How work-family conflict, enrichment and their interaction influence work-family balance satisfaction among university faculty?

Abstract

The current nature of academic job has blurred the boundaries between faculty’s work and family roles. However, it is still unclear how experience of conflict and enrichment between work-family domains influence the overall satisfaction with balance, an indicator of wellbeing. Online data was collected from 450 public sector faculty members of Pakistan and analyzed using variance based structural equation modelling. Results of direct effects hypothesis revealed that work to family conflict and both directions of enrichment predicted the balance outcome. Interaction analysis revealed that low work to family conflict and high work to family enrichment led to a higher overall perception of balance satisfaction. Multi-group analysis revealed no gender difference in path relationships, but females were less satisfied with balance and experienced greater conflict. Importance-performance analysis revealed that by restructuring faculty job roles for less work to family conflict and greater work to family enrichment can enhance their satisfaction with work family balance. Conflict and enrichment arising from family has little influence on balance satisfaction.