WORK-FAMILY CONFLICT AND FAMILY-WORK CONFLICT AS PREDICTORS OF JOB EMBEDDEDNESS AMONG BANK WORKERS IN NIGERIA

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WORK-FAMILY CONFLICT AND FAMILY-WORK CONFLICT ASPREDICTORS OF JOB EMBEDDEDNESS AMONG BANKWORKERS IN NIGERIA

By

UGWU,CALLISTUS CHINWUBA

MadonnaUniversity Okija Nigeria

E-mail:[email protected]

Abstract

This study examined the relationship among work-family conflict,family-work conflict and job embeddedness among two hundred and fifty(150 males and 100 females) bank employees in Southeastern States ofNigeria. Data were collected using validated work-family scale developedby Carlson and colleagues (2000) and job embeddedness scale adapted byCrossley et al (2007) from the original scale developed by Mitchell et al(2001) and revalidated in Nigeria. Two hypotheses were postulated andtested. The result of correlation and regression analyses indicated thatwork-family conflict and family-work conflict significantly predicted jobembeddedness of bank employees in Nigeria. Specifically, work-familyconflict showed a significant negative prediction of job embeddedness of

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bank employees in Nigeria under study (β= -0.67; t= -5.95; p< .01). Also,family-work conflict produced a significant negative prediction of jobembeddedness of bank employees in Nigeria (β= -0.29; t =-3.23; p< .01).The implications of these results to research and organizational practice aswell as the limitations and suggestations for further studies werehighlighted.

Key words: Work-family conflict, family-work conflict, job embeddedness,bank workers/employees, South East, Nigeria.

Background to the Study

Operations of banking industry in Nigeria arestressful in nature due to long working hours andirregular schedules; and not many would like to take upappointment with the industry if given otheralternatives. Researchers have found that conflictingdemands between work and family such as long workinghours were associated with adverse effects on workoutcomes such as reduced job satisfaction; and highlevel of turnover intention (Kaur et al, 2009; Sang etal, 2007; Wickramasinghe, 2010); whereas irregular workschedules predicted work-family conflict amongemployees (Yildirim & Aycan, 2008). Thus,dissatisfaction and intention to quit may be high amongbank workers in Nigeria.

Considering the tangible cost of employees’turnover in terms of recruitment and training expense,as well as intangible costs, such as declining employee

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morale and customer dissatisfaction, organizations haveintervened to retain talented and committed employeesleading to the development of many turnover models.Traditional turnover models using job attitude and jobalternatives as predictors predict that people leavetheir organizations if they are not satisfied withtheir jobs and job alternatives are available (Zhang etal., 2012). However, research have shown a modestpredictive strength of the traditional models ofturnover, typically accounting for less than 5% to 25%of its variance thereby inspiring recent interest inthe development of new theories to gain insight intothe turnover process (Zhang et al., 2012).

Job embeddedness (JE) theory represents one of suchnew perspectives (Holtom et al., 2008) focusing onfactors that encourage employees to remain with anorganization. It focuses on the process of retention orwhy people remain at their present job, suggesting thatsituational aspects of a person’s life-space influencethat person’s decision to stay in a job (Ringl, 2013).Job embeddedness therefore reflects a kind offavourable work-related characteristics, organizationalculture and policies that promote rather thancompromise individual functioning in organization.Thus, Toumbeva (2012) asserts that the concept ofembeddedness is a positive phenomenon reflectingfavourable work-related attributes and characteristicsthat enhance rather than compromise individualfunctioning. Job embeddedness therefore results in

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positive organizational outcomes that include strongercommitment of employees to organization and decreasedturnover intention. To that extent, multiple empiricalstudies have provided evidence that job embeddedness isa strong predictor of important organizational outcomes(e.g., turnover intentions, actual turnover, jobperformance, job satisfaction, citizenship behavior,and organizational commitment) above and beyond otherantecedents (e.g., perceived job alternatives, jobsearch behaviours, labour conditions, absenteeism, andwork engagement (Burton et al., 2010; Crossley et al.,2007; Halbesleben & Wheeler, 2008; Holtom &Inderrieden, 2006; Ng & Feldman, 2009; Tanova & Holtom.2008. Highly embedded employees in their job andorganization feel more attached to colleagues, jobs andorganizations and express their attachment bymaintaining membership of the organization for whichthey are working (Kismono, 2011).

