A cross-cultural test of a model of the work-family interface

Journal of Management 1999, Vol. 25, No. 4, 491–511

A Cross-Cultural Test of a Model of the Work-Family Interface Samuel Aryee Hong Kong Baptist University

Dail Fields George Washington University

Vivienne Luk Hong Kong Baptist University

Recent efforts to more fully understand the mechanisms through which work and family experiences and their cross-over effects influence well-being have stimulated the development of integrative models of the work-family interface. This line of research is represented by the model which Frone, Russell, and Cooper (1992) tested with a sample of U.S. employees. In the current study, we examine the cross-cultural generalizability of this model among married Hong Kong employees. Results of the analyses suggest that many of the relationships among work and family constructs are similar across the two cultures, but that the nature and effects of the cross-over between family and work domains on overall employee well-being may differ. That is, life satisfaction of Hong Kong employees is influenced primarily by work-family conflict, while that of American employees is influenced primarily by family-work conflict. Limitations of the study and implications of the findings for assisting employees integrate their work and family responsibilities as a source of competitive advantage are discussed. © 1999 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.

The increased participation of married women in the labor force in the United States and other industrialized countries has led to a growing realization that the work and family domains are highly interdependent. While the traditional family model includes a homemaker who coordinates work and family demands, adults in dual-earner and single parent households must constantly strive to balance work and family requirements. This balancing act is reflected in the Pleck (1977) notion of the work-family system. Although involvement in multiple roles can have psycho-social benefits such as increased self-esteem, morale, and hap-

Direct all correspondence to: Samuel Aryee, Department of Management, School of Business, Hong Kong Baptist University, 34 Renfrew Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong; Fax: (852) 233-95583; E-mail: ⬍[email protected]⬎. Copyright © 1999 by Elsevier Science Inc. 0149-2063 491

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piness (Thoits, 1983; Verbrugge, 1983), the difficulty in meeting the often incompatible demands of work and family (or multiple roles) may also create work-family conflict (Bedeian, Burke, & Moffett, 1988; Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985; Kopelman, Greenhaus, & Connolly, 1983; Voydanoff, 1987). Gutek, Searle, and Klepa (1991) distinguished between two types of work-family conflict on the basis of how they are caused. Work-family conflict may result from work demands interfering with family demands. For example, working long hours may prevent adequate performance of one’s family responsibilities resulting in workfamily conflict. On the other hand, family demands may interfere with work responsibilities. For example, a child’s illness may prevent attendance at work, resulting in family-work conflict. Because both types of conflict reflect the absence of fit between work and family life, they may function as “a critical intervening pathway through which conditions at work affect the quality of family life and vice versa” (Frone, Russell, & Cooper, 1992, p. 65). In a recent study, Frone et al. (1992) formulated and tested two alternative models of the antecedents and outcomes of work-family conflict, and the interrelationship among work-family and family-work conflict. They found that one of two structural equation models tested had superior fit with data from a sample of over 600 American employees. This model found evidence for a reciprocal relationship between work-family and family-work conflict, and for both direct and indirect effects of family-work conflict on a measure of employee well-being (Frone et al., 1992). Their research also examined some relationships among work and family domains and individual well-being that had not been previously investigated, and provided a better understanding of how work-family and familywork conflict influence life satisfaction. As the problem of managing the interdependent domains of work and family is not limited to the United States (Lewis, Izraeli, & Hootsmans, 1992), the question arises as to how employees from a different culture may perceive the antecedents and outcomes of work-family conflict, and the interrelationship among work-family and family-work conflict. Will people with other cultural perspectives perceive these conflicts differently from the Americans studied by Frone and his associates? Or are the conflicts between family and work demands so similar in modern industrialized economies that the American perspectives are generalizable? These are the research questions that we have addressed in this study. Specifically, we fit a structural equation model containing variables which measure very similar constructs to those used in the Frone et al. (1992) model to data from a sample of Hong Kong Chinese managerial employees. We then compare the path coefficients among the antecedents and outcomes of work-family conflict and the interrelationship among work-family and family-work conflict with those observed by Frone et al. (1992). Hong Kong is a particularly appropriate location for this cross-cultural test because it has a modern, industrialized economy similar to the U.S., yet has a working population composed primarily (98%) of overseas Chinese (Redding, 1990). No previous research has examined the generalizability of Frone et al.’s model to a different cultural context. Thus, this study contributes to the literature JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, VOL. 25, NO. 4, 1999

