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Managing the work-family interface: experience of construction project managers

Michelle Turner (School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia)
Anthony Mariani (School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia)

International Journal of Managing Projects in Business

ISSN: 1753-8378

Article publication date: 4 April 2016

3070

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the work-family experience of projects managers working in the construction industry, and identify how they manage their work-family interface.

Design/methodology/approach

Structured interviews were conducted with nine construction project managers working in the commercial sector, and data were subject to thematic analysis.

Findings

Role conditions were found to impact on participants’ work-family interface, identified as working hours, accountability, and the stress arising from accountability. Participants identified four key strategies used to manage their work-family interface: managing work-based stress, having a supportive partner, prioritising non-work time for family, and trading off activities. Despite having to limit time with family and trade off social and leisure activities, participants did not report negative work-to-family spillover. All participants shared a passion for their work. Findings can be explained using the heavy worker investment model, which proposes that job devotion is linked to psychological well-being, decreases in work-family conflict (WFC), and work satisfaction.

Originality/value

Contrary to previous research, findings suggest that construction project managers did not experience inter-role conflict between their work and family domains. It is recommended that further research explore these findings using the heavy work investment (HWI) framework which considers how internal and external predictors shape workers’ behaviour, and whether HWI typologies moderate the experience of WFC.

Keywords

Citation

Turner, M. and Mariani, A. (2016), "Managing the work-family interface: experience of construction project managers", International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, Vol. 9 No. 2, pp. 243-258. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMPB-07-2015-0057

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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