Grounded in this backdrop, the purpose of the studyis therefore to extend the study of job embeddednessliterature as conceptualized by Mitchell et al (2001)to family and work domains so as to understand thedynamics and its antecedents. Work and family issuesmay prove important antecedents to the understanding ofthe dynamics and processes of job embeddedness.However, work- family issues are only beginning to gainattention in developing societies like Nigeria (Amazue& Ugwu, 2014). This may not be unconnected with therecent substantial changes in socio-demographic factor

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and rapid economic development in Nigeria resulting ina significant number of women participating in activework force.

Work and family is very fundamental and representsthe two most important life domains for adults (Casperet al., 2011); and the interface has been the focalinterest among organizational researchers. In Nigeria,and as in many other developed societies, thetraditional gender role of women as housewife, bearingand caring for children and husband is changing. Todaymany women have taken up careers job especially inbanking sector and contributing to the economy of thehome and the nation, and at the same time performingtheir traditional roles of nurturing the home. Men areequally assuming new roles to the extent that they arebecoming more involved with family affairs. These implymore responsibilities for the employees both at homeand at workplace.

Balancing work and family roles is therefore achallenge in adult’s life which may affect jobembeddedness. This is because juggling responsibilitiesfor work, housework, and child-care can becomestrenuous resulting in conflict between work and familyroles which may ultimately weaken job embeddedness ofthe employees. There is therefore the need to managefamily responsibilities in conjunction with maintainingemployment which is a very daunting task especiallyamong bank workers in Nigeria.

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Thus, there are increased challenges ofstriking a balance between work and family roles amongNigerian work force because juggling responsibilitiesfor work, housework, and child-care can becomestrenuous. Studies have revealed a growing need tobalance work and family lives and a correspondingeffort by organizations to acknowledge this need andadopt measures to satisfy it to a greater extent (Epie,2010). Achieving work-life balance will go a long wayin mitigating conflict of work and familyresponsibilities and may ultimately result in highlevel commitment and performance characteristics ofembedded work force.

As employees’ retention is engaging theattention of top-level managers, it behooves on theorganizational practitioners to understand the dynamicsand processes of retention. Committed and embeddedworkers are beneficial to organizations because theirefforts are channeled towards promoting effectiveorganizational performance. To manage and promote highlevel commitment and embeddedness needed fororganizations to achieve sustainable growth, managersand practitioners of industry need to understand thedynamics and antecedents to job embeddedness, such as,work-family conflict, and family-work conflict.

Researches on the relationship between work-familyconflict, family-work conflict and job embeddednesshave found a significant negative relationship between

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these variables (Salam, 2014; Karatepe & Badar, 2006;Karatepe, 2013). Although, these results are quiteencouraging to understanding antecedent variables tojob embeddedness, they have not been testedempirically, particularly in our Nigerian culturalcontext. Much of the literature in work-family and jobembeddedness research is based on studies conducted inthe developed countries of the West (Karatepe & Badar,2006; Karatepe, 2013; Boyar et al., 2003). There is theneed to extend the study to non-Western societies asNigeria to see whether the findings hold in suchdeveloping nations.

Statement of the Problems

The pressures of multiple roles arising from bothwork and family domain and the resulting conflict havegreat consequences for the individual and organization.Work-family conflict is reported to be detrimental toorganization as it adversely affects organization’sproductivity, job satisfaction, performance, physicaland mental wellbeing and a cause of burnout inemployees as well as reasons for employees’ turnover(Eby et al., 2005; Greenhaus & Powell, 2003). Greenhausand Powell posit that when an employee goes throughproblems of work-family conflict and family-workconflict, he eliminates this conflict by withdrawinghimself from the job and this compels him on thoughtsof intention to leave that organization. Personal andorganizational costs of leaving a job are often very

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high because resignation may lead to lowerproductivity, loss of high-level of performers,separation costs, replacement costs, training anddevelopment cost, potential lost of trade secrets andbusiness to competitors, and temporary decrease inservice quality which generally results in loweredorganizational performance (Rahayu 2006; IIwan & Widodo2008; Pinkovitz, Moskel & Green 2004). Thus it iscrucial and important to understand and manage employeeturnover.