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on the work-family interface by providing insight into the influence of culture on the mechanism through which experiences in the work-family system influence employee well-being. In addition, the findings of this study may help global firms develop and implement human resource policies that help employees better integrate their work and family responsibilities. Work and family in Hong Kong Hong Kong’s existence as a British colony for over 150 years was terminated by the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984 which transfers sovereignty over Hong Kong to China on July 1, 1997. The declaration provides for “one country, two systems” for fifty years, with Hong Kong being governed as a Special Administrative Region of China. Hong Kong’s market-oriented economic policies and industrious labor force have attracted investment capital and continuing economic growth, resulting in a modern economy with per capita income level on a par with the U.S., Britain and Australia. Hong Kong has a workforce of about 2 million, characterized by employees who work long hours, but who also change jobs frequently, often for relatively small increases in current pay (Kirkbride & Tang, 1989). The high cost of living in Hong Kong has led many married women into the workforce with the consequent rise in dual-earner families (see the Green Paper on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men by the Government Secretariat, 1993). Many working parents rely on the extended family for child care, with grandparents or other relatives living in the household. If financially able, Hong Kong employees will also employ live-in domestic helpers as a strategy for integrating work and family responsibilities. The tendency to demand long work hours and the relative absence of organizational family-responsive policies combine to create conflict between work and family responsibilities in Hong Kong that are not unlike those encountered in the U.S. Previous research has highlighted differences in attitudes, values, and behaviors between Hong Kong Chinese and American employees (Black & Porter, 1991; Ralston, Gustafson, Elass, Cheung, & Terpstra, 1992; Ralston, Gustafson, Cheung, & Terpstra, 1993). That is, despite its status as a British colony and an economic, educational and legal systems that evolved from British traditions, Hong Kong has remained a Chinese society. Therefore, daily life in Hong Kong is influenced by the philosophical traditions of Confucianism. One of these traditions is that the family is considered the fundamental unit of society. As an entity, the family in a Confucian society takes precedence over its individual members. The most important function of family members is the maintenance and preservation of the household. Consequently, modern Hong Kong is a society bridging the cultural worlds of Chinese traditions and the modern Western influences of industrialization (Chan & Lee, 1995). To resolve the inner tension and strain engendered by the coexistence of traditionalism and modernism, Lau (1981) coined the term “utilitarianistic familism,” to describe the family-work interface in Hong Kong. Utilitarianistic familism is the tendency to place family interests above those of the individual JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, VOL. 25, NO. 4, 1999

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and to structure social relationships so that furtherance of one’s familial interests is a primary consideration (Lau, 1981). In the context of the economic realities of Hong Kong, where self-interest and economic survival are ingrained concerns, work may be seen as instrumental in obtaining the economic means to maintain the family. That is, self-interest and economic gains are evaluated more at the level of the family group than at the individual level (Chan & Lee, 1995). In pursuit of its interests, the Hong Kong Chinese family endorses and indeed, requires a strong commitment to the work role. To the vast majority of Hong Kong Chinese, therefore, commitment to the work role is a means-to-an-end, and the end is the family’s financial security (Redding, Norman, & Schlander, 1994). Schein (1984) observed that such blurring of the work and family role is less likely to exist in the United States and perhaps other European countries where the work ethic has been challenged, where self-development and family development are posed as counter to the demands of work. That is, cultures may differ in the extent to which career (work) is viewed as separate from family life and work commitments take precedence over family demands. We anticipate that the difference in perspectives between Hong Kong Chinese and U.S. employees will result in differences in the relationships among the components of the work-family interface represented in the models evaluated by Frone et al. (1992). Before discussing specific possible differences, we first describe the models and their components. A Model of the Work-Family Interface The top half of Figure 1 presents the structural equation model of the work-family interface which Frone et al. (1992) found best reproduced data from their sample of U.S. employees. This is referred to as “Model B” in the study by Frone et al. (1992) and it includes both direct and indirect paths from work-family and family-work conflict to depression, a measure of employee well-being. (An alternative “Model A” which did not include direct paths from work-family and family-work conflict to employee well-being was also tested in their study, but did not fit the data as well as Model B). The Frone et al. (1992) model posits that: (1) work-family and family-work conflict are reciprocally related; (2) job and family stressors (conflict) and involvement are predictors of both work-family and family-work conflict; (3) work-family conflict influences family distress and family-work conflict influences job distress (cross-over effects between work and family domains); (4) job and family stressors (conflict) and involvement are predictors of their corresponding domain distress (satisfaction); (5) a non-causal co-variation is predicted between job and family satisfaction; (6) job and family distress (satisfaction) are predictors of depression and lastly, (7) work-family conflict and family-work conflict each are both direct and indirect predictors of employee depression (life satisfaction). The lower half of Figure 1 presents the model which we evaluated using data from Hong Kong Chinese employees. This model is identical in structure to that evaluated by Frone et al. (1992). In general, we used slightly different measures to operationalize each of the constructs of the model. For example, we measured job and family satisfaction, rather than distress, in each of these domains, as well JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, VOL. 25, NO. 4, 1999

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Figure 1. Structural Equation Models of the Work-Family Interface Analyzed by Frone, Russell, and Cooper (1992) Using American Data and by this Study Using Hong Kong Data. Note: “d” denotes covariation between the constructs. JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, VOL. 25, NO. 4, 1999

