Work Life Conflict: The Spillover Effect

Transcription

1 Work Life Conflict: The Spillover Effect Dr. Ankita Nanda Asstt. Prof MIET, Jammu, India Abstract The fast pace economical development in 20th century, across the globe has created new endeavors for the business organizations. Globalization has changed the world into a global village. It has made harder for the organizations to gain and sustain their competitive advantage, by cost reduction, increasing profit margins and improving upon operations. The changing world scenario including downsizing, mergers/ acquisitions has also evoked the changes in the organizational culture. The employees are finding difficulty in striking a balance between their job and family life due to long hours of work, high targets on job and increased use of sophisticated technology. This situation has resulted in the problem faced by most of us i.e Work Life Conflict (WLC). The present study has tried to examine the relationship between work life conflict and employee performance and also the impact of gender, marital status and age group on the work-life conflict. The data has been collected from 130 employees working in the various private banks of Jammu and Kashmir. The data has been statistically analyzed using Correlation Analysis, Regression Analysis, Independent t test and one way ANOVA. The results of the analysis indicate that there is a weak correlation between work life conflict and employee performance. Also, there is a significant impact of marital status and age group on work life conflict, however, gender seems to be insignificant. Keywords Work life Conflict, Employee performance, Gender, Marital status, Age group. I. Introduction Conflict is a reality of life in today s competitive workplace. Mujtaba and McCartney (2010) claim that conflict in the workplace can be functional (forces creativity or positive output) or dysfunctional (negative and stressful). An optimum level of conflict, or functional conflict, can be healthy in the organization as it encourages everyone to search for better ways to do their jobs and it eliminates groupthink. Dysfunctional conflicts can cause much undue stress and headache for employees in the organization (Mujtaba, 2008). Since many families now have both spouses working, having a balance between their personal and professional lives becomes very important.. Stress, caused by bearing load of many responsibilities can result in poorness of performance in any one (or more) of them, because the individual pays greater attention to those that interest him or her. This conflict of interest is commonly observed in full-time employees of any organization that maintain a family; nuclear or extended. Thus, Work-Family Conflict (WFC) causes an imbalance between work and family life, such that work affects family life or family life interferes with affecting outcomes such as organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and turnover (Akintayo, 2010). Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) have defined WFC as a form of inter-role conflict in which the role pressures from the work and family domains are mutually incompatible in some respect. Traditionally, researchers (Duxbury, Higgins & Mills, 1992; Frone, Russell, & Cooper 1997; Gutek, Searle, & Klepa, 1991) have measured Work Family Conflict unidirectionally but now investigations try to look at how families can interfere with work. Thus, Frone, Russell, & Cooper (1992), and Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) suggest that in order to get accurate measure of Work Family Conflict researchers must consider both directions. According to these researchers, there are three forms of Work Family Conflict, i.e., time-based conflict, strain-based conflict, and behavior-based conflict. Time-based conflict may occur when time devoted to performing one role makes it difficult to participate in another. Strain-based conflict suggests that strain experienced in engaging in one role intrudes and interferes with participating in another role, and behavior-based conflict occurs when specific behaviors required in one role are incompatible with behavioral expectation in another role. Subsequently, Gutek et al. (1991) proposed that these forms should be taken up in both directions such that Work Interference with Family (WIF) and Family Interference with Work (FIW) could be time-based, strain-based or behaviour-based. The ability to successfully balance the role expectations of work and home life is an ongoing matter affecting working individuals. Factors in both the workplace and at home can impede one s ability to effectively balance the role expectations of work and home, creating conflict between these two domains. Work-life conflict can have adverse affects on both families and workplaces, impacting the wellbeing of society as a whole. Studies (Beauregard & Henry, 2009;Giga and Hoel, 2003) have revealed that work life conflicts between employees and management has an adverse effect on the workers and their organizational performance. If work-life conflicts decrease then it can help to increase the overall productivity and performance of the organization (Naithani, 2010). In addition, work-life conflicts have significant negative impact on the workers health, psychological and physical needs, and job productivity (Felstead, Jewson, Phizacklea and Walters 2002). The productivity/ performance of the organization is related with the individual s satisfaction and satisfaction come when excessive work-life conflicts do not exist (Sikander, Mujtaba and Afza, 2012). II. Review of Literature A. Work Life Conflicts In today s growing world, the issue relating to work life and its impact on job performance has been considered as a very important topic to deal with (Aryee, 1992; Frone, 2000; Frone, Thomas &Ganster, 1995). Every individual is faced with a number of problems which he has to accept and solve. Work conflict is a form of inter-related conflict in expectation between both work and family life roles (Higgins, Duxbury and Lyons, 2007). It is obvious that every organization wants to enhance the capability/productivity of output, consequently high level performance from each employee is very important for an organization. On the contrary, studies suggest that work-life conflicts create stress on the employee and cause low performance for the organization. It is important for an organization to gain an optimal level of performance from 56

