Work–family conflict and job satisfaction among construction professionals: the mediating role of emotional exhaustion Tharindu C. Dodanwala and Pooja Shrestha Abstract Purpose – Work–family conflict plays a vital role in employees’ work-related satisfaction and emotional exhaustion measures. Yet, the theoretical interrelationship between work–family conflict, emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction has not been fully explored in the construction literature. Hence, this study aims to assess emotional exhaustion’s mediating role in the relationship between work–family conflict and job satisfaction of the construction professionals. Design/methodology/approach – Data were gathered from a cross-sectional survey of 308 project- level construction professionals in Sri Lanka. A confirmatory factor analysis followed by three structural equation models was used in analyzing the research hypotheses. Findings – The results support the mediation model of emotional exhaustion, in which the emotional exhaustion fully mediated the relationship between work–family conflict and job satisfaction. Hence, the authors concluded that a higher level of work–family conflict would directly contribute to a greater degree of emotional exhaustion, which in turn lessens the job satisfaction of the project employees. Originality/value – In identifying how work–family conflict, emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction are linked together, the present study added the mediating role of emotional exhaustion to the previous empirical research on the relationship between work–family conflict and job satisfaction in the context of the construction industry. Keywords Burnout, Well-being, Job satisfaction, Emotional exhaustion, Work–family conflict Paper type Research paper Introduction Work and family are the two most important domains of life for most adults, and the balance between work and family life has risen as one of the crucial social issues in the world. The recognition of these two aspects of life has preceded the researchers to investigate the conflicts that can occur in simultaneously meeting the demands and the expectations of work and family domains (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985; Netemeyer et al., 1996). The employees experience work–family conflict when the engagement with work makes it difficult for them to be involved with family life (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985). Hence, if employees dedicate additional working hours and energy to the work role, then the family roles are assumed to suffer. Over the past couple of decades, a substantial number of research studies have been conducted on the work–family conflict, and the findings illustrate that the work–family conflict is associated with various adverse health outcomes such as job stress, emotional exhaustion, job dissatisfaction and life dissatisfaction (Adams et al., 1996; Calisir et al., 2011; Hang-yue et al., 2005; Lambert et al., 2017; Lingard and Francis, 2005; Mansour and Tremblay, 2018). Not only high work–family conflict causes adverse health outcomes to employees, but these negative health outcomes are also related to decreased productivity Tharindu C. Dodanwala is based at the School of Engineering and Technology, Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand. Pooja Shrestha is based at the School of Management, Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand. Received 21 November 2020 Revised 26 January 2021 4 March 2021 Accepted 6 April 2021 PAGE 62 j ON THE HORIZON j VOL. 29 NO. 2 2021, pp. 62-75, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1074-8121 DOI 10.1108/OTH-11-2020-0042
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