Home as a Workplace: Demographic Profiles and their Implications to Work-Family Conflict
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69569/jip.2024.0495Keywords:
Family-to-work conflict, Telecommuting, Work-family conflict, Work-to-family conflictAbstract
The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly affected businesses, organizations, and educational institutions. Private school employees were compelled to telecommute due to quarantine restrictions, increasing the risk of work-family conflict. This study investigates if demographic variables impact work-to-family and family-to-work conflict levels and explores common challenges telecommuting employees face. The study is under the comparative study design. T-test and frequency distribution were utilized as statistical treatment. The results also indicated significant differences in the levels of family-to-work conflict (p=0.001) between males and females, as well as in work-to-family conflict (p=0.000) and family-to-work conflict (p=0.005) levels between managerial and non-managerial employees. The study also found common challenges employees encounter when working from home, including difficulty maintaining and managing productivity, lack of physical interactions and socialization with co-workers, feelings of loneliness and isolation, and difficulty in getting and staying organized. The research contributes theoretically by examining the concept of work-family conflict, specifically in telecommuting during the COVID-19 pandemic. It builds upon existing theories, such as role theory, to explore how conflicting demands from work and family spheres affect employees working from home. The findings offer valuable insights into human resource management practices. The study suggests that organizations should consider implementing family-friendly HR practices, training and development initiatives, and other programs tailored to address telecommuting challenges and work-family conflict.
Downloads
References
Ahmad, A. (2008). Direct and Indirect Effects of Work-Family Conflict on Job Performance. International Journal of Knowledge Management Studies, 3(2), 176-180. https://tinyurl.com/2b2efr4z
Beauregard, A. (2006). Predicting interference between work and home. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 21(3), 244–264. https://doi.org/10.1108/02683940610659588
Carlson, D. S., Kacmar, K. Michele., & Williams, L. J. (2000). Construction and initial validation of a multidimensional measure of work–family conflict. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 56(2), 249–276. https://doi.org/10.1006/jvbe.1999.1713
Chawla, D., & Sondhi, N. (2011). Assessing work-life balance among indian women professionals. Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, 47(2), 341–352. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23070581
Duxury, L. E., & Higgins, C. A. (2003). Where to work in canada? An examination of regional differences in work life practices. Retrieved from https://tinyurl.com/5ac47vj2
Hayes, A. (2021). How t-tests work. Retrieved from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/t-test.asp
Huang, Y.-H., Hammer, L. B., Neal, M. B., & Perrin, N. A. (2004). The relationship between work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict: A longitudinal study. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 25(1), 79–100. https://doi.org/10.1023/b:jeei.0000016724.76936.a1
Kahn, R. L., Wolfe, D. M., Quinn, R. P., Snoek, J. D., & Rosenthal, R. A. (1964). Organizational stress: Studies in role conflict and ambiguity. New York: Wiley.
Kelly, E. L., Moen, P., Oakes, J. M., Fan, W., Okechukwu, C., Davis, K. D., Hammer, L. B., Kossek, E. E., King, RB., Hanson, G. C., Mierzwa, F., & Casper, L. M. (2014). Changing work and work-family conflict. American Sociological Review, 79(3), 485–516. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122414531435
Kim, E., Shin, Y.-J., & Kim, J. (2019). Conflicts between work and family and displaced aggression with working parents in south korea: An exploratory study. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 50(4), 331–356. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26899750
König, J., Jäger-Biela, D. J., & Glutsch, N. (2020). Adapting to online teaching during COVID-19 school closure: Teacher education and teacher competence effects among early career teachers in germany. European Journal of Teacher Education, 43(4), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2020.1809650
Lyu, X., & Fan, Y. (2022). Research on the relationship of work family conflict, work engagement and job crafting: A gender perspective. Current Psychology, 41(4), 1767–1777. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-00705-4
McElwain, A. K., Korabik, K., & Rosin, H. M. (2005). An examination of gender differences in work-family conflict. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue Canadienne Des Sciences Du Comportement, 37(4), 283–298. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0087263
Mjoli, T., Dywili, M., & Dodd, N. (2013). Demographic determinants of work-family conflict among female factory workers in south africa. Journal of Economics, Business and Management, 1(1), 39–41. https://doi.org/10.7763/joebm.2013.v1.9
Mukanzi, C. M., & Senaji, T. A. (2017). Work–Family conflict and employee commitment: The moderating effect of perceived managerial support. SAGE Open, 7(3), 215824401772579. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244017725794
Netemeyer, R. G., Boles, J. S., & McMurrian, R. (1996). Development and validation of work-family conflict and family-work conflict scales. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81(4), 400–410. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.81.4.400
Nielson, T. R., Carlson, D. S., & Lankau, M. J. (2001). The supportive mentor as a means of reducing work–family conflict. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 59(3), 364–381. https://doi.org/10.1006/jvbe.2001.1806
Nomaguchi, K. M. (2009). Change in work-family conflict among employed parents between 1977 and 1997. Journal of Marriage and Family, 71(1), 15–32. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2008.00577.x
Noor, N. M. (2002). Work-Family conflict, locus of control, and women’s weil-being: Tests of alternative pathways. The Journal of Social Psychology, 142(5), 645–662. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224540209603924
Ng, T. W. H., & Feldman, D. C. (2008). Long work hours: A social identity perspective on meta-analysis data. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 29(7), 853–880. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.536
Oscharoff, A. (2012). Emotional exhaustion, work-family conflict, and marital satisfaction among professional psychologists (Thesis). Loyola University Chicago
Pilar de Luis Carnicer, M., Martínez Sánchez, A., Pérez Pérez, M., & José Vela Jiménez, M. (2004). Work‐family conflict in a southern european country. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 19(5), 466–489. https://doi.org/10.1108/02683940410543579
Pokhrel, S., & Chhetri, R. (2021). A literature review on impact of COVID-19 pandemic on teaching and learning. Higher Education for the Future, 8(1), 234763112098348. https://doi.org/10.1177/2347631120983481
Quick, J., Henley, A., & Quick, J. C. (2004). The balancing act—. Organizational Dynamics, 33(4), 426–438. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2004.09.008
Shockley, K. M., Shen, W., DeNunzio, M. M., Arvan, M. L., & Knudsen, E. A. (2017). Disentangling the relationship between gender and work–family conflict: An integration of theoretical perspectives using meta-analytic methods. Journal of Applied Psychology, 102(12), 1601–1635. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000246
Ugwu, F. O., Amazue, L. O., & Onyedire, N. G. (2017). Work-family life balance in a nigerian banking sector setting. Cogent Psychology, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311908.2017.1290402
Vieira, J. M., Lopez, F. G., & Matos, P. M. (2013). Further validation of Work–Family conflict and Work–Family enrichment scales among Portuguese working parents. Journal of Career Assessment, 22(2), 329–344. https://doi.org/10.1177/1069072713493987
Weer, C., & Greenhaus, J. H. (2014). Family-to-Work conflict. Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research, 2210–2211. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_3330
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Journal of Interdisciplinary Perspectives
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
