Overworked and Isolated? Predicting the Effect of Work-Family Conflict, Autonomy, and Workload on Organizational Commitment and Turnover of Virtual Workers

The study proposes that work-family conflict, autonomy, and workload influence work exhaustion and job satisfaction. Exhaustion is also thought to influence satisfaction. The model further proposes that work exhaustion and job satisfaction will affect organizational commitment, which, in turn, will influence turnover intention. The study was conducted at a company in the computer and software services industry. Overall, good support for the proposed model was found. Work-family conflict, job autonomy, and workload were found to be associated with work exhaustion and job satisfaction. Exhaustion was negatively related to job satisfaction, as predicted, and job satisfaction was positively related to organizational commitment and negatively related to turnover intention, as predicted in both cases. Organizational commitment was found to be negatively associated with turnover intention. Implications for management are offered.