Work and family issues may prove importantantecedents to the understanding of the dynamics andprocesses of job embeddedness. However, work- familyissues are only beginning to gain attention indeveloping societies like Nigeria (Amazue & Ugwu,2014). This may not be unconnected with the recentsubstantial changes in socio-demographic factor andrapid economic development in Nigeria resulting in asignificant number of women participating in activework force. Researches on the relationship betweenwork-family conflict, family-work conflict and jobembeddedness have found a significant negativerelationship between these variables (Salam, 2014;Karatepe and Badar, 2006; Karatepe, 2013; Boyar et al.,2003). Specifically, negative associations betweenwork-family conflict and turnover intention as well asbetween job embeddedness and turnover intention havebeen established in research (Mitchell et al., 2011).Although, these results are quite encouraging to

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understanding antecedent variables to job embeddedness,they have not been tested empirically, particularly inour Nigerian cultural context. While most of thestudies relating to work-family conflict and jobembeddedness were undertaken in developed Westernsocieties, little or none has been done in developingcounties like Nigeria. In as much as such researchfindings may be robust in Western individualisticculture, it may not be applicable in the Nigeriancollectivist cultural context. It is thereforeimperative to determine whether these findings can begeneralized to non-Western and developing societieslike Nigeria.

To the extent that the relationship between work-family conflict, family-work conflict and jobembeddedness are investigated in this research, theresearcher intends to provide answer to the followingresearch questions:

1.What is the relationship between work-familyconflict and job embeddedness of bank employee inNigeria?

2.What is the relationship between family-workconflict and job embeddedness of bank employee inNigeria?

Purpose of the Study

To the extent that the relationship between work-family conflict, family-work conflict and job

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embeddedness are the focus of investigation in thisresearch, the purpose of the study was to add to theexisting literature on work-family conflict and jobembeddedness by exploring their relationship.Specifically the study intends to examine: (1) therelationships between work-family conflict and jobembeddedness of bank workers in Nigeria, and (2) therelationships between family-work conflict and jobembeddedness of bank workers in Nigeria. Variables suchwork-family conflict, and family-work conflict may beimportant predictors of job embeddedness.

Significance of the Study

The outcome of this research will go a long way incontributing to the management of organizations byoffering recommendations for more effectiveorganizational policies to mitigate conflict associatedwith work and family roles. Organizational policieswhich reduce conflicts experienced both at work andhome will enhance and promote high level involvementcharacteristic of embedded worker force needed forimproved organizational performance and effectiveness.When employees experience so much work-family conflictthe tendency is to resign from the organization.Organizations may therefore benefit by activelyengaging in activities aimed at reducing work-familyconflicts. Research indicates that work-familyinitiatives, particularly in the form of schedulecontrols, can reduce work-family conflict, buffer the

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negative impacts of long work hours (Kelly et al.,2011; Carlson et al., 2011), and improve firms’performance.

Conceptual Framework

The research framework of a study shows theconception of the research that describes therelationship among the independent and dependentvariables. The concepts of job embeddedness, work-family conflict, and family- work conflict are thevariables of this study. Work-family conflict andfamily-work conflict are considered as the independentvariables while job emeddedness is considered as thedependent variable of this study. Thus, the researchframework for this study shows the relationship betweenthe independent variables (work-family conflict,family-work conflict) and the dependent variable (jobembeddedness).

Job Embeddedness

Job embeddedness represents a broad set of on-the-job and off-the-job factors that influences anemployee’s decision to stay in a job (Mitchell et al.,2001). In other words, job embeddedness focuses onfactors that encourage an employee to remain with anorganization. It is defined as a broad constellation ofpsychological, social, and financial influences onemployees’ retention (Mitchell et al., 2001). Mitchelland colleagues assert that these influences are present

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on the job, as well as outside the employees’ immediatework environment, and are often likened to strands in a‘’web’’ or ‘’net’’ in which a person can become‘’stuck’’. This suggests that a number of strandsconnect an employee in a social, psychological, andfinancial web that includes work and non-work friends,groups, the community, and the physical environment inwhich the employee lives. Individuals with a greaternumber of strands become more enmeshed in the web andhave greater difficulty leaving their job (Zhang etal., 2012).

Job embeddedness depends on whether the influencesoccur on-the-job, or off-the-job leading to adistinction of what is called on-the-job embeddednessand off-the-job embeddedness. On-the-job embeddednessrefers to an employee’s attachment to socialrelationships created at work resulting in adisinclination to leave the organization (Hammer, Bauer& Grandey 2003; Lee et al. 2004). On the other hand,off-the-job embeddedness refers to an employee’sattachment to the social life outside the organizationthat makes it less likely for the employee to considerleaving the society to take another job (Holtom &O’Neil, 2004; Lee et al., 2004; Yao et al., 2004).Generally job embeddedness is composed of three basiccomponents: fit, links, and sacrifice, based on whetherthe influence occurs on-the-job or off-the-job.

