CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

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1.1 Introduction

Over the past three decades, a large number of women are becoming a part of paid
workforce. Regardless of this increase in women’s employment, however, there seems to
be slight erosion in the strength of the gender-role expectations with reference to men and
women’s roles in society. Generally, work role is perceived to be men’s prime domain and
women are still predominantly accountable for the home and children. In the face of this
argument, employed women have to face more pressures from both work and family as
compared to employed men and women. To respond to these pressures, they have to put in
more effort to keep a balance between their work and family role. Work–family conflict
occurs when demands from one role domain intervenes with the demands of the other role.
For instance, when an employee dedicates additional time and energy into the family role
(or the work role), the work role (family role) is presumed to get affected. Work family
conflict takes two forms as identified by (Frone, Russell, & Cooper, 1992) i.e. Work-
Family Conflict (WFC) and Family-Work Conflict (FWC).WFC arises when activities
related to work impede family responsibilities. Netemeyer, Boles, &McMurrian
(1996)identified these activities in their study as bringing work home and trying to
complete them at the expense of family time. While FWC occurs when family-role
responsibilities interferes work activities such as having to cancel an important meeting
because a child is suddenly taken ill (Ernst Kossek&Ozeki, 1998; Frone et al., 1992; Gutek,
Searle, &Klepa, 1991).Despite having a very strong correlation between these two
phenomena, they are theoretically and empirically separate concepts. The antecedents of
work-family conflict are work-related variables while the predictors of family-work
conflict are family-related variables.

Consistent with past researches, it must be noted that conflict between these two domains
rises when work and family roles collide with each other. Adams, King, & King(1996),
Beutell & Wittig-Berman (1999) and Frone, Yardley, & Markel, (1997)stated that the
pressure arising due to this collision include spending more time in work or family life,
stressors within the work and/or family domains and more participation in work and/or
family activities. Because of the interdependence of work and family, this conflict between

2
work and family may also be considered as a source of stress that influences various
withdrawal behaviors. With the rise in this conflict, the employees tend to shift from short-
term withdrawal such as lateness and absenteeism to long-term withdrawal behavior such
as turnover. These withdrawal behaviors can affect the discipline of the organizations, add
on to dysfunctional customs and ultimately increase costs to the organization(Rosse, 1988;
Sagie, 1998). Keeping in line with this argument, it is significant to know how these two
dimensional work-family conflicts affect the withdrawal behaviors and what strategies can
be devised in order to control or reduce these behaviors. In response to these consequences
of two dimensional work-family conflicts, organizations have taken up several family-
friendly policies (FFP) to trim down these conflicts and its consequences. These FFP
include day-care centers, job sharing and paid leave etc. The availability of these policies
brings about positive outcomes that include increasing job satisfaction and low turnover
intentions. Past researches also show that allowing the employees to work for reduced
hours or job sharing can be associated with low withdrawal behaviors. Furthermore, it has
also been identified that the availability of onsite day-care centers lessens the turnover
intentions of the employees and offering flexible work hours can lead to employee
retention(Pierce & Newstrom, 1982; Rothausen, 1994).

Previous studies have focused upon the relationship of two dimensional work family
conflicts with various outcomes on the basis of stress theories where work to family
conflict and family to work conflict have been studied as stressors. However, none of the
previous studies have focused on the resources, which organizations can provide to its
employees through which the negative effects of these stressors can be mitigated.

1.2 Gaps

Past researches have extensively studied consequences and antecedents of work family
conflict on the basis of stress theories whereas family friendly policies (FFP) have been
taken into account in various studies under the exchange theory. In some previous studies,
family friendly policies have been studied either as an independent variable where the focus
was upon family friendly policies as an antecedent of work family conflict or it has been
studied as a dependent variable where characteristics of organizations that offer FFP to
their employees was taken into account. However, FFP has never been studied as a

3
moderator to examine its differentiating impact on the relationship of two dimensional
WFC with various outcomes.

The main contribution of this study is that building on the Job Demands-Resources model,
it will shed light on the missing link where FFP is neither an independent variable nor a
dependent variable rather it has a buffering role to mitigate the negative effects of the two
dimensional conflict on various withdrawal behaviors.

