Work-family Conflict and Job Satisfaction Relationship: The Roles of Gender and Interpretive Habits

Abstract

This study examined the effects of gender and interpretive habits on the relationship between work-family conflict (WFC) and job satisfaction. The results of the analysis of the data collected from 286 academic personnel suggest that interpretive habits moderate the relationship between WFC and job satisfaction such that the negative effect of WFC and job satisfaction is stronger for employees focusing highly on deficiency, with high necessitating, and low skill recognition, referred to as stress-predisposing interpretive habits. Furthermore, gender was found to have an influence on the role of interpretive habits in the WFC-job satisfaction relationship. Specifically, WFC had a negative association with job satisfaction for stress-predisposed male employees while no relationship was found between WFC and job satisfaction for men with a low focus on deficiency, low necessitating and high skill recognition namely, stress-resilient interpretive habits. Moreover, although WFC had a negative association with job satisfaction for female employees, this relationship was even stronger for stress-resilient females. The implications of the findings and suggestions for future studies are discussed. © 2009 The Author(s). © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.