The Reciprocal Relations of Pressure, Work/Family Interference, and Role Satisfaction: Evidence from a Longitudinal Study in Taiwan

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21532
• Published date: 01 May 2013
• Date: 01 May 2013
• Author: Luo Lu,Shu‐Fang Kao

THE RECIPROCAL RELATIONS

OF PRESSURE, WORK/FAMILY

INTERFERENCE, AND ROLE

SATISFACTION: EVIDENCE FROM A

LONGITUDINAL STUDY IN TAIWAN

LUO LU AND SHU-FANG KAO

The aim of this longitudinal study was to explore reciprocal relationships

between work/family pressure, work/family interference, and work/fam-

ily satisfaction among Taiwanese employees (N = 310). All study variables

were assessed three times. We found that within the work domain, earlier

work pressure caused later work-to-family confl ict (WFC), while earlier WFC

reduced later job satisfaction. We also found that earlier WFC caused later

work pressure, while earlier job satisfaction reduced later WFC. Similarly,

we found that within the family domain, earlier family pressure caused later

family-to-work confl ict (FWC), while earlier FWC reduced later family satis-

faction. We also found that earlier FWC caused later family pressure. In addi-

tion, family pressure and family satisfaction had reciprocal relationships over

time. Together these longitudinal and reciprocal relations strongly support

our hypothesized feedback loops linking pressure, work and family confl ict,

and role satisfaction, within each of the work and family domains. We made

specifi c suggestions on breaking these vicious cycles to effectively manage

both the work and family roles.

Keywords: work/family interference; work pressure; family pressure; work

satisfaction; family satisfaction

Correspondence to: Luo Lu, Department of Business Administration, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4,

Roosevelt Road, Taipei City 106, Taiwan, Phone +886-2-33669657, Fax: +886-2-23625379, E-mail: luolu@ntu.edu.tw.

Human Resource Management, May–June 2013, Vol. 52, No. 3. Pp. 353–373

© 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com).

DOI:10.1002/hrm.21532

The potential impact that work and

family issues have on employees,

family memb ers, and organizations

has caused a rising interest among

researchers based in the developed

Western countries. For instance, it has been

found that the more time a person spends on

the job, the more interference there is be-

tween work and family (work/family interfer-

ence, or WFI) (Bruck, Allen, & Spector, 2002).

It is also argued that work and family issues

are at least as important to organizational

functioning as family functioning (Barnett,

1998). Much of the research on these issues

354 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, MAY–JUNE 2013

Human Resource Management DOI: 10.1002/hrm

The primary aim of

the present three-

wave panel study is

to provide in-depth

knowledge about

the processes

through which WFI

arises and affects

employees’ role

satisfaction.

has been conducted with an occupational

stress perspective, focusing on antecedents of

WFI such as working hours and work-role

overload, and on effects of WFI on strains and

well-being both at work and at home. A clear

connection between work/family antecedents

and WFI as well as one between WFI and

strains has now been established (e.g., Allen,

Herst, Bruck, & Sutton, 2000; Byron, 2005;

Michel, Kotrba, Mitchelson, Clark, & Baltes,

2011). In other words, WFI has now been

considered as a mediator in the stressor-strain

relation, particularly between work and fam-

ily stressors (e.g., work and family

demands) and impaired well-

being, including dampened role

satisfaction and inflated physical

and psychological symptoms.

However, such a theoretical view

of WFI has largely been based on

studies with cross-sectional de-

signs. Such a research design

makes it impossible to draw strong

inferences about the causes and

consequences of WFI. Even though

we found in a cross-sectional study

that work overload, WFI, and low-

ered job satisfaction were posi-

tively correlated, we could still

consider WFI as a stressor (e.g., WFI

leads to lowered work efficiency

and an accumulation of work de-

mands) or as a strain (e.g., WFI and depressive

symptoms are both direct consequences of

work overload). There have been calls for lon-

gitudinal designs in the work-family studies

(Lambert, 2006; Muse & Lambert, 2010).

The primary aim of the present three-wave

panel study is to provide in-depth knowledge

about the processes through which WFI arises

and affects employees’ role satisfaction. Such

an effort can remedy the methodological lim-

itation caused by the scarcity of longitudinal

data in the existing work and family litera-

ture, which should provide a stronger basis

for causality inferences than cross-sectional

data. We intend to build upon existing cross-

domain research by focusing on mapping out

two sets of reciprocal relations of pressure,

interference, and role satisfaction within each

of the work and family domains.

A secondary aim of our present study

is to examine the extent to which existing

Western findings can be generalized to a

Chinese population. This is due to the fact

that the vast majority of studies concerning

work- and family-related concepts have been

done in the United States and other Western

countries. Thus, a major limitation in this lit-

erature is its decidedly Western focus. In the

developing societies such as Taiwan, work and

family issues are only beginning to gain atten-

tion. Taiwan in recent decades has undergone

fundamental transformations of industrial

structures from labor-intensive to high-tech,

as well as rapid social modernization in both

work and life styles. Consequently, Taiwanese

employees are becoming more exposed than

ever to stressful Western and industrialized

work situations (L. Lu, 1997). Furthermore,

with the rising proportion of females in

the workforce (nearly 50 percent in 2009),

more and more Taiwanese employees are

now caught between the demands of work

and family (Hsu, Chou, & Wu, 2001; L. Lu,

Huang, & Kao, 2005; L. Lu, Kao, Chang, Wu, &

Cooper, 2008), especially as family life is tra-

ditionally highly valued in a Chinese society

(Lee, 1988). Although there have been a few

longitudinal studies conducted in the West

(e.g., Demerouti, Bakker, & Bulters, 2004;

Leiter & Durup, 1996), none have been done

with Chinese employees. Several recent cross-

cultural studies contrasting the Chinese

against their Western counterparts have

already revealed significant differences

in WFI experiences. For instance, L. Lu,

Gilmour, Kao, and Huang (2006) found

that the relationship between workload and

WFI was stronger for British than Taiwanese

employees. Later, researchers also found that

the relationship between WFI and role satisfac-

tion was stronger for British than Taiwanese

employees (L. Lu, Cooper, Kao, Chang, Allen,

Lapierre, . . . Spector, 2010). Findings from a

large international collaboration project cor-

roborate these patterns (Spector et al., 2007).

Thus, the thrust of the present study was to use

a longitudinal design to systematically examine

some presumed antecedents and consequences

of WFI over time within both work and fam-

ily domains, in a sample of cultural Chinese in