1.3 Significance of study

The significance of this study is to determine the buffering effects of family friendly
policies on the relationship of two dimensional conflicts (i.e. work to family conflict and
family to work conflict) and various employee withdrawal behaviors that include employee
lateness, absenteeism and turnover intention. This research will attempt to describe that as
the two dimensional WFC conflict increases; employees tend to shift from temporary
withdrawal behavior such as lateness and absenteeism to permanent withdrawal behavior
such as turnover. Therefore, there is a need for family supportive policies in the
organizations to refrain the employees to involve in such withdrawal behaviors and help
them keep a balance between their work and family life.

Another main significance of this study is that it focuses on the buffering effect of family
friendly policies as a resource to mitigate the adverse effects of the two dimensional
conflict on withdrawal behaviors on the basis of Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model.
The JD-R model focuses that every job has its own explicit working characteristics that
can be divided into two broad categories i.e. job demands (e.g., work overload and
cognitive demands) and job resources(e.g., autonomy and feedback). This model can be
used in a number of different occupations regardless of their specific demands and
resources involved. The main postulates of this model entail that high job demands and
limited job resources altogether give rise to job strain. Whereas, when job resources are
also high against high job demands, work engagement is experienced.

The JD-R model comprises of two hypotheses: the additive hypothesis and the buffering
hypothesis. The additive hypothesis states that high job demands and low job resources
lead to high job stress (Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, & Schaufeli, 2001). Whereas, the
4
buffering hypothesis focuses that job resources may mitigate the adverse effects of job
demands on employee wellbeing (Bakker, Demerouti, De Boer, & Schaufeli, 2003). This
assumption is in line with the job demand–control model (Karasek, 1979, 1998). However,
JD-R model is an extension of JDC model which states that numerous job resources can
play the buffering role for several different job demands.
Therefore, building on this understudied buffering hypothesis of JDR model, along with
job control and social support, this study aims to see the buffering effects of family
supportive policies (job resource) on the relationship of two dimensional work family
conflict (stressors) with the various withdrawal behaviors (outcomes) among employed
mothers.
This study is useful in a number of ways. First, it is applicable in different work
environments thus enabling the higher authorities to design better jobs. Second,
organizations can come up with various strategies to reduce the employee withdrawal
behavior by providing a supportive environment. Third, the two dimensional work-family
conflicts and withdrawal behavior are jointly studied in numerous studies, but the two
phenomena using family supportive policies as a moderator has not yet been integrated in
any study. The developed framework focuses on the buffering link between the two
variables that is tested by collecting data from working mothers.

1.4 Statement of Research Problem

The main problem is to examine whether family friendly policies have a differentiating
impact on the relationship of work family conflict and various withdrawal behaviors of
employees where the target population is working mothers of Pakistan.

1.5 Research Question

This study encompasses the following research questions:

• What type of relationship exists between two dimensional work-family conflict and
employee lateness?
• How work family conflict and employee absenteeism are related?
• What is the impact of work family conflict on employee turnover intention?
• How work and family related variables affects the various withdrawal behaviors?

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 • Does family friendly policies moderate the relationship of work family conflict with
the above mentioned employee withdrawal behaviors?

1.6 Research Objective

The main purpose of this study is to examine the moderating role of family friendly policies
in the relationship of two dimensional work family conflict and various employee
withdrawal behaviors on the basis of JD-R model. This will help in examining the
differentiating impact of family supportive policies on the above stated relationship while
keeping some work and family related variables as control variables. Based on this,
following are the research objectives:

• To examine the relationship of work family conflict and various withdrawal

behaviors such as employee lateness, employee absenteeism and turnover intention.
• To examine the relationship of organizational and family support related variables
on various employee withdrawal behaviors.
• To determine whether availability of family friendly policies moderate the
relationship between work family conflict and above mentioned employee
withdrawal behaviors.

1.7 Research Limitations and Future Work

One of the limitations of this study is that survey was based on self-reported data that may
have biased responses. Secondly, findings may have been open to causal uncertainty as this
study is cross sectional. For this, longitudinal studies could also be conducted to check the
consistency of results but due to time constraint it was not possible.

1.8 Thesis Division

Thesis is organized as follows: The second chapter sheds light on the past literature on two
dimensional work-family conflict and withdrawal behaviors. Then there is brief discussion
about the prior research on the two streams of studies on family friendly policies which is
then followed by the discussion of hypothesis and proposed theoretical framework. Third
chapter encompasses the research methodology employed in this study. In chapter four,

6
results are discussed after running tools and techniques on the collected data. Finally in last
chapter discussion, conclusion, limitations and direction for future research are discussed
at length.

