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The present study was undertaken to understand the impact of role overload and social support on Work-family Conflict (WFC) experiences of employees in a collectivist culture. The study is especially relevant, as it explores the WFC phenomenon in a collectivist culture, while most of the prior studies were conducted in the individualist cultures. A quantitative study was undertaken to collect data from about 500 respondents working and manufacturing sector. Perceived supervisor support and perceived co-worker support (workplace sources of social support) significantly predicted WFC as did work role-overload. The results indicated an non-significant impact of perceived organizational support and family role-overload on WFC. The results were in contrast to the results obtained in a number of studies conducted in individualist cultures of the world. The study attempts to explain these differences based on cultural norms and suggests possible strategies for organisations and individuals in collectivist economies to manage their WFC experiences effectively.
Key Words: Family-role overload, Social support at work, Family, Work-family conflict
INTRODUCTION
Work-family Conflict (WFC) has been defined as "a form of inter-role conflict in which role pressures from the work and family domains are mutually incompatible in some respect; that is, participation in work (family) role is made more difficult by virtue of participation in family (work) role" (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985). Past research has established the various ill-effects of work-family conflict for individuals (work, family and life satisfaction, burnout, psychological strain, somatic disorders, depression, to name a few) and for organizations (absenteeism, high employee turnover, work-related performance, low commitment and OCB) (Amstad, Meier, Fasel, Elfering, and Semmer, 2011). Cultural differences shape attitudes and behaviors. Since many of the studies on WFC are situated in the context of individualistic societies, our understanding of WFC experiences of people in collectivist societies requires an urgent and comprehensive examination.
Collectivist nations are characterized by power-distance, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation and moderate score on masculinity (Hofstede, 1980) which consequently impact the work-life experiences of the employees in these countries (Le, Newman, Menzies, Zheng, and Fermelis, 2020). It is with this expanded perspective that contextually appropriate WFC interventions to develop alleviating mechanisms can be crafted by organizations (Anand and Vohra, 2019).
A collectivist nation like India has an average work week that comprises of 53-54 work...