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as life satisfaction rather than depression. We used different measures because the data used in this study were collected as part of a project containing additional career and work-related variables, which required that multi-item scales be selected that kept the questionnaire to an acceptable length. Given that there are a number of differences in variables between the model tested in this study and Frone et al.’s model, it is clear that ours is not strictly a replicative test of the generalizability of Frone et al.’s model. We, however, feel justified in comparing our model to that examined by Frone et al. for two reasons. First, both models are conceptually based on the view of work-family conflict as a critical intervening pathway through which conditions at work affect the quality of family life and vice versa (Frone et al., 1992). Second, other studies have provided evidence suggesting that it is reasonable to expect that the relationships among the constructs as we measured them would be the same as the relationships among the constructs measured by Frone et al. (1992). For example, although the measures of job and family stressors used by Frone et al. (1992) may be more encompassing than job and family conflict, other studies have considered role conflict, defined as experiencing incompatible pressures within a role, as a form of role stressor (Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek, & Rosenthal, 1964; Parasuraman, Greenhaus, & Granrose, 1992). In addition, Higgins, Duxbury, and Irving (1992) found work conflict to be related to work-family conflict. Consistent with Frone et al.’s finding, we expect that besides domain conflict, psychological involvement in each role is related to work-family and family-work conflict. Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) also suggested that high levels of role involvement will precipitate work-family conflict because it will be associated with a tendency to devote considerable time and effort to a role, making it physically impossible, or at least difficult, to respond to the demands of other roles. Frone et al. (1992) measured affect in each of the work and family domains in terms of job or family distress. In this study, we examined each in terms of satisfaction, which is conceptually opposite (Bedeian et al., 1988; Parasuraman et al., 1992). However, as Frone et al. (1992) note, individuals who experienced high levels of family-work conflict were more likely to be overwhelmed by the struggle to adequately perform work-related responsibilities. Because the inability to adequately perform the work role (as a result of experienced family-work conflict) will affect the receipt of work-related rewards like promotions and salary, we expect that family-work conflict will also be negatively related to job satisfaction. In addition, previous research has also shown job stressors including work conflict to be related to job satisfaction (Burke, 1986; Higgins et al., 1992; Kopelman et al., 1983). Pleck (1979) theorized that work conflict will be negatively related to job satisfaction because they have common antecedents, such as inflexible job schedules and frequent overtimes. The effect of family conflict on family satisfaction has not been extensively researched. There is, however, empirical evidence that as a form of family stressor, family conflict is negatively related to family satisfaction (Higgins et al., 1992; Kopelman et al., 1983; Parasuraman et al., 1992). We also expect role involvement to be related to domain-specific JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, VOL. 25, NO. 4, 1999

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satisfaction and there to be a non-causal (co-variation) relationship between job and family satisfaction. Frone et al. (1992) related job and family distress to depression, as a measure of overall well-being. We measure well-being in terms of life satisfaction, a conceptual opposite of depression. Life satisfaction has been defined as the degree to which individuals judge the quality of their lives favorably and, therefore, synonymous with subjective well-being (Diener, 1984). Some studies have suggested an additive model where an individual’s life satisfaction is a function of the sum of components, such as family satisfaction and job satisfaction (Bedeian et al., 1988; Higgins et al., 1992; Kopelman et al., 1983; Rice, Frone, & McFarlin, 1992). In general, work and family constitute the backbone of human existence (Howard, 1992) and, therefore, positive satisfaction levels in these domains should, regardless of cultural differences, contribute to an individual’s life satisfaction. Anticipated Differences Between Hong Kong Chinese and American Employees While Hong Kong and U.S. cultures differ in several aspects (Hofstede, 1980), the difference most relevant when considering employee perceptions of the work-family interface is the role of family. In Chinese society, work may be viewed as a means of enhancing the family’s well-being. Thus, work is a way of fulfilling family responsibilities. On the other hand, U.S. employees may work for a variety of reasons besides meeting family responsibilities. Some of these reasons for work may be independent of family well-being. As a result, U.S. employees are more likely to perceive family responsibilities as interfering with work demands than are Hong Kong Chinese employees. We anticipate that this difference will be reflected in the relationships of family-work and work-family conflict with life satisfaction and in the reciprocal influences of these cross-over effects on each other. Frone et al. (1992) found that family-work conflict had both a direct relationship with employee well-being (depression) and an indirect relationship through job distress. Among U.S. employees, work-family conflict was not significantly related to life satisfaction directly or indirectly. This suggests that American employees may perceive the interference of family responsibilities with work requirements to be more salient an influence on job and life satisfaction than the interference of work requirements with family responsibilities. Perhaps work success is perceived as independent of family responsibilities. On the other hand, Hong Kong Chinese employees may perceive work success as important primarily because it is instrumental in the family’s economic well-being. The centrality of the family in Chinese societies suggest that, family life will constitute a major source of life satisfaction and activities that interfere with this facet of their lives will result in diminished levels of life satisfaction. This may be more so because the instrumentality of work suggests that Hong Kong employees will perceive the intrusion of work responsibilities on family life as being more difficult to resolve than the intrusion of family responsibilities on the work role. Thus, we expect that compared to U.S. employees, work-family JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, VOL. 25, NO. 4, 1999

