Antecedents and consequences of work-family conflicts

The work-family interface has attracted the attention of researchers over the past three decades (Greenhaus, 2008). Changes in the world of work and a growing concern about the balance between personal and professional lives have contributed to increased interest in the topic. Drawing on a sample of 296 workers with higher education, hypotheses were tested based on the model proposed by Anderson, Coffey and Byerly (2002). First, we evaluated the impact organizational policies (schedule flexibility and dependent care benefits) and informal practices (manager support and perceived career consequences) have on the work-to-family conflict (WFC) and family-to-work conflict (FWC). We also tested hypotheses concerning the consequences of these conflicts, specifically job satisfaction, turnover intentions, stress and absenteeism. The results indicated that manager support helps reduce WFC, whereas perceived career consequences tend to promote it. Regarding the consequences of such conflicts, we found significant impacts on job satisfaction, stress and turnover intentions, but not on absenteeism.