The relationship of social support and personality with work-family conflict among women employees in Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia

Work and family are two important spheres of an adult’s life. Due to high demanding work and several family responsibilities, women experience trouble in juggling work and family obligations which is called work-family conflict (WFC). Hence many women leave the workforce which resulted in low female labor force participation (FLFP) for the country. This study examines the under-researched area of WFC among university women employees in Malaysia. As research on WFC is limited in academic literature of Malaysia and this is one of the few studies to examine social support mechanisms used to mitigate such conflict. The study aims to advance the understanding on the role of social support and personality with both directions of the conflict, work-to-family conflict (W-to-FC) and family-to-work conflict (F-to-WC). The study designed as correlational and survey method was used to collect data from women working at a Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM). The result showed that women experience a moderate level of WFC however work is more demanding than family. Contradictory to a large body of work- family literature, work-family specific supervisor support did not significantly relate to either directions of WFC. Although, family support is significantly and negatively related to W-to-FC and F-to-WC. Showed a cross domain effect of family work interaction. The personality is also very important in managing stressful situations. The core self-evaluations (positive self-concept) was significantly and negatively related to both W-to-FC and F-to-WC. From study findings, the institutes of higher education would be able to incorporate social support mechanism with personality training to mitigate the conflict for working women which can retain them in the workforce to raise FLFP for Malaysia.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

mphil

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

masters

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia

Year dc:date.issued

2019

Author dc:creator

• Noor, Tahmina

• HM1001-1281 Social psychology

Language dc:language

en