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conflict will have larger combined direct and indirect effects on employee life satisfaction than family-work conflict. Frone et al. (1992) also found that work-family and family-work conflict were reciprocally related. As suggested by Frone et al. (1992), a bi-directional relationship between the two types of work-family conflict is predicated on the assumption that, if an individual’s work-related responsibilities should interfere with his/her performance of family related responsibilities, the unfulfilled family responsibilities may “bounce back” and add to anxiety about his/her work-related performance. Similarly, if an individual’s family-related responsibilities should interfere with his/her performance of work-related responsibilities, the unfulfilled work responsibilities may interfere with his/her family-related performance. Among U.S. employees, Frone et al. (1992) found that the path coefficients from family-work to work-family conflict were of approximately equal size. Familywork and work-family conflict also had a negatively signed co-variance, suggesting that higher levels of one construct are accompanied by lower levels of the other. This may reflect a cognitive limit within an individual for total concerns about work-family interface issues. Because the reciprocal relationship of the two constructs and their negative covariance may be based in underlying psychological processes that should be similar for both U.S. and Hong Kong employees, we anticipate that each area of cross-over conflict will also have positive reciprocal influence on the levels of the other, and that the constructs will share negative covariance in our sample as well. However, we expect that work-family conflict will have more effect on familywork conflict among Hong Kong employees. Again, this difference is based on the premise that Hong Kong employees are more likely to perceive work as meeting a family responsibility. As work may be undertaken primarily to ensure the family’s economic well-being, more time devoted to work by Hong Kong Chinese employees may not only conflict with family activities but also add to perceptions of inadequacy in meeting economic responsibilities to the family. Following Frone and associates, these anxieties about the performance of family roles may “bounce back” and further increase the time devoted to work. This will increase perceived work-family conflict, which in turn will be reflected by a larger path coefficient leading from work-family to family-work conflict than from family-work to work-family conflict. We have no further evidence to suggest that other relationships among the work-family interface constructs will be different between Hong Kong and U.S. employees. In sum, this study sought to examine the influence of culture on the mechanisms through which experiences in the work-family system influence employee well-being by testing a slightly modified version of the Frone et al. (1992) model of the work-family interface among a sample of Hong Kong Chinese employees. We anticipate similarities between our findings and those reported by Frone et al. (1992) regarding the within-domain psychological processes and the effect of affective reactions in the work and family domains on life satisfaction. However, because of the preoccupation of the Hong Kong Chinese with the family’s economic well-being (utilitarianistic familism), we anticipate differences in the cross-over effects of work-family conflict. For example, we expect work-family JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, VOL. 25, NO. 4, 1999

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conflict to be more strongly related to life satisfaction compared with the Frone et al. (1992) finding of family-work conflict being more strongly related to life satisfaction. Method Sample and Procedures Respondents who provided the data used in this study were drawn from 10 organizations located in Hong Kong and operating in such diverse industries as manufacturing, transport, entertainment and leisure, finance, insurance and banking, import and export, food and beverage, and public administration. The human resource managers in the participating organizations and survey respondents were informed that the overall study sought to examine married managerial employee’s perceptions of career, work and family domains, and how they felt about several dimensions of their lives overall. The organizations were asked to appoint a survey coordinator to compile a list of married managerial employees. Of the ten participating organizations, four declined to provide such a list for reasons of confidentiality. Instead, they requested the researchers to send a number of questionnaires which the survey coordinators randomly distributed to married managerial employees in their organizations using the internal mail. The other six organizations provided a list and questionnaires were mailed by the researchers directly to respondents. Attached to each questionnaire was a letter that explained the objectives of the survey, informed respondents of the voluntary nature of participation and assured them of the anonymity of their responses. A stamped, self-addressed envelope was enclosed for returning completed questionnaires. All of the organizations sought and received assurances that the list would be used solely for the purposes of this research. Of the 800 questionnaires distributed, 320 completed questionnaires were returned for a 40% response rate. Of the 320 respondents, 91 (28.4%) were women and 229 (71.6%) were men. A little over half of the respondents (55.9% or 179) were in the 30 –39 years age bracket, a third (35.3% or 113) were in the 40 – 49 years age bracket and the rest were in either the below 30 years (3.8% or 12) or over 49 years (5% or 16) age brackets. In terms of educational attainment, 114 (35.6%) had a diploma or associate degree, 138 (43.1%) had an undergraduate degree and 68 (21.2%) had a master’s degree. The vast majority of respondents were parents (79%) and the mean age of youngest child was 6 years. Respondents had a mean workforce experience of 16 years and a mean organizational tenure of 10 years. Position in the managerial hierarchy was ascertained by requesting respondents to indicate the number of levels they were away from the chief executive or managing director’s position using a single, open-ended item. The average number of levels from the top of the organization was 3.7 and the median was 4. Thus, our sample was comprised largely of lower middle level managers. Respondents reported an average annual income of 563,000 Hong Kong dollars (U.S. $72,730). JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, VOL. 25, NO. 4, 1999

