Abstract:

The impact of work and family demands on employees, family members and organizations has generated a lot of interest among social and organizational researchers in recent time, especially in Western countries. The increasing rate of men and women in paid employment in developing countries such as Nigeria, has as well brought to the limelight the challenges faced by employees as a result of these family and work demands that sometimes result in work-family conflict (WFC). This new pattern of employment coupled with declining extended family system in Nigeria has brought a lot of pressure on the new urban employed couples. Married individuals have to cope with demands of paid employment and that of marriage and raising children. Understanding organizational and personal variables that facilitate or reduce these conflicts are therefore important. It is envisaged that employees who are highly engaged in their jobs may experience more WFC than those who are less engaged. It is also expected that individuals who have personal resources such as high perceived psychological empowerment may cope better with job challenges and therefore may experience less WFC. The study therefore examined the contributions of work engagement, and psychological empowerment to WFC. In order to test our propositions, a sample involving 321 married school teachers in southeast Nigeria were surveyed using structured questionnaires. Results showed that work engagement was positively related to employee experience of WFC. Psychological empowerment was negatively related to experience of WFC. The implications of these findings for teacher motivation, training and development were discussed.

Keywords:

Work-family conflict, work engagement, psychological empowerment.