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Organization fit refers to employee’s perceivedcompatibility with the organization and the surroundingcommunity (Lee, 2004; Mitchell et al., 2001). Goodperson-organization fit occurs when an employee’spersonal values, career aspirations, knowledge, skills,and ability are compatible with the organizationalculture, and with the requirements of his or her job(Zhang et al., 2012). Also, a person will consider howwell he or she fits with aspects of the community andthe surrounding environment such as climate, weatherconditions, religious beliefs, and entertainmentactivities (Mitchell et al., 2001). According to jobembeddedness theory, an employee’s personal values,careers goals and plans for the future must ‘’fit’’with the larger corporate culture and the demands ofhis or her immediate job (e.g., job knowledge, skills,and abilities) (Carlos et al., 2007). The better theemployee’s fit and perceived compatibility, thestronger the ties to the organization. Thus, a person’sfit with the job and organization correlatessignificantly to attachments to the organization.

Links are defined as formal or informal connectionsbetween a person, institutions, or other people (Lee etal., 2004; Mitchell et al., 2001). Organization linksrefer to formal or informal connections between anemployee and institution or people, resulting inemotional ties to a job that transcends the actual workundertaken by the employee (Bergiel et al, 2009;Crossly et al., 2007; Mitchell et al., 2001). A number

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of links attach an employee and his or her family in asocial, psychological, and financial web that includesco-workers and non-work friends, groups, and thecommunity in which he or she lives (Zhang et al.,2012). This suggests that there are links to employeesin the organization such as a team of work colleaguesas well as links to entities in one’s community such asrelatives, friends and social groups. The greater thenumber of links between the individual and the web andthe more important those links are, the more a workeris bound to the job, the supervisor and entities in theorganizations such as teams (Lee at al., 2004: Mitchellet al., 2001). In other words, the higher the number oflinks between the person and the web, the more anemployee is bound to the job and the organization(Zhang et al., 2012). A variety of research streamssuggest that there is normative pressure to stay on ajob which derives from family, team members, andcolleagues (Maertz et al., 2003). Job embeddednessintegrates these important social influences onemployees’ retention.

Sacrifice is the perceived psychological, social,or material cost of leaving one’s organization andone’s community (Lee et al., 2004; Mitchell et al.,2001). It is the perceived cost of material orpsychological benefits that may be forfeited by leavinga job (Holtom & O’Neil, 2004; Lee et al, 2004;Mitchell, Holtom & Lee, 2001; Yao et al., 2004). Itencapsulates the perceived cost of material or

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psychological losses or sacrifices that would result ifan employee took a new job and left the organizationand the community. Leaving an organization thereforeincurs both job-related and community-related losses orsacrifices such as giving up familiar colleagues,interesting projects, giving up an easy commute, goodday care or local club membership,opportunities for job stability and advancement. Themore an employee gives up when leaving, the moredifficult it is to sever employment with theorganization (Carlos et al., 2007).

Research suggests that job embeddedness is a strongpredictor of important organizational outcomes such asemployee attendance, employee performance, innovation-related behaviour, and organizational citizenshipbehaviour (Ng & Feldman, 2010; Holtom, Mitchell & Lee,2006; Lee et al., 2004; Mitchell et al., 2001). In arelated study, Karatepe and Ngeche (2012) found thatthe consequences of job embeddedness are reductions inturnover intention/voluntary turnover and increasedlevels of in-role and extra-role performances(citizenship behaviour).

Work-Family Conflict

Work-family conflict which is the most studiedconstruct in work-family literature (Eby et al., 2005;Byron, 2005) arises when an individual is faced withconflicting and simultaneous demands that stem fromeither his work or family role. Much of the literature

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in organizational behaviour and industrial andorganizational psychology uses the constructs “work-family” and “work-life” interchangeably to characterizethe interface of individuals’ personal or family lives,and professional working lives (Hamilton et al., 2006).Earlier conceptualizations of work-family conflict didnot differentiate between the directions of conflict.However, distinction is made between conflict caused bya work role interfering with family, and conflictcaused by a family role interfering with work.

Work-family conflict is defined as “a form ofinter-role conflict in which the role pressures fromthe work and family domains are mutually incompatiblein some respect” (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985). It is asa result of incompatible pressure in the work andfamily domains to the extent that work-relatedactivities are in conflict with family life or familyobligations. Literature points to three forms of workand family conflict: time-based conflict, strain-basedconflict, and behaviour-based conflict. Time-basedconflict refers to the numerous roles that compete foran individual’s time. Strain-based conflict refers tostrain produced by a particular role; and behaviour-based conflict refers to specific patterns of rolebehaviour incompatibility (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985).Thus, Netemeyer and colleagues (1996) as well asCinamon and colleagues (2007) conceptualized work-family conflict as “a form of inter-role conflict inwhich the general demands of time devoted to, and

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strain created by the job interfere with performingfamily-related responsibilities”.