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Measures The survey instrument was in English, which is a widely used second language for Hong Kong Chinese employees. While competency in English varies in the Hong Kong working population, it is the primary language of instruction in all seven universities in Hong Kong. Since all of the respondents had achieved at least a diploma (the equivalent of a 2-year degree in the U.S.), with two-thirds earning a bachelor’s degree or higher, we believe the respondents could accurately read and respond to the questions in English. Because we do not have available responses to the same items from U.S. employees, we could not evaluate construct equivalency using methods such as those suggested by Riordan and Vandenberg (1994). Given that other studies have suggested that psychometrically sound measures may be transferable across cultures (Sekaran & Martin, 1982), we did assess the internal reliability of the scales used to measure the constructs of the work-family interface model (see Figure 1), and found the reliabilities in the Hong Kong sample generally above the acceptance level of .70 (Cortina, 1993). The measures used for the constructs in the work-family interface model are as follows. Life Satisfaction. A 5-item scale developed by Diener, Emmons, Larsen, and Griffin (1985) was used to measure life satisfaction. Responses ranged from (1) “strongly disagree” to (5) “strongly agree.” Sample items are “In most ways, my life is close to ideal,” and “If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing.” The scale’s alpha reliability in this study is .84. Job Satisfaction. A 6-item scale based on the Brayfield and Rothe (1951) 18-item scale was used to measure job satisfaction. Previous research has provided evidence for the 6-item subscale’s validity and reliability (Agho, Price, & Mueller, 1992; Brooke, Russell, & Price, 1988). Response options ranged from (1) “strongly disagree” to (5) “strongly agree.” Sample items are “Most days, I am enthusiastic about my job” and “I am seldom bored with my job.” The scale’s alpha reliability in this study is .83. Family Satisfaction. The 6-item short version of the Brayfield and Rothe (1951) job satisfaction scale was used to measure family satisfaction by substituting job with family. Response options ranged from (1) “strongly disagree” to (5) “strongly agree.” Sample items are “Most days, I am enthusiastic about my family” and “I feel fairly well satisfied with my family life.” The scale’s alpha reliability in this study is .86. Work-Family Conflict. An 8-item scale developed by Gutek et al. (1991) was used to measure the two types of work-family conflict. Response options ranged from (1) “strongly disagree” to (5) “strongly agree.” Sample items for the 4-item work-family conflict scale are “My family dislikes how often I am preoccupied with work while I am at home” and “After work, I come home too tired to do some of the things I would like to do.” The sample items for the 4-item family-work conflict scale are “My personal or family responsibilities are so great that they affect the time I devote to my work” and “My family life takes up time that I would like to spend at work.” The alpha reliability for the work-family conflict scale is .75 and for the family-work conflict scale is .74. Although the JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, VOL. 25, NO. 4, 1999

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Gutek et al. (1991) scale and the work-family conflict scale used by Frone et al. (1992) were based on the Kopelman et al. (1983) interrole conflict scale, Gutek et al. (1991) also included an item on fatigue. Additionally, their scale has been shown to have acceptable alpha reliability (Judge, Boudreau, & Bretz, 1994). Job Conflict. A 6-item scale based on the work of Higgins and Duxbury (1992) was used to measure job conflict. Response options ranged from (1) “never” to (5) “always.” Sample items are “Feeling that you have to do things on the job that are against your better judgement” and “Feeling you have too much responsibility for the work of others.” The scale’s alpha reliability in this study is .67. Job Involvement. Job involvement was measured with four items drawn from the Lodahl and Kejner (1965) job involvement scale. A shortened form of the scale was used because of concerns about the length of the questionnaire used in the overall project. The four items used are “The major satisfactions in my life come from my work,” “My life goals are mainly work-oriented,” “The most important things that happen to me involve my work,” and “My work is a large part of my life.” These four items seemed to capture the essence of job involvement, which describes the extent of one’s psychological identification with work and may reflect one’s time commitment to work, which has been shown to be related to work-family conflict (Gutek et al., 1991; Parasuraman, Purohit, Godshalk, & Beutell, 1996). Response options ranged from (1) “strongly disagree” to (5) “strongly agree.” Parasuraman et al. (1996) also employed a similarly worded 4-item abbreviated version of the Lodahl and Kejner (1965) scale (alpha ⫽ .78). The alpha reliability of our scale (.81) is slightly higher. Family Conflict. Family conflict was measured with a 7-item scale based on the work of Higgins and Duxbury (1992). Response options ranged from (1) “never” to (5) “always.” Sample items are “How frequently do you and your spouse argue about money?” and “How frequently do you and your spouse argue about your goals as a couple?” The scale’s alpha reliability in this study is .78. Family Involvement. A 4-item scale adapted from the Lodahl and Kejner (1965) job involvement scale was used to measure family involvement substituting job with family. Response options ranged from (1) “strongly disagree” to (5) “strongly agree.” Sample items are “The most important things that happen to me involve my family” and “The major satisfactions in my life come from my family.” The scale’s alpha reliability in this study is .88. Because some of the relationships among the constructs of the work-family interface model might be explained in part by other variables such as an employee’s age, whether an employee’s spouse also works, perceived control over work schedule, and an employee’s assessment of the success of their organization, we evaluated the structural model for the work-family interface controlling for the effects of these variables. Previous studies have suggested that age may influence job and life satisfaction, perceived organizational success may influence job satisfaction, having a working spouse may influence work-family conflict, and an employee’s control over work schedule may influence work-family conflict (Judge, Boudreau, & Bretz, 1994; Parasuraman, Greenhaus, Rabinowitz, Bedeian, JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, VOL. 25, NO. 4, 1999

