The relationship between work-family conflict, stress, and work attitudes

Work-family conflict is a rapidly developing field of research, considering the changes that have occurred in the structure of the family and of work in recent years. The purpose of this paper is to put forward a wide theoretical framework that encompasses the relationships between organizational justice, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), job stress, and the work-family conflict. The authors suggest an explanatory model that associates those variables.

The explanatory model was empirically examined by means of structural equation modeling. In all, 120 Israeli-Arab employees responded to the research questionnaires.

As hypothesized, organizational justice was found to relate positively to OCB, and stress was found to relate positively to the work-family conflict. However, contrary to the hypotheses, OCB was found to relate negatively to job stress and work-family conflict. Namely, the higher the OCB, the lower the job stress.

Theoretical implications and suggestions for possible future research were advanced.

Organizations that want to avoid the negative implications of the work-family conflict should encourage OCBs, which reduce the workers’ job-related stress and consequently reduce the conflict between the realms of family and work.