Personality as a determinant of work-family conflict

Abstract

Work – Family conflict (W-F Conflict) as a bi-directional construct has been well researched in the past few decades.  Predominant W-F Conflict models involving work and family role characteristics, culture, values, facilitation and integration have been developed and tested.   However, models that capture the relationship between the individual characteristics as captured by the personality dimensions are very sparse.  Moreover, research on W-F Conflict in the Indian settings is very rare, though India has gained significant importance in the global arena.  This study hypothesizes that the personality dimensions captured on the Big 5-Dimensional scale predict the bi-directional nature of W-F Conflict.  We used structural equation modeling (SEM) to predict W-F Conflict by the personality dimension.  Results suggest that the personality dimensions such as extraversion, conscientiousness, openness to experience, and agreeableness predict W-F Conflict.  Neuroticism does not appear to support our hypothesis which is contrary to predictions by extant literature.