The work - family interface

A conflict between one’s professional life and one’s family life may lead to lower well-being both at work and home. Most nurses are women who have traditionally reconciled their professional life with family life. One aim of this study was to examine the relationships between the work-family conflict (WFC), the family-work conflict (FWC), and the perception of job demands (quantitative workload and interpersonal conflicts at work). We intended also to examine the components of work engagement (vigour, dedication, and absorption) and turnover intentions. Another aim was to determine whether the variables that we examined are important for turnover intentions. This study comprised Polish registered nurses. The following instruments were used: Work-Family Conflict and Family-Work Conflict Scales (Netemeyer, Boles, & McMurrian, 1996), the Interpersonal Conflict at Work Scale and Quantitative Workload Index (Spector & Jex, 1998), the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (Schaufeli, Bakker, & Salanova, 2006), and measures of turnover intentions (intention to leave the present workplace and intention to leave the nursing profession). The score on the scale to measure WFC was positively related to perceived workload and to both turnover intentions, while negatively related to vigour. The WFC was experienced significantly more intensively than FWC. The perception of differences in mean scale scores of job demands had a moderate effect on the FWC and WFC, while differences in mean scale scores of vigour had a strong effect on the WFC. WFC, quantitative workload and a low level of dedication were significant predictors of the intention to leave the present workplace, while the level of job demands was a significant predictor of the intention to leave the nursing profession. The results are interpreted and discussed using Hobfoll’s Conservation of Resources theory.