It is expected that working class parents performmajor functions both at home and at work. These dualroles are most likely to overlap which can lead toconflict at both work and home depending on how theyare managed. At the organizational level work-familyconflict has been associated with increasedabsenteeism, increased employee turnover, decreasedcareer involvement and decreased job satisfaction(Greenhaus et al., 2001; Netemeyer et al., 1996), thusweakening employees’ job embeddedness. Also atindividual levels, work-family conflict has beenassociated with depression, substance abuse,hypertension and overall poor physical andpsychological well-being (Amazue and Uzoka, 2009; Froneet al., 1997). The existence of work-family conflicttherefore indicates that work roles interfere withemployees’ satisfaction and success in the family.Thus, work-family conflict is likely to result innegative consequences such as stress and unhappiness,and ultimately lowered or weakened job embeddednesswhich may induce turnover intention. There is thereforethe need to test this contention empirically.

Family-Work Conflict

Family-work conflict is also regarded as a type ofinter-role conflict in which family and workresponsibilities are mutually incompatible (Greenhaus &

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Beutell, 1985). It is defined as an inter-role conflictin which the role pressures from the family domain areincompatible with the fulfillment of work-relatedresponsibilities (Cinamon et al., 2007; Higgins et al.,1992; Netemeyer et al., 1996). Family-work conflict istherefore conceptualized in this study as a form ofinter-role conflict in which the demands of timedevoted to, strain created by, and behaviour requiredby an individual’s family is perceived to interferewith work-related responsibilities (Hammer et al.,2005; Netemeyer et al., 1996; Greenhaus & Beutell,1985). Thus, family activities may interfere withemployees’ satisfaction and success at work. Familyobligations running into conflict or interfering withwork may occur as a result of employees’ highinvolvement in family activities and in the process mayweaken job embeddedness of employees.

Family issues that may be in conflict with work-related roles include the presence of young childrenand dependent elderly ones resulting in parents takingtime off from work to take care of a sick child or anelderly member of the family. Pasewark and Viator(2006) argue that employees who are married and havechildren may spend more time in non-work relatedactivities at home and consequently experiencedifficulties in performing tasks at work. Similarly,Karatepe and Kilic (2007) established that commitmentto family activities significantly correlated withfamily-work conflict. However, these findings were

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drawn from the Western context (Karatepe & Kilic, 2007;Pasewark & Viator, 2006) and there may be the need toexamine whether the findings hold in developingsocieties like Nigeria.

Hypotheses

1.There will be a significant negative relationshipbetween work-family conflict and job embeddednessof bank employees in Nigeria.

2.There will be a significant negative relationshipbetween family-work conflict and job embeddednessof bank employees in Nigeria.

Method

Participant

Two hundred and fifty commercial bank workers (150males and 100 females) participated in the study. Theparticipants were selected using convenient samplingtechnique. They were drawn from five commercial banks(viz: First Bank, Zenith Bank, Fidelity Bank, DiamondBank, and United Bank of Africa) in Nnewi, AnambraState, South-East of Nigeria. The spread of theparticipants was as follows: First Bank PLC 53, ZenithBank PLC 55, Fidelity Bank PLC 45, Diamond Bank PLC 47,and United Bank of Africa PLC 50. The participants’ages ranged from 25-48 years with a mean age of 34.52years (S.D =12.32). Their educational qualificationsranged from Ordinary National Diploma (OND) to Masters’degree (M.Sc). All the participants were employed full-

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time and had an average tenure of 4.2 years in theirprofession. Appropriate consent was obtained from themanagement of the banks and all the volunteeredparticipants were administered with the researchquestionnaire. The choice of bank employees as theparticipants of this study is informed by the stressfulnature and tight schedule coupled with weekend and longhours of service associated with the operations ofbanking sector in Nigeria. This may likely make thebank workers more prone to conflict associated withwork and family roles. It is typically assumed that thetask of juggling work and family roles is difficult andstressful (Steenbergen et al., 2008); and especiallyfor bank workers in Nigeria.

Instrument

Two instruments were used for this study. Theyinclude (a) work-family scale comprising both work-family conflict, and family-work conflict items; and(b) job embeddedness scale.

