Our findings as well recognize the arguments advanced by (Hoobler, Wayne, & Lemmon, 2009), on the consequence of imbalance on the organization and employees.…”

“…This is generally typical of most African countries. Both perceived supervisor support and workplace support relate to work-life balance by mitigating conflict and stress caused by work and life responsibilities thus improving employee well-being (Jang, 2009;Li, Tang, Ma, Zhang, & Zhang, 2021). From the foregoing review, we therefore hypothesize that: H4.…”

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“…Orientations relate to actors, to the customers and to objects such as tools or product features (e.g., Peppard, 2007;Pullig et al, 2006). This dimension has been complemented with mindset, to include recent research areas in terms of judgements of the actors, willingness or self-efficacy (e.g., Knight et al, 2014;Li et al, 2021). Orientations can be understood as the focus of the actors, e.g., towards the customer or the product (Homburg et al, 2008).…”

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