Note: Questionnaire survey is attached in appendix.

1.9 Conclusion

In this chapter, research problem statement, research objectives, research questions are
highlighted in detail which is followed by research limitations and roadmap of thesis. The
next chapter sheds light on the relevant literature reviewed.

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 CHAPTER 02

LITERATURE REVIEW

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 2.1 Introduction

This chapter puts forth the review of the past literature that was studied to respond the
research questions as discussed in the last chapter. A past literature on each of the following
variables; Work Family Conflict, Withdrawal Behaviors and Family Friendly Policies have
been reviewed in order to investigate how these variables are related.

Work-Family conflict is a widely studied topic in organizational research(Carlson &

Kacmar, 2000; Frone et al., 1997; Greenhaus & Powell, 2003; Netemeyer et al., 1996).
This conflict is said to strengthen as more working mothers enter the workforce and they
have older family members at home to look after (Ervin, 2000; Fullerton Jr, 1999). These
commitments from both work and family increase the probability of interference of both
roles that ultimately gives rise to conflict. In the past literature, Work-Family Conflict is
divided into two separate constructs; work-to-family conflict (WFC) and family-to-work
conflict (Ernst Kossek & Ozeki, 1998; Frone et al., 1992, 1997; Gutek et al., 1991). When
work related activities inhibits family responsibilities, WFC arises and when family related
activities intervenes with work related activities, FWC arises(Netemeyer et al.,
1996).Nevertheless, combined effect of WFC and FWC on work behaviors has been
examined in very few studies (Ernst Kossek & Ozeki, 1998; Greenhaus & Powell, 2003;
Kossek & Nichol, 1992). Even with a number of calls for research on withdrawal
behaviors(Frone et al., 1992, 1997), very few studies have shed light on these relationships.
Few studies have used global measures to examine the relationship of work-family conflict
and withdrawal behaviors(Goff, Mount, & Jamison,1990).Therefore, the simultaneous
relationships of WFC and FWC with withdrawal behaviors are understudied. Furthermore,
in another study, a very high correlation was found between composite index of absence
and lateness with work-family inter-role conflict (Hepburn & Barling, 1996). However,
they were unable to assess WFC and FWC because of the perplexed composite index of
absence and lateness. Keeping in view the above, it is evident that the relationship of two
dimensional work family conflicts with withdrawal behaviors has been examined in very
few studies (Koslowsky, 2000).

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Work family conflict

Greenhaus & Beutell (1985) defined work family conflict as “a form of inter-role conflict
in which the role pressures from the work and family domains are mutually incompatible
in some respects”. A lot of work has been done in the past in this particular domain and it
has been identified as a bi-directional construct: work to family conflict and family to work
conflict (Carlson, Kacmar, & Williams, 2000; Frone, Russell, & Cooper, 1992; Frone,
2003; Carlson and Frone, 2003; Duxbury and Higgins, 1994; Frone et al., 1997; Kossek
and Ozeki, 1998; Netemeyer et al., 1996). It has been argued that both of these constructs
are theoretically and empirically distinct therefore both should be examined carefully when
studying work and family interference (Frone et al., 1997; Frone et al., 1992; Greenhaus
and Beutell, 1985; Carlson and Frone, 2003; Kossek and Ozeki, 1998). Past research has
also shown a very strong correlation between the two constructs (Froneet al., 1997; Kossek
and Ozeki, 1998), however both have their own specific antecedents and consequences
(Froneet al., 1992). In line to this argument, a research was conducted by Frone et al.,
(1997) in which some light was shed upon the determinants and consequences of both type
of conflicts. The main assumption stated that when the work and family roles interfere with
each other, it becomes difficult to meet the demands of the two (Frone et al., 1992). It was
identified that causes of work-family conflict are factors such as work stressors (e.g.
overtime) and this affects the family related responsibilities and behaviors whereas
evidences from research show that causes of family to work conflict are family related
stressors (e.g. looking after older family member) that affects the work related outcomes.
The results of this study were also supported by the research conducted by MacEwen and
Barling (1994) in which it was identified that work-family conflict is positively correlated
to family withdrawal and family-work conflict is positively correlated to work withdrawal.
However, few other studies have also identified positive relationships between work-
family conflict and not only family related outcomes but also with work related outcomes.
Similarly, direct relationships have been demonstrated between family-work conflicts and
not only work related outcomes but also family related outcomes (Adams, King, & King,
1996; Gignac, Kelloway, & Gottlieb, 1996; Grandey&Cropanzano, 1999; Judge,
Boudreau, & Bretz, 1994; Netemeyer et al., 1996). Keeping in view the above argument,
it is essential to study the effects of two dimensional work-family conflicts simultaneously.