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& Mossholder, 1989; Thomas & Ganster, 1995). The measures used for the control variables were as follows. Employee Age. A single item asked each respondent to report age at the last birthday using categories of (1) Less than 30 years, (2) 30 –39 years, (3) 40 – 49 years, and (4) 50 years and above. Spouse Employment Status. A single item asked “If you are married, is your spouse currently employed?” with responses of “No” (0) or “Yes” (1). Perceived Control of Work Schedule. Respondents were asked to assess how much control they have over their work hours. Possible responses were (1) none, (2) little, (3) some, and (4) a great deal. Perceived Organizational Success. A single item asked respondents “In your opinion, how successful would you say your organization has been in reaching its strategic goals during the past two years?” (Judge et al., 1994). Responses ranged from (1) “not at all successful” to (5) “very successful.” Data Analysis In analyzing our data, we first examined whether our sample of Hong Kong Chinese employees distinguished among the endogenous constructs (dependent variables) in the model of work-family interface in the same way that American employees do. This involved comparing the fit of a measurement model including the work-family conflict, family-work conflict, job satisfaction, family satisfaction and life satisfaction to the fit of three alternative measurement models. The alternative models tested whether the Hong Kong respondents (i) did not distinguish differences among any of these five constructs (a single construct model), (ii) did not distinguish between work-family conflict and family-work conflict (a four construct model), and (iii) did not distinguish between job, family and life satisfactions (a three construct model). To compare the perceptions of Hong Kong Chinese employees concerning the work-family interface to the perceptions of U.S. employees reported by Frone et al. (1992), we estimated the path coefficients and covariance of the structural equation model shown in the lower half of Figure 1. Following Frone et al. (1992), we estimated these parameters both with and without the control variables to determine the influence of the controls on the path coefficients and covariance. We then compared the standardized parameter estimates for the Hong Kong employees to those obtained for the similar structural equation model analyzed by Frone and associates shown in the upper half of Figure 1. Following the approach used by Frone et al. (1992), we treated the nine multi-item scales as a single item indicator of each construct, and corrected for random measurement error by setting the error variance of each construct equal to the product of its variance and one minus the estimated reliability of each construct. Results The descriptive statistics and alpha reliabilities for the components of the work-family interface model and the control variables are presented in Table 1. The multi-item variables were created by averaging their respective scale items, JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, VOL. 25, NO. 4, 1999

b

a

Job conflict Job involvement Family involvement Family conflict Work-family conflict Family-work conflict Job satisfaction Family satisfaction Life satisfaction Age Spouse employed Control over work hrs. Organizational success

3.03 2.99 3.86 2.29 3.22 2.22 3.45 3.86 3.12 2.42 1.69 3.65 3.52

Mean .50 .73 .71 .53 .73 .62 .64 .61 .66 .65 .46 .83 1.03

SD b

(.67) .03 .16 .28 .44 .18 ⫺.11 ⫺.17 ⫺.22 ⫺.01 ⫺.04 ⫺.25 ⫺.08

1 (.81) ⫺.24 .19 .05 ⫺.06 .38 ⫺.20 .06 .21 ⫺.20 ⫺.02 .14

2

(.88) ⫺.12 .01 .18 ⫺.01 .46 .22 .10 ⫺.04 ⫺.13 .03

3

(.78) .30 .16 ⫺.02 ⫺.38 ⫺.26 .02 ⫺.01 .03 .01

4

(.75) .30 ⫺.03 ⫺.20 ⫺.38 ⫺.09 ⫺.06 ⫺.26 ⫺.01

5

(.74) ⫺.16 ⫺.04 ⫺.10 ⫺.01 ⫺.03 ⫺.14 ⫺.01

6

Correlations larger than .11 are significant at p ⫽ .05; correlations larger than .15 are significant at p ⫽ .01. Reliabilities of scales are shown on the diagonal.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.

Variable

(.83) .02 .32 .18 ⫺.12 .08 .25

7

(.86) .42 ⫺.10 .03 .09 ⫺.02

8

(.84) .05 ⫺.02 .12 .10

9

Table 1. Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlations among the variablesa (N ⫽ 320)

— ⫺.31 ⫺.06 .15

10

— .02 ⫺.15

11

— .01

12 WORK-FAMILY INTERFACE 503

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and were scored such that a high score represents a high perceived experience of the variable. The fit statistics for the alternative measurement models are presented in Table 2. As this table shows, the measurement model consisting of five distinct constructs (work-family conflict, family-work conflict, job satisfaction, family satisfaction, and life satisfaction) fits the data significantly better than any of the alternative measurement models. The parameter estimates of the work-family interface model for Hong Kong employees and the overall fit statistics derived from LISREL 8 are shown in Figure 2. These estimates were obtained without controlling for the influence of the control variables because after estimating the path coefficients linking the control variables to the constructs of the work-family interface model, only the standardized path coefficient linking work-family with family-work conflict changed in value, increasing from .79 to .99 (ns), and the model including the control variables had significantly worse fit to the observed data (␹2 ⫽ 50.39 with controls included vs. ␹2 ⫽ 32.89 without controls; ⌬␹2 ⫽ 17.50, p ⬍ .05, df ⫽ 4). This is similar to the results obtained by Frone et al. (1992). That is, they compared the parameter estimates of the structural model with and without inclusion of similar control variables. [Frone et al. (1992) controlled gender, age, education, job type, tenure, marital status, number of children, and age of youngest child]. Frone et al. (1992) also found that including the control variables had no meaningful effect on the parameter estimates of the work-family interface model, and thus, excluded the control variables from further analyses. We also evaluated the alternative model (Model A) considered by Frone et al. (1992), which does not contain direct paths from either work-family or family-work conflict to life satisfaction. This model also did not fit our Hong Kong data as well as the model shown in Figure 2 (␹2 ⫽ 47.91 for the alternative model compared to ␹2 ⫽ 32.89 for the model in Figure 2; ⌬␹2 ⫽ 15.02, p ⬍ .05, df ⫽ 2). Table 2. Goodness-of-Fit Information for Hypothesized and Alternative Measurement Models (N ⫽ 320) Model Null Model Hypothesized Measurement Model Single Factor Model Combining Work-family and Family-work conflict factors Combining family, job, and life satisfaction factors