Work-Family Conflict Scale

Work-family conflict of the participants wasassessed with 18-item work-family conflict scaledeveloped by Carlson and colleagues (2000). The scaleis tailored towards two directions of work-familyconflict, namely: work interfering with family (WIF)and family interfering with work (FIW). Items of work-family conflict (WIF) seek respondents’ feelings about

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the interaction of work and family roles, i.e., whetheror not work roles are perceived to interrupt familyroles while items of family-work conflict (FIW)measures whether or not family roles are perceived tointerrupt work roles. Carlson and colleagues’ scale isdesigned in a 5-point Likert pattern, ranging fromstrongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). Sampleitems are “My work keeps me from my family activitiesmore than I would like” and “When I get home from workI am often extremely tired to participate in familyactivities.” Higher scores on the scales indicate moresevere levels of conflict. The scale was developedusing rigorous psychometric procedure (Herst &Brannick, 2004). Carlson and colleagues (2000) reporteda correlation coefficient alpha of .86 for the scale.

In validating the instrument using Nigeriansample, Amazue (2013); Amazue and Ugwu (2014) reportedan internal consistency coefficient alpha of 0.87 and aSpearman correlated split-half reliability index of0.56. Thus, the scales are reported to be highlyreliable and are represented in a variety of studiesinvolving employees from different professions (Boyaret al., 2003; Frye & Breaugh, 2004; Pasewark & Viator,2006; Yildirim & Aycan, 2008; Amazue, 2013).

Job Embeddedness Scale

Job embeddedness of the participants was measuredusing 7-item job embeddedness scale adapted by Crossleyet al (2007) from the original scale developed by

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Mitchell et al (2001). The adapted Crossley andcolleagues’ scale is a composite measure of on-the joband off-the job embeddedness designed in a 5-pointLikert pattern, ranging from strongly disagrees (1) tostrongly agree (2). Examples of sample items include“My job utilizes my skills and talents”; “I am wellpaid for the job I do”; and “I have strong connectionswith my colleagues who work with me”; fororganizational fit, sacrifice and links respectively.High scores on the scale indicate high level of jobembeddedness. Crossley and colleagues (2007) reported aCronach coefficient alpha of 0.70 for the internalconsistency of the scale, thus making the scalereliable.

For the purpose of this study, the researcherconducted pilot study to revalidate the instrument.This is because previous validation of the instrumentwas done using samples drawn from Western culturecoupled with the fact that there is no evidence ofhaving validated the instrument in Nigeria. Thus, theresearcher decided to validate the instrument usingNigerian samples. The result of the pilot study aftersubjecting the responses of the participant on the itemto internal consistency (Cronbach alpha) estimateyielded an alpha of 0.83.

Procedure

The researcher took personal trips to the placesof data collection; sought and obtained the consent of

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the management of the banks to conduct the study. Thehead of operations in each of the banks gave theapproval to conduct the study and for the distributionsof the questionnaire to the bank workers. Thequestionnaires were administered to only volunteeredparticipants; and with the help of research assistant.The participants were not given any time limit becauseof their usual tight schedules. However, therespondents responded to the questionnaires andreturned to their operation managers within a space of48 hours. The questionnaire had specific instructionson how to respond to the items. They were assured ofthe confidentiality of their responses and as such wererequested to be honest in responding to the items ofthe questionnaire. The items of the questionnaire werepresented in English and since all the participantswere literate enough to clearly understand the items inthe questionnaire there was no further explanationgiven. There was no reward given to the participantsfor participating in the study. The questionnaire formswere later collected back during office hour and sortedout; and out of two hundred and seventy questionnaireforms distributed, two hundred and fifty (92.59%) wereproperly filled and used for analysis. Before theanalysis, the instrument was well scored according tospecifications by the authors of the instrument andwell coded in the SPSS Excel spread sheet.

Design/Statistics

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A cross-sectional survey design and correlation andregression analysis was the statistics adopted for thestudy since the primary aim was to test thehypothesized structural relationships between thevariables studied, rather than to investigate cause andeffect. In a structural relationship study, it isappropriate to measure all variables simultaneously.

Results

Result of the correlation analyses which consideredthe level of significant correlation among the study’svariables are represented in Table 1. As shown in thetable below, while work-family conflict has significantpositive relationship with family-work conflict (r=0.15, p < .05), work-family-conflict has significantnegative relationship with job embeddedness (r= - 0.38,p < .01). Also, the result showed that family-workconflict has significant negative relationship with jobembeddedness (r= - 0.24, p < .01). Thus, the result ofthe correlation analyses confirmed the study’shypotheses which proposed that work-family conflictwill have significant negative relationship with jobembeddedness; as well that family-work conflict willhave significant negative relationship with jobembeddedness of the employees.