10
In this study, both dimensions of work-family conflict are included in predicting the work
outcome of employee withdrawal behaviors. Including both directional measures of work-
family conflict in our analyses allows us to test the effects of each, above and beyond the
other, and should provide more information about the nature of the directional measures of
work-family conflict, thus contributing to theoretical models of the work-family interface.

Work family conflict: Withdrawal perspective

Past literature shows that keeping in view the general work-family conflict and general
withdrawal behaviors; only three studies have identified the relationship between the two
(Goff et al., 1990; MacEwen&Barling, 1994; Thomas & Ganster, 1995). Goff et al. (1990)
and Thomas and Ganster (1995) studied this relationship by using overall work family
conflict measures. However, in the study conducted by Thomas and Ganster (1995), work-
family conflict was reported to have an insignificant relationship with employee absence
but Goff (1990) found significant positive relationship between overall work-family
conflict and absence of employed parents. However, MacEwen and Barling (1994) used
two dimensional work-family conflict measures to study its impact on withdrawal
behaviors. It was found that family-work conflict had a significant positive impact on work
withdrawal.

In addition to studying the general withdrawal behaviors, four other studies examined
work-family conflict and withdrawal behaviors due to specific reasons such as elder care
(Barling et al. 1994; Hepburn & Barling, 1996) or due to childcare (Kossek, 1990; Kossek
& Nichol, 1992). In testing a model of inter-role conflict between work and eldercare,
Barling and colleagues demonstrated a direct relationship between work and eldercare
conflict and partial absenteeism (i.e., lateness, leaving work early, time on telephone).
Likewise, using a subset of the original Barling et al. data, Hepburn and Barling
demonstrated that the relationship between hours spent in care-giving and partial absence
(e.g., being late to work and leaving early) was stronger as the inter-role conflict between
work and eldercare increased. In related research, Kossek and colleagues found
relationships between attitudes towards managing work and childcare responsibilities and
days missed due to childcare problems. Therefore, the few studies that exist suggest a
positive relationship between an individual’s work-family conflict and withdrawal in

11
general and withdrawal due to family care demands. As work-role requirements cause an
inability to meet family responsibilities (i.e., WFC), the individual will experience
dissatisfaction (Burke, 1988; Cooke & Rousseau, 1984; Frone et al., 1997) as a result of
which the employees will tend to show more withdrawal behaviors (Goff et al., 1990;
MacEwen & Barling, 1994; Milkovich & Gomez, 1976). It was argued that the employee
can reduce the levels of WFC by freeing time, expected to be spent in the work role, to
meet the demands of one’s family role (Koslowsky, 2000; Vistnes, 1997). Key ways to do
this is to arrive late, remain absent, or not come to work at all. Therefore, the employee can
choose these nonattendance behaviors as a reaction to the conflict and as a way to reduce
it, at least temporarily. However, WFC may occur on a continuing basis. If employees
regularly choose to reduce these by being late, absent, or completely turnover, a positive
relation would emerge between WFC and withdrawal behaviors.

The specific withdrawal behaviors examined in the present study range in severity from
lateness, to absenteeism to the even more severe, turnover. These are all important to
examine because research has demonstrated that more mild forms of withdrawal behaviors
(e.g., lateness) have a tendency to escalate over time into more severe forms (e.g., turnover)
based on the progression of withdrawal model (Koslowsky, Sagie, Krausz, & Singer, 1997;
Rosse, 1988). We have also chosen to use these three measures of withdrawal as separate
indicators, consistent with arguments by Blau (1998) and Johns (1998) that aggregate
measures of withdrawal may be premature, as the construct is not clearly defined. Finally,
as noted above, there is reason to believe that both directional measures of work-family
conflict may affect withdrawal outcomes. Therefore, the present study will assess the
effects of both types of work-family conflict on three withdrawal behaviors at work.

