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The Downside of Coping: Work-family conflict, employee burnout and the moderating effects of coping strategies
Jarrod M Haar
Department of Strategy and Human Resource Management, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
Abstract
This study explored the relationship between work-family conflict and employee burnout, with a sample of 203 New Zealand government workers. Two types of conflict (work-family and family-work) were significant predictors of employee burnout. This supports the bi-directional nature of work-family conflict.
In addition, the moderating effects of employee coping strategies were explored. Positive thinking coping had no significant effect on either work-family or family-work conflict and burnout. Direct action coping intensified the negative relationships for both work-family and family-work conflict, with employees coping through working harder suffering intensified burnout effects.
In addition, resignation coping also intensified the family-work conflict and employee burnout relationship. The implications for employers and employees are discussed.
Keywords
emotions, coping strategies, work-family conflict, employee burnout
Article Text
The changing nature and composition of the workplace, with participation of working mothers, dual-career couples and single parents (Milliken, Martins & Morgan 1998), has made for a more productive workforce, but a workforce that is also experiencing greater work-family conflict (Siegel, Post, Brockner, Fishman & Garden 2005).
Significantly, these changes have taken place globally, from the United States and United Kingdom, to Pacific Rim countries like Australia and New Zealand (Moore 1997). This had lead to a growth in work-family conflict studies set in Australasian (eg Elloy & Smith 2004; O'Driscoll, Brough & Kalliath 2004).
These changes have made it more difficult for employees to manage their work-family commitments and this had lead to increased levels of work-family conflict. Indeed, Siegel et al (2005) stated that 'work-life conflict has been growing for the past 20 years and is probably at an all-time high' (p.13). The stressor-stress literature has supported the link between work-family conflict and employee burnout (Lingard & Francis 2006; Best, Stapleton & Downey 2005; Posig & Kickul 2004; Bacharach, Bamberger & Conley 1991).
The focus of this paper is to explore work-family and family-work conflict as antecedents of employee burnout in a New Zealand context and explore the moderating effects of employee coping strategies.
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