Table 1: Mean, Standard Deviations and Correlation forStudy Variables

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Variables Mean SD 12 3

WFC 25.0 7.21.00

FWC 22. 6 6.50.15* 1.00

JE 36.4 12.9 -0.38** - 0.24** 1.00

Note: *p < .05; **p < .01; WFC=Work-Family conflict;FWC=Family-work conflict; JE=Job Embeddedness.

The results of the correlation analysis are furtherbuttressed in Table 2 which displays the results of themultiple regression analysis of the variables underinvestigation. The results of regression analysisdisplayed in Table 2 revealed that work-family conflictwas a significant predictor of job embeddedness (β = -0.67; t = - 5.95; p < .01). Thus, the first hypothesiswhich proposed that work-family conflict will havesignificant negative relationship with job embeddednessis supported. This result implies that increased levelof work-family conflict was associated with lowered orweakened job embeddedness of the employees.

Table 2: Result of the Multiple Regression Analysis

Variables Beta (β) SET-Value

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WFC - 0.670.11 - 5.95**

FWC - 0.290.13 - 3.23*

Note: *p < .05; **p < .01; WFC = Work-Family Conflict;FWC = Family-work conflict

The results further demonstrated that family-workconflict was also a significant predictor of jobembeddedness (β = - 0.29; t = - 2.23; p < .01). This isalso in support of the second hypothesis which proposedthat family-work conflict will have a significantnegative relationship with job embeddedness. Also, theresult suggests that increased level of family-workconflict leads to lowered or weakened job embeddednessof the employees.

Discussion and Conclusion

The purpose of the present study was to add to theexisting literature on work-family conflict and jobembeddedness by investigating the relationship betweenwork-family conflict, family-work conflict and jobembeddedness among employees of banking sector inNigeria. To date, this particular relationship has notreceived much empirical investigation in Nigeria andunderstanding this relationship may offer uniqueinsight into the specific dynamics between work-familyconflict and job embeddedness. The study thereforetested the hypothesized relationship among the

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variables using correlation and multiple regressionanalyses.

The results of correlation and multiple regressionanalyses revealed that work-family conflict as well asfamily-work conflict predicted job embeddedness amongbank workers in Nigeria. Based on these results, thetwo hypotheses which proposed that work-family conflictwill have significant negative relationship with jobembeddedness as well as that family-work conflict willhave significant negative relationship with jobembeddedness of bank employees in Nigeria weresupported.

The significant negative association between work-family conflict and job embeddedness established bythis study suggests that the more employees’experienced work-family conflict the less embedded theybecome in their jobs. This finding is in line with thestudies of Razak et al., (2011); Narayanan &Savarimuthu, 2013) which established a significantnegative relationship between work-family conflict andjob involvement. Job involvement described by Kanungo(1982) as “psychological identification with a job”ultimately leads to job embeddedness. The significantnegative correlation between work-family conflict andjob embeddedness found by this study is also in linewith the findings of Salam (2014), Karatepe and Badar(2006), Karatepe (2013), and Boyar et al (2003). Theresult is expected because increased work-family

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conflict has been found to be associated withindividual outcomes such as emotional exhaustion andburnout, and work-related outcomes such as jobdissatisfaction, lower organizational commitment, andturnover intention. These individual and work-relatedoutcomes of work-family conflict may negatively affector weaken employees’ job embeddedness. Thus, work-family conflict points towards a reason for employees’job dissatisfaction, turnover intention, loweredorganizational commitment and ultimately weakened jobembeddedness.

Also, the significant negative associationbetween family-work conflict and job embeddedness foundby this study suggests that the more employees’experienced family-work conflict the less embedded theybecome in their job. The significant negativeassociation is in support of the findings of Salam(2014), Karatepe and Badar (2006), and Karatepe (2013).The result is also expected because as familyobligations run into conflict or interferes with workroles as a result of employees’ high involvement infamily activities, employees’ job embeddedness islikely to suffer. Fulfilling demands made by family mayhinder advancement at work and this potentially resultsin negative consequences such as absenteeism, negativeperformance, role conflict, anxiety and job tension(Eby et al., 2005; Macewen & Barling 1994) andultimately employees’ embeddedness to the job andorganization may suffer.

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In sum, the study established the fact thatinability to balance conflicts arising from work andfamily roles ultimately results in lowered embeddednessof employees to their jobs and organization. The resultof this study is therefore meaningful and in line withthe findings reported in other parts of the world.Juggling responsibilities for work, housework, andchild-care can become strenuous resulting in work-family conflict and family-work conflict and in theprocess weakens job embeddedness of employees.