Family friendly policies: A resource perspective

To facilitate work-family balance and minimize work-family conflict, family friendly

policies can play a vital role. There are a number of family friendly policies that can be
devised and implemented in order to mitigate the negative outcomes of work-family
conflict. As suggested by Flye et al., Frone (2003), these policies can be distinguished into
two different categories; on is the work-family programs that involve flextime, job sharing,
flexible work arrangements, paid leaves and day care centers while the other one is family-

12
friendly culture that involves work-family supportive culture, supportive supervisors and
peers and elimination of adverse career outcomes.

Although a few recent studies have examined supervisory or organizational support (e.g.,
Allen, 2001; Carlson & Perrewe, 1999; Clark, 2001; Thompson et al., 1999). It was
particularly surprising that so few studies examined family-supportive organizational
policies given practitioner interest in developing ‘‘family-friendly’’ work environments.
Much of the research has established family friendly policies as an antecedent of WFC and
FWC (Frone et al., 1992). Much of the early research on family-oriented benefits has
focused on the nature of these benefits, the extent to which they are available, and the
receptiveness of workplaces to their implementation. However, more recent empirical
investigations have examined the relationship between the use of family-oriented benefits
and WFC outcomes. Researchers have found that when employees had flexibility in their
work schedules, they experienced less WFC. Additional results revealed that employees
with schedule flexibility reported higher levels of job satisfaction (Thomas & Ganster,
1995). Rosin & Korabik, (2002)examined the extent to which perceptions of, satisfaction
with, and importance of family-friendly policies (parental leave, paid days off for family
concerns, job sharing, policies dealing with family responsibilities, daycare, flextime and
telecommuting) impacted WFC (both WIF and FIW) and a variety of work and family
outcome variables. Higher satisfaction with family-friendly policies was associated with
reductions in both WFC and FWC which, in turn, were related to reduce conflict between
work and family role and lower turnover intentions.

Attitudes regarding the use of these flexible programs, however, may be affected by the
practices of management. Research has demonstrated that many managers do not
encourage employees to utilize these programs (Kossek, Barber and Winters 1999). The
degree to which an organization can be viewed as instilling a family-supportive work
environment is related to its organizational culture. Respect for an employee’s non-work
life is an important component of a family supportive organization. Through its policies
and practices, an organization sends a message to its employees that non-work activities
are important and valued (Fiksenbaum, 2014). Traditionally, human resource policy
research has been descriptive and has tried to assess the nature and extent of various work-

13
family practices, programs, and policies. In our review of the human resource policy
literature, we found two basic streams: a demographic stream and a policy impact stream.
The demographic stream examined how employee and family characteristics directly relate
to work outcomes (e.g. absenteeism rates of women with small children), and the perceived
attractiveness of work family policies (e.g. Grover & Crooker, 1995). The policy impact
stream assesses how use of human resource work family policies affects work attitudes and
behaviors. Within the policy impact group, the most common approach was to use one-
time measures to look at the relationship between the use or availability of such policies
and employee attitudes and behaviors such as organizational commitment, absenteeism,
and turnover. Since most of these studies did not actually measure work-family conflict
but rather used demographics such as the number of child or elderly dependents as implicit
proxies for work-family conflict levels, this study sheds light on both the streams by
incorporating the questions regarding how employee and family characteristics directly
relate to work outcomes and to study the use or availability of such family friendly policies
to buffer the hypothesized relationship.

Job Demands- Resources JD-R Model

The Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model (Bakker &Demerouti, 2007; Demerouti et al.,
2001) have been extensively used to predict mental health and wellbeing (). At the heart of
the JD-R model lies the assumption that whereas every occupation may have its own causes
of employee well-being, these factors can be classified in two general categories (i.e., job
demands and job resources), thus constituting an overarching model that may be applied
to various occupational settings, irrespective of the particular demands and resources
involved. Job demands refer to those physical, psychological, social, or organizational
aspects of the job that require sustained physical and/or psychological (cognitive and
emotional) effort or skills and are therefore associated with certain physiological and/or
psychological costs. Examples are a high work pressure, an unfavorable physical
environment, and emotionally demanding interactions with clients. Although job demands
are not necessarily negative, they may turn into job stressors when meeting those demands
requires high effort from which the employee has not adequately recovered (Meijman and
Mulder, 1998).