2 International Journal of Research in Management & an employee but work-life conflicts put limitations on such achievements. There tends to be a reverse relationship between employee performance and work-life conflict. Work-life conflicts of an individual are generally linked with the productivity and performance of the organization (Dorio, Bryant & Allen, 2008).When employees fail to fulfill their family requirements from a job, work-life conflicts begin to exist (Netemeyer, Brashear-Alejandro, & Boles 2004); however, two factors especially help to accelerate work-life conflicts.first, strain-based and second, time-based conflicts. Time-based conflict occurs when an individual dedicates most of the time to work and fails to encounter the family obligations. Strain-based conflict occurs when immense workload effects one mentally or puts pressure corporeally (Quick et al., 2004). B. Work to Family Conflicts Work to family conflict is a type of resistance of role pressure that arises from work place and affects the family sphere and found mutually incompatible. People spend more time on important tasks and less on unimportant tasks that increases work-family conflicts (Frone et.al,1997). Work family conflicts has been extensively studied and found positive influencer towards employees job burnout (Frone et.al,1992;kopelman et.al,1983). C. Family to Work Conflicts Family to work conflict is an inter role conflict where the involvement of individual in the family role make it hard to participate in the work role (Dixon and Bruening, 2005). The increasing dual career responsibilities make it difficult for an individual to maintain a balance between family and work responsibilities like fulfilling family commitments,and meeting the criteria s of work place (Frone et.al,1995 and Kopelman,1983). Family to work conflict has negative impact on job satisfaction, job performance, and leisure satisfaction (Ahmad,1996). D. Demographic characteristics Demographic characteristics are also important to consider when examining factors associated with the spillover effect of work life conflict. As already made apparent, gender stands out as an important and not fully understood component in predicting work life conflict. However,the existing literature reveals an inconsistency in determining whether gender itself is a significant predictor. Some studies have shown that women are more likely to experience worklife conflict than men (Jarvis et al. 2005; Voydanoff 2005). In contrast, a study by Cook and Minnotte (2008) found no significant difference between family to work conflict between men and women. Some authors conclude that males adversely respond to these conflicts as compared to female employees (Kazmi, Amjad, & Khan, 2007); perhaps this is due to the fact that males have been in the workplace much longer than women. Furthermore, males have been brought up with a culture of conflict with their peers during their socialization years as young children, whereas young girls are usually encouraged to get along and work with others as effective team members. Another demographic factor closely associated with work life conflict is the marital status of the employee. Keene and Reynolds (2005) study of married employees revealed that women were more likely than men to report their job performance had been adversely affected by family demands, and that women made more work adjustments due to family demands than men. In addition, employees identified as belonging to the baby boom generation (aged 33-51) were found to experience more negative spillover when compared to adults in other generations (Dilworth and Kingsbury 2005), revealing that age is an important factor to control for as well. Based on the literature following hypotheses were developed. H 1 : Work-life conflicts (WLC) and employees performance are inversely correlated. H 2 : Demographics have a significant impact on Work life conflict. III. Theoretical Framework IV. Research Methodology The study has been conducted on the basis of primary data, which has been collected through a structured questionnaire. The data was collected from 150 employees of various private sector banks in Jammu region and the response rate was percent. The questionnaire was framed using a seven point Scale consisting of statements covering three dimensions viz; Work Life conflict, employee performance and demographics. All the dimensions were measured on a scale of 1to 7, where 1 represents Strongly Disagree and 7 represents Strongly Agree. The Work life Conflict was measured using a Standardized scale given by Carlson, Kacmar, & Williams (2000). Finally, the demographic information was collected at the end of the study. The data so collected was summarized and analysed using SPSS Statistics 19. Correlation and Regression analysis was conducted for the hypotheses testing using employee performance as a dependent variable and work life conflict as predictors in order to see if there exist relationships and in which direction. The impact of demographics was tested using the independent t-test and One way ANOVA. The sample profile of the respondents has been shown in the tables below. Table 1: Gender Profile of Respondents Gender Number of Respondents Percent Male Female Total While collecting the data, an attempt has been made to ensure an equitable representation of gender to understand the impact of gender on the Work family conflict. Therefore, among the 130 respondents, 47.69% were males and 44.61% were females. Table 2: Age wise representation of respondents Age Group Number of Respondents Percentage Above Total All Rights Reserved, IJRMBS