Implications

One or two implications can be drawn from thefindings of this study. First, the findings of thestudy suggest that work-family conflict as well asfamily-work conflict is a significant factor inpredicting job embeddedness as the variables negativelypredicted job embeddedness of the employees. Thisimplies that as the employees experience greaterconflicts between work and family roles the lesscommitted and embedded they become on their job. Thisalso suggests that this group of workers appear to beless committed and embedded to their work which may beas a result of unfriendly organizational policies andculture. However, studies have shown that organizationswith family-friendly culture with relevant policies are

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associated with a healthier, more committed workforcewith lower turnover (Epie, 2010). Thus, employers oflabour in Nigeria can motivate their workforce to bemore committed and embedded to their jobs by putting inplace family-friendly policies which may go a long wayin assisting them to balance work and family roles. InNigeria, public sector organizations have in place someinconsistent policies such maternity leave, paid leaveallowances, benefits etc to support work-familyharmony. However, the practicability and accessibilityof such policies by workers and by its extension toprivate sector establishment remains a mirage. There isalso none existence of affordable quality childcareservices to benefit and cater for nursing workingmothers. Thus, workers may benefit immensely whenorganizations provide work-family friendly policies andpractices supportive of work-family harmony or balance.Studies have shown that employees’ satisfaction withfamily-friendly workplace policies and workplaceculture that supports work-life balance is major factorin reducing role overload and work interference withfamily (Duxbury & Higgins, 2005; Epie, 2010).

Arising from this study, the researcher istherefore advocating that employers of labour inNigeria especially the private sector establishmentshould endeavour to put in place effective and relevantfriendly work-family policies and work cultures thatwill assist the workers to harmonize and balance workand family roles. This is necessary in view of the fact

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that there is increase in dual family earners and manywomen are engaged in active labour force in the recenttime. Juggling responsibilities for work, housework,and child-care can become strenuous.

The present study also established that family-workconflict is significantly and negatively related to jobembeddedness of the workers under investigation. Thisimplies that as the workers experience greater conflictbetween family and work roles, the less committed andembedded they are to their job. In other words, theinability of the employees to strike a balance betweenconflict emanating from family and work roles resultsin less committed and less embedded workforce. Thisalso implies that as the employees are so muchengrossed or immersed in family responsibilitieseffective performance of work roles is affected. Tothis extent, social support from the family especiallythe spouse support or the services of house help can beof help in mitigating the conflicts. Also, theindividual employees on their own should try to adoptsome coping strategies like efficient time managementapproach that will enable them juggle between theincompatible roles emanating from family and workdomain. This will go a long way in mitigating familyinterference with work which may ultimately lead tohigh commitment characteristic of embedded employees.

Limitations of the Study and Direction for FutureStudies

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There are some limitations identified in thisresearch which investigated the relationship betweenwork-family conflict, family-work conflict and jobembeddedness of bank worker in Nigeria.

First, the study adopted cross-sectional designwhich represents the data collection made at one pointof time. By adopting a longitudinal design in futureresearch, where the data will be collected at differentpoints of time, the researcher will be in a betterposition to draw better and valid conclusion.

Moreover, the present study was conducted with asmall segment of samples of respondents from bankingstaff. It is suggested that, for the future study alarge sample of participants should be employed toarrive at a better result or finding so as to make forgeneralization and acknowledged as accurate values.

Also, the present study was based entirely onself-reports of all variables which may have resultedin common error bias associated with such research.However, future research would benefit from obtainingmore objective data on variables such as jobperformance and absenteeism, which may also be affectedby work-family conflict (Hammer et al., 2003; Witt &Carlson, 2006), and which can exert an impact on anorganization’s overall productivity and effectiveness.

Conclusion

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Despite the limitations of the study, the presentinvestigation carried out among bank workers inNigeria, contributes to knowledge by enhancing theunderstanding of the predictors of job embeddedness.Also, the present study expanded knowledge base byextending job embeddedness literature to areas of workand family issues. In brief, work-family conflict wasassociated with low level of job embeddedness among thebank workers. Likewise, family-work conflict had asignificant negative prediction of job embeddedness ofthe bank workers. Given the positive and significantoutcome of job embeddedness in promoting organizationalperformance and effectiveness, it is important fororganizations to endeavour to put in place effectiveand relevant friendly work-family policies and workcultures that will assist the workers to harmonize andbalance work and family roles.

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