Sources of work-family conflict: A sino-U.S. comparison of the effects of work and family demands

Headnote

Given differences in values about work and family time, we hypothesize that Americans will experience greater family demand, which will have greater impact on work-family conflict, whereas the Chinese will experience greater work demand, which will have the greater impact on work-family conflict. The results of a survey of working men and women in the two countries generally supported the hypotheses; however, work demand did not differ significantly between the two countries and did not have a greater effect than family demand on work-family conflict in China.

Research on work-family conflict has been conducted primarily in Western industrialized nations, most notably the United States, but economic and business globalization has made work-family issues increasingly important in developing countries. And because work and family issues are intricately related to cultural beliefs, values, and norms (Lobel, 1991; Schein, 1984), multinational companies need to be aware of cultural influences on their operations and to develop culturally appropriate strategies to deal with work-family conflict and its effects.

In this study, we sought to help fill a critical void in work-family conflict research by exploring crossnational differences in the sources of such conflict. We surveyed employees of American and Chinese enterprises to compare the extent to which different sources affected work-family conflict.

WORK-FAMILY CONFLICT AND ITS SOURCES

Work-Family Conflict

Greenhaus and Beutell defined work-family conflict as follows: "[It is] a form of inter-role conflict in which the role pressures from the work and family domains are mutually noncompatible in some respect. That is, participation in the work (family) role is made more difficult by virtue of participation in the family (work) role" (1985: 77). This definition delimits the scope of work-family conflict in a number of ways. First, the term "workfamily" refers to roles within the work and family domains rather than to the domains themselves. Second, mere differences in values, social relationships, and requirements between work and family lives do not automatically constitute conflict. Third, the major concern is those role conflicts that cause problems of role participation.

Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) identified three major types of work-family conflicts. The first is time-based. Time spent on role performance in one domain often precludes time spent in the other domain. Time expended on role performance may deplete energy or...