3 Similarly, data from various age groups has been collected to further understand the demographic profile of the respondents. Hence, the table 2 above indicates that most of the respondents were in the age group of followed by age groups. Table 3: Marital Status of Respondents Marital Status Number of Respondents Percent Married Unmarried Total Table 3 above indicates that most of the employees facing work family conflict were married. V. Data Analysis And Findings To test the reliability of the data so collected reliability analysis was conducted using Cronbach Alpha. Cronbach alpha is the major measurement of internal consistency reliability. Cronbach alpha over 0.70 illustrates high satisfactory internal consistency reliability. On the other hand, if the Cronbach alpha is 0.60 or less than 0.60 it suggests unsatisfactory internal consistency reliability (Malhotra, 2007). The Cronbach Alpha for work family conflict was 0.89 and for employee performance was Table 4: Reliability Analysis Construct Number of Items Cronbach Alpha Work Family Conflict Employee Performance The hypotheses H 1 can be further subdivided into two subhypotheses H 1a and H 1b H 1 : Work-life conflicts (WLC) and employees performance are inversely correlated (having negative relations). H 1a: Work to family interference has a negative impact on employee performance. H 1b: Family to work interference has a negative impact on employee performance. For proving hypotheses H 1 correlation and regression analysis was conducted. VI. Correlation Analysis Pearson correlation tests were conducted to see the correlations between the independent variable and dependent variables. In addition to the Pearson correlation test, bivariate analysis and multiple regression analysis were conducted for the hypotheses testing using work family conflict as a dependent variable and work life conflict and employee performance. Table 5 below shows the correlation relationship between the work-life conflicts and employee performance. There is a negative correlation between work-life conflict and employee performance and its value is The P-value is which is less than So there is significant correlation. Table 5: Pearson Correlation between Work Life Conflict and Employee Performance Work Life Conflict Employee Performance Pearson Correlation Sig(2-tailed) N 130 VII. Regression Analysis Further, regression analysis was conducted to study the effect of independent variable on dependent variable. Table 6 A: ANOVA: Work Life Conflict and Employee Performance Model 1 Regression Residual Total Sum of squares Df Mean Square F Sig a Analysis of relationship between work life conflict and employee performance has been analyzed as the first objective of the study. The work life conflict includes both work to family interference and family to work interference. Therefore, a multiple regression analysis was undertaken with employee performance as dependent variable and work to family interference and family to work interference as independent variables. Analysis of the ANOVA table 6a indicates that the p-value has been found to be statistically significant (p=0.000) thus leading to the conclusion that there exists a linear relationship between the dependent and the independent variable. The multiple regression model with the two predictors namely (work to family interference and family to work interference) produced Adjusted R² =12.8(table 6b) which indicates that variation in employee performance to the tune of 13 % is caused due to in work life conflict, however, the relationship is insignificant. Table 6 B: Regression Analysis: Work Life Conflict and Employee Performance Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate Change Statistics R Square Change F Change df1 df2 Sig. F Change a

