Work-family conflict and work engagement among working mothers : personality as a moderator

M.Com. (Industrial Psychology)Orientation: An increasing number of women entering the workplace are experiencing inter-role conflict in their home and work domains. As a result, work-family conflict may occur. This may impact level of work engagement women experience. Research purpose: The study aimed to determine the effect of work-family conflict on work engagement amidst working mothers. In addition, the study investigated the moderating effect of the personality traits extraversion and agreeableness on the correlation between work engagement and work-family conflict. Motivation for the study: A narrow body of knowledge exists that explores the implications of work-family conflict in the South African context, particularly among working mothers. Research design, approach and method: The research design was quantitative and cross-sectional. The sample (n=326) encompassed working mothers. The data was collected by using the Work-to-Family Conflict questionnaire (Netemeyer, Boles & McMurrian, 1996), the Basic Traits Inventory (BTI) (Taylor & de Bruin, 2006) and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-9) (Schaufeli, Salanova, González-Romá & Bakker, 2002). Main finding: This study found that work-family conflict predicts work engagement among working mothers. In addition, the personality traits extraversion and agreeableness predict work engagement but do not moderate the relationship between work-family conflict and work engagement within this sample. Practical/managerial implications: The results of this investigation contribute to the narrow amount of research conducted in the South African context with regard to work-family conflict and work engagement, especially among working mothers. In addition, organisations may gain insight into the effects of work-family conflict on work engagement. Organisations should therefore take measures to provide support to employees so as to decrease the level of iv work-family conflict they experience and consequently, increase work engagement. This study also demonstrates the effect of personality on work engagement