The Role of Occupational Role Salience and Value of Achievement on Work-to-Family Conflict among Dual-Earner Couples in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Work-to-family conflict has emerged as a rising issue for dual-earner families all over the world. Now this pattern is rapidly and inevitably spreading into Sri Lanka as well. In the wake of this, a better understanding of how to reduce work-to-family conflict has become an important conundrum for individuals, families, and organizations. Still the challenge remaining for researchers is to identify the unique antecedents and moderators that influence work-to-family conflict. Based on scarcity, identity, and value theories, we examined the direct and interactive effects of occupational role salience and value of achievement on work-to-family conflict. More specifically the direct effect of occupational role salience on work-to-family conflict was examined. Then the moderator effect of value of achievement in the relationship between occupational role salience and work-to-family conflicts were examined. This study was conducted based on positivistic research paradigm. Survey data was collected from 167 dual-earner couples in Sri Lanka. All the variables in this paper have been measured from the private sector employee perspective. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted to test the hypothesised model. The results showed that over salience in occupational role directly increases work-to-family conflict. Further, it reveals that individual’s higher value of achievement directly impacts in elevating work-to-family conflict. This research will contribute for advancement of the existing knowledge as life role salience and values are still under researched areas in workfamily literature.