Previous Issues
Volume :42 Issue : 2 2014
Add To Cart
Download
The Impact of Work-Family Conflict on Organization Commitment: A Comparative Study between Single and Married Women
Auther : Amer Alsaleh
This research examines the impact of work-family conflict on the employees' commitment to their organization. The study compared work-family conflict in single and married female employees in five governmental ministries in Kuwait. Three hundred female employees were selected from five ministries in Kuwait City (the Ministries of Health, Justice, Education, Social Affairs, and Electricity) using random sampling technique. The participants were split into two groups: the first group was comprised of 201 married females; the second group included 99 single females. The women ranged in age from 21 to 50, with an average age of 42 years. The findings revealed that married females show greater work-family conflict (WFC) than single females, and WFC has a negative impact on the commitment of employees in their different workplaces. Future research could also focus on the nature of the service quality and satisfaction variables for the employees to determine whether these measures adequately increased the level of commitment to the organization.
Key words: Family-Work Conflict, Organization commitments, Married female, Single female
Work-family conflict and family-work conflict are defined as ``forms of friction in which role pressures from work and family domains are mutually incompatible in some respects'' (Cinamon and Rich 2002). Work-family conflict can arise as a result of demands at work, making it more difficult to accomplish tasks associated with one's family.
Tasks related to family can include childcare, caring for an aging parent, household responsibilities, as well as additional responsibilities that may arise as a result of one's role within the family. Work-related tasks encompass not only hours of paid work, but can include overtime work, work-related travel, and work obligations that are fulfilled at home.
Recently, work-family role conflict has become an important issue in the determination of organizational commitment. There has been an increase in competitive pressures on organizations to increase productivity of the work force, leaving less time for the employees to be with their families.
When the employee is more committed to the welfare of the family than to the job, this commitment will take priority, which leads to reducing the resources of time and energy spent in the work domain. Thus, employees who experience a great deal of family role conflict will be less effective and less committed to the organization.
Development of Women Labor Force in Arab and Gulf Countries