4 International Journal of Research in Management & Predictors: (Constant), WTFI,FTWI Table 6c: Regression Coefficients: Work Life Conflict and employee performance Model 1 (Constant) WTFI FTWI Standardized Unstandardized Coefficients Coefficients B Std. Error Beta T Sig As can be seen in Table 6c, work to family interference and family to work interference have significant negative regression weights thereby suggesting that all the variables exert a negative influence on work family conflict. Further, it can be concluded from the table 6c that work to family interference (β= , p=0.002) has greater impact on employee performance followed by family to work interference (β= , p=0.085). The Regression equation can therefore be given as: Ep= WTFI FTWI Where Ep= Employee Performance WTFI= Work to family interference FTWI= Family to work interference Therefore, the hypothesis H 1a is accepted whereas H 2b is rejected. H 2: Demographics have a significant impact on Work life conflict. The demographics includes gender, age group and marital status. Therefore, the hypotheses H 2 can be further split into three sub hypotheses: H 2a: Gender has a significant impact on work family conflict. H 2b: Age group has a significant impact on work family conflict. H 3b: Marital Status has a significant impact on work family conflict. To examine the impact of gender on work family conflict independent t- test was applied. The results of the analysis have been indicated in the table below 7a. The analysis reveals the existence of an insignificant relationship between gender and work-life conflict. The significance level for work-life conflicts is which is greater than Employee performance on the basis of gender is which is not significant. It implies that males and females do not show any distinct behavior in terms of work life conflict and employee performance. Therefore, H 2a is rejected. Table 7a: Independent t test for assessing impact of gender Gender N Mean Std Dev Std. Error Mean T Value Significance Level Work Family Conflict Employee Performance Male Female Male Female Further, One way ANOVA was applied to analyse the impact of age groups on work family conflict (table 7b). It was found that the p value (0.002<0.05) which means that there is significant impact of age groups on the work family conflict. Table 7b: One Way ANOVA for Age group Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups Within Groups Post hoc Test Once it was determined from ANOVA table that differences do exist among the means, Tukey s honestly significant difference (Tukey s HSD) test which is a post hoc test was used to determine which means differ. Table 7c below depicts the variance analysis of work family conflict on the basis of age group. All Rights Reserved, IJRMBS

5 Table 7c: Tukey s HSD Homogeneous Subsets for age groups Age N Subset for Alpha Above Table 7c clearly indicates that work family conflict is similar in age groups and and is higher than in and above 45 age groups. However, it is highest in the age group Table 7d shows the relationship between married and single employees. Work-life conflicts and marital status relationship is significant because the value is whereas the relationship between marital status and employee performance is insignificant. Table 7d: Independent t- test for assessing the impact of marital status Std. Er- Marital Status N Mean Std Dev ror Mean T Value Level Married Work Family Conflict Unmarried Employee Married Performance Unmarried Significance VIII. Conclusion And Discussion The purpose of this study has been to analyze the influence of work life conflict on employee performance in the banking sector and to also examine the role of demographics on it. On the basis of the responses gathered, we reach a conclusion that work-life conflicts and employee performance have a negative relationship unlike some previous studies conducted in this field. According to the results of our research, gender had no significant effect on both performance and work-life conflicts. The results are supported by the study conducted by Malik, Saleem and Ahmad (2010) which revealed that there is no significant difference in work life conflict faced by male and female employees. And earlier research studies (Castilla, 2005; Dyne, Jehn, & Cummings, 2002) also concluded that performance of male and female employees was not significantly different. Contrary to this finding, Nkereuwem (1996) noted that men perform well while at work and face less conflict as compared to women. While regarding work life conflict past studies found mixed results. Malik, Saleem and Ahmad (2010) noted no significant difference between male and female employees in balancing their work and life activities. Certain studies found that female employees experience more work life conflict than male employees (Lyness & Kropf, 2005; Biggs & Brough, 2005; Grzywacz et al., 2007). But there are studies available that argued that male employees experience higher WLC than their females (Gambles et al., 2006). The inconsistent findings may be due to the reason that these studies employing different measures of WLC might have been conducted in different cultures and sectors. It is very likely that men working in highly demanding jobs may face more conflict than women. The results of the analysis have also revealed that marital status of the respondents did have an impact on the work-life conflicts. However, the results have revealed that employee performance does not vary on the basis of marital status. Work-life conflict has a weak relationship with the employees performance in banking sector of Jammu and Kashmir. Performance of the banks depends on the purely employees performance because they provide the more services then the products. So if the staffs performance will be high then the employees performance will be also high. Employees performance depends on the many other factors like salary, motivation, organizational environment, career development, job satisfaction and incentives also. Work-life conflict is not the issue in all the joint family systems and mostly population of the Jammu and Kashmir is living according this system. So, employees do not feel burden from the family works so their performances are not affected by their family lives. IX. Future Research The present study has been conducted on the banking sector of Jammu and Kashmir without making distinction of the private and public sector banks. Future research can include a comparative analysis of the work family conflict in the private and public banking sector. Also, the present study was conducted at relatively small scale as the sample size is 150 respondents, future research can be done with increased sample size in different sectors to enhance and enrich the understanding of the relationship of workfamily conflict and employee performance.ss 60

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