Work‐family conflict and individual consequences

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between two forms of work‐family conflict – work‐family conflict and family‐work conflict – and individual consequences for Chinese managers. Design/methodology/approach Participants of this study were 264 managers from Mainland China. The authors tested their hypotheses with structural equation modeling. Findings Work‐family conflict was positively associated with emotional exhaustion. Family‐work conflict was negatively associated with life satisfaction and affective commitment, as well as positively related to turnover intentions. Contrary to the research with samples of workers from Western countries (e.g. the USA), the study found that work‐family conflict was positively associated with affective commitment and did not associate with turnover intentions for Chinese managers. Originality/value Using the perspective of the Chinese prioritizing work for family benefits, the authors are the first to provide a preliminary test of the generalizability of the source attribution and the cross‐domain models to Chinese managers. The paper's findings provide the preliminary evidence that the cross‐domain model works among the Chinese because of its cultural neutrality whereas the source attribution model cannot be used to predict the associations between work‐family conflict and work‐related consequences.