df

X2

p

290 1976.67 .000

⌬X2A

p

AGFI NFI NNFI CFI RMRS

—

—

.346 0.00 0.00 0.00

.165

265 259.02 .592 1717.65 ⬍.001 .885 265 1230.86 .000 971.84 ⬍.001 .469

.869 .857 .923 .037 .377 .319 .489 .106

265 411.08 .000 152.06 ⬍.001 .807

.792 .772 .842 .054

265 904.45 .000 645.42 ⬍.001 .543

.542 .499 .566 .088

2

A⌬X from Hypothesized model. AGFI ⫽ LISREL Adjusted Goodness-of-Fit Index; NFI ⫽ Normed Fit Index; NNFI ⫽ Non-normed Fit Index; CFI ⫽ Comparative Fit Index; RMRS ⫽ Root mean squared residual. JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, VOL. 25, NO. 4, 1999

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Figure 2. Standardized Parameter Estimates for the Structural Equation Model of the Work-Family Interface. Note: * p ⬍ .05; ** p ⬍ .01; Fit Statistics for the model: ␹2 ⫽ 32.39, p ⫽ .02, df ⫽ 12; RMSR ⫽ .017; GFI ⫽ .98; NFI ⫽ .95; CFI ⫽ .97.

To facilitate comparison of the parameter estimates obtained for U.S. employees by Frone et al. (1992) with those we obtained using data from Hong Kong employees, we have presented the estimates for both models in Figure 3. Frone et al. (1992) found that their model, shown in the upper half of Figure 3 had a good fit to the observed data and that all of the paths linking constructs in the model had non-zero coefficients except three. The three paths with nonsignificant coefficients were: (1) the path from job involvement to work-family conflict; (2) the path from work-family conflict to family distress; and (3) the path from work-family conflict to depression. As anticipated, the parameter estimates of the work-family interface model using Hong Kong data are similar in many respects to those obtained by Frone et al. (1992) using U.S. data. The areas of agreement in both samples are: ● ● ● ●

Job stressors/conflict and job involvement both have significant relationships with job distress/satisfaction; Job stressors/conflict has a significant relationship with work-family conflict, while job involvement is not related to work-family conflict; Family stressors/conflict is significantly related to family distress/satisfaction; Work-family and family-work conflict have positively signed reciprocal paths, and negatively signed covariance; JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, VOL. 25, NO. 4, 1999

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Figure 3. Comparison of Standardized Parameter Estimates for Structural Equation Models of the Work-Family Interface Analyzed by Frone, Russell, and Cooper (1992) Using American Data and by this Study Using Hong Kong Data. Note: *p ⬍ .05; ** p ⬍ .01.

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507

Job distress/satisfaction and family distress/satisfaction both have significant influence on overall employee well-being (depression/life satisfaction).

There are also some differences between the parameter estimates of the workfamily interface model based on U.S. data compared to those based on Hong Kong data. The first two are consistent with the differences we anticipated based on cultural variation between Hong Kong and U.S. employees: ●

●

Among U.S. employees, family-work conflict has a significant direct influence on overall employee well-being (depression) as well as an indirect influence through job distress. Among Hong Kong employees, family-work conflict does not have a significant total effect on life satisfaction (total ⫽ ⫺.19, t ⫽ 1.56, p ⫽ ns). Instead, in the Hong Kong sample, work-family conflict influences life satisfaction both directly and indirectly through family satisfaction. For Hong Kong employees, the total (direct and indirect) effects of work-family conflict on life satisfaction are significant (total ⫽ ⫺.29, t ⫽ 3.30, p ⬍ .01) and thus, larger than those of family-work conflict on life satisfaction. Among U.S. employees, the coefficients of the reciprocal path between work-family and family-work conflict are about the same size. However, in the Hong Kong sample, the coefficient for the path from work-family to family-work conflict is significantly larger than the coefficient of the path from family-work to work-family conflict (t ⫽ 2.50, p ⬍ .05).

Two additional differences between the U.S. and Hong Kong results were not anticipated: ●

●

An employee’s family involvement significantly influences family-work conflict in the U.S. sample. In the Hong Kong sample, this relationship is not significant. Among U.S. employees, job distress and family distress have a significant positive non-causal covariation. However, among Hong Kong employees, job satisfaction and family satisfaction do not have significant covariation. Discussion

Given that societies differ in the degree of importance attached to work and family, and therefore, the extent to which they are perceived to be compatible, this study examined the extent to which the Frone et al. (1992) findings about the work-family interface in a sample of U.S. employees have cross-cultural generalizability to a sample of Hong Kong Chinese employees. After estimating the parameters of a very similar model, we found many similarities between the samples. We also found a few significant differences the discussion of which constitute the primary focus of this section. JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, VOL. 25, NO. 4, 1999

