Predictors of Work to Life and Life to Work Conflict

In conceptualizing predictors of W → LC and L → WC, Michel et al. (2011) had the following results: Across both realms, demographic variables, including marital sta­tus, parental status, personality, and gender, are significant and meaningful moderators of many WLC relationships.

As a quick summary of W → LC, as work role stressors increase, W → LC also increases; likewise, as w ork role involvement increases, W → LC also increases. Conversely, as social support in the work role increases, W → LC decreases. In the realm of w ork characteris­tics, task variety increases W → LC, but job autonomy and “family friendly organization” decrease W → LC. Stressors on the (family) life side were also found to affect W → LC, indicating that family members who are more socially supportive and provide a more understanding family culture reduce negative crossover effects (Michel et al., 2011).

To summarize L → WC, as role stressors in the (family)life domain increase, L → WC also increases. As social support in the (fam- ily)life domain increases, L → WC decreases. “Family climate” has also been studied as a predictor of L → WC: As it increases, L → WC decreases. Stressors on the work side were also found to increase L → WC. Furthermore, work social support was a predictor of L → WC; “these findings seem logical as organi­zations and coworkers who are supportive, and particularly ‘family supportive,’ probably engender less [L → WC] as they are more understanding and tolerant of an employee’s family life within the work domain” (Michel et al., 2011, p. 706).