Abstract
Orientation - Working women are finding it increasingly challenging to establish a balance
between work and family life. This often results in work-family conflict which may affect
their well-being.
Research purpose - The current study utilised the Job Demand-Resources Model to
investigate the effects of work-family conflict on a positive work-related well-being outcome,
namely work engagement. The study also explored the moderating role of personality traits,
including conscientiousness and neuroticism, on the relationship between work-family
conflict and work engagement.
Motivation for the study: There is limited research regarding the impact of work-family
conflict on South African working mothers.
Research design, approach, and method: A quantitative, cross-sectional survey design was
used. The sample (N=267) was comprised of working mothers from several organisations.
Data was gathered using the Work-to-Family Conflict Questionnaire (Netemeyer, Boles &
McMurrian, 1996), the Basic Traits Inventory (BTI) (Taylor & De Bruin, 2005) and the
Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-9) (Schaufeli, Salanova, González-Romá &
Bakker, 2002).
Main finding: The results indicated that work-family conflict negatively predicts work
engagement. Conscientiousness positively predicts work engagement, and neuroticism
negatively predicts work engagement. A significant interaction effect was found for
conscientiousness but not for neuroticism. The findings showed that for participants with
high levels of conscientiousness, work engagement decreases significantly more with an
increase in work-family conflict than for participants with low levels of conscientiousness.
M.Com (Industrial Psychology)