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Consistent with the Frone et al. (1992) finding and as predicted, our results revealed a positive reciprocal relationship and a negative covariation between work-family and family-work conflict in both samples. This finding provides preliminary evidence for the view that the reciprocal relationship between workfamily and family-work conflict may not be culture-specific. However, consistent with our prediction based on cultural differences, work-family conflict more strongly influences family-work conflict for Hong Kong employees. In addition, among Hong Kong employees, work-family conflict was directly related to life satisfaction and indirectly through family satisfaction. Family-work conflict, on the other hand, was only indirectly related to life satisfaction through job satisfaction. That is, besides directly affecting life satisfaction of Hong Kong workers, it appears that not spending enough time with the family because of work responsibilities reduces satisfaction with family life. This, in turn, further reduces overall employee well-being. Given that, in general, the family constitutes the moral foundation of Confucian societies, the interference of work with family responsibilities may be seen as threatening the family identity of Hong Kong Chinese employees. Similarly, the importance afforded the family in Hong Kong’s culture may limit the extent to which family responsibilities are perceived to interfere with work demands. Based on these findings, the suggestion of Frone et al. (1992) that the influence of work-family conflict on life satisfaction found in other studies (Bedeian et al., 1988; Kopelman et al., 1983) may be spurious because of a failure to control for family-work conflict does not appear to apply cross-culturally. Although not anticipated, the other two differences we found between the model estimates for U.S. and Hong Kong employees are also consistent with the above perspective. That is, our finding that among Hong Kong workers, family satisfaction and job satisfaction are not related may reflect work and family being more cognitively distinct for Hong Kong employees than among U.S. employees. This in turn may be a result of the great importance assigned to family roles in Chinese culture. In addition, the lack of significant relationship between family involvement and family-work conflict in the Hong Kong sample may occur because the centrality of the family in Hong Kong leads to perceptions that investment of time in the family does not interfere with work responsibilities. Besides the reciprocal relationships between work-family and family-work conflict discussed earlier, two of the findings which were similar to Frone et al. (1992) need to be highlighted. First, domain conflict and involvement were related to domain satisfaction. Second, job and family satisfaction were related to life satisfaction. These similarities in findings seem to suggest that within-domain psychological processes and the influence of affective feelings in the work and family domains on well-being are not culture-specific. This study has some limitations which must be acknowledged. The first limitation is the use of cross-sectional methodology. Judge and Watanabe (1993) noted that cross-sectional models assume instantaneous causal effects, although causal effects are rarely perfectly instantaneous. Gollub and Reichardt (1987) suggested that many of the assumptions necessary to make causal inference are better satisfied with longitudinal, rather than with cross-sectional, data. However, JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, VOL. 25, NO. 4, 1999

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Frone et al. (1992) noted a number of problems with the use of a longitudinal method for establishing the causal status of the relationships hypothesized in the model. A second limitation is the use of self-report data and the associated problem of method variance and consistency bias. Duxbury and Higgins (1991) however, noted that alternative methods of data collection, such as interview in an area as sensitive as life satisfaction and the work-family interface in general, are problematic. A third limitation is the focus on a managerial sample which limits the generalizability of the findings of the study. Given the different structural characteristics of the employment context of nonmanagerial employees, it is intuitively plausible that they may respond to their employment context differently which may have implications for their cross-over effects in the family domain. A related limitation is that our decision to examine the work-family interface in terms of married employees discounts other family forms like single parents and adults caring for elderly parents. Future research using an occupationally heterogeneous sample of individuals in diverse family forms in other sociocultural contexts, should be useful in demonstrating the generalizability of the findings of the present study. Our findings may have implications for firms that rely on their employees as a competitive resource. In addition to the negative personal outcomes (e.g., reduced life satisfaction), research has shown that the conflict and stress inherent in the difficulties in integrating work and family responsibilities result in absenteeism, high turnover and loss of productivity (Ganster & Schaubroeck, 1991; Goff, Mount, & Jamison, 1990; Grover & Crooker, 1995). As the recognition of employees as a competitive resource stems from their positive work-related attitudes and behaviors, a growing minority of firms in North America and Europe have introduced family-responsive human resource policies to assist employees integrate their work and family responsibilities. There is empirical evidence that these policies not only meet employee needs, such as improved life satisfaction (Thomas & Ganster, 1995), but also result in reduced absenteeism, turnover intentions and increased organizational commitment (Aryee, Luk, & Stone, 1998; Grover & Crooker, 1995; Kossek & Nichol, 1992). As noted earlier, with the exception of paid maternity leave, integrating work and family responsibilities in Hong Kong is primarily an individual responsibility. Galinsky and Stein (1990) identified work time and timing, supervisory relationships and childcare as among the major problems faced by employed parents. Consequently, firms in Hong Kong that consider employee’s integration of work and family responsibilities as a source of competitive advantage, may have to introduce such family-responsive policies as flexible work schedules, childcare assistance and parental leave to assist employees integrate their work and family responsibilities. For these policies to be effective, firms may also have to train supervisors to be sensitive to the work and family responsibilities of employees. Acknowledgments: The authors are grateful to the two JOM reviewers for their constructive comments on earlier drafts and to Hong Kong Baptist University for funding the research on which this study was based. An earlier version of this JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, VOL. 25, NO. 4, 1999

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