14
Bakker and Demerouti (2007) argued that job resources refer to those physical,
psychological, social, or organizational aspects of the job that help in achieving work goals
and reduce job demands and the associated physiological and psychological costs.
Resources are not only necessary to deal with the job demands (stressors), but they also are
important in their own right. This agrees with Hackman and Oldham (1980) job
characteristics theory that emphasizes the motivational potential of job resources because
they are instrumental in achieving work goals.. Bakker and Demerouti (2007) have argued
that job resources may be located at the level of the organization (e.g. pay, career
opportunities, job security), the interpersonal and social relations (e.g. supervisor and co-
worker support, team climate), the organization of work (e.g. role clarity, participation in
decision making), and at the level of the task (e.g. skill variety, task identity, task
significance, autonomy, performance feedback). Family friendly policies may also be seen
as a resource at the level of organization to help employees achieve work family balance.

In addition to the main effects of job demands and resources, the JD-R model proposes that
the interaction between job demands and job resources is important for the development of
job strain. More specifically, it is proposed that job resources may buffer the impact of
stressors on strain. The buffering variable (family friendly policies) can reduce the
tendency of organizational properties to generate specific stressors (work family conflict)
and moderate its responses when compared to the withdrawal behaviors. Based on this
argument, it is stated that work family conflict arises when role pressures from the work
and family domains become mutually incompatible in some respects that ultimately leads
to temporary and permanent withdrawal behaviors. Family friendly policies may be seen
as a resource to achieve work family balance. Adopting the job demand-resource
perspective in this study, it is aimed to see would family friendly policies buffer the impact
of work family conflict on various withdrawal behaviors or not.

2.2 Criticism on Literature

Employees nowadays are facing numerous complex challenges in their struggle to meet
the demands of both work and family. One contributing factor is likely the increasing
prevalence of dual-breadwinner families and single working parents (Duxbury and
Higgins, 1994). Furthermore, in a technologically advanced, global marketplace,

15
traditional nine-to-five schedules have fallen by the wayside. The introduction of cellular
phones, pagers, portable computers, and e-mail are making it harder for workers to draw
boundaries physically and psychologically between their work and family life.
Consequently, the demands originating from these domains are frequently in competition,
leading to conflict between work and family. Recurring conflicts between work and family
may result in a variety of negative outcomes including risks to physical and mental health,
poor job performance, poor parental performance, incidence of work withdrawal behaviors
(e.g., tardiness, absenteeism, turnover, low job involvement), low morale, and low
satisfaction with job, life, marriage, and family (Aryee, 1992; Duxbury and Higgins, 1994;
Frone et al., 1992; Hammer et al., 2003; Leiter and Durup, 1996; O'Driscoll et al., 1992).
Organizations now recognize that negative outcomes associated with work/family conflict
may affect their performance, e.g., via absenteeism, turnover, and decreased job
performance (Galinsky et al., 1996; Goff et al., 1990), and unions are increasingly
incorporating potential solutions to these issues in contract negotiations. To reduce the
occurrence of these negative outcomes and to aid their members balancing the role
requirements of work and family, unions are urging organizations to create family-friendly
work environments (FFWE) by instituting various family-friendly programs, e.g., flexible
arrangements with regard to work schedule or location, dependent care assistance, and by
promoting supportive work/family cultures, e.g. promoting support from supervisors, co-
workers, and the work environment (Frone, 2003). However, in the past studies, family
friendly policies have been studied either as an independent variable where the focus was
upon family friendly policies as an antecedent of work family conflict or it has been studied
as a dependent variable where characteristics of organizations that offer FFP to their
employees was taken into account. FFP has never been studied as a moderator to examine
its differentiating impact on the relationship of WFC with various outcomes. This study is
aimed to shed light on this missing link by adopting the job demand-resource perspective.
It is hypothesized that family friendly policies would buffer the impact of work family
conflict on various withdrawal behaviors.

16
2.3 Theoretical Framework:

Theoretical framework explains all constructs/variables in the proposed model. This

framework is developed keeping in line with the research questions discussed earlier.
Figure 1 is the illustration of the conceptual model on which this whole research study is
based. The model outlines one independent variable (i.e. Work-family conflict and family-
work conflict), family friendly policies act as the moderating variable and various
withdrawal behaviors as the dependent variable.

Figure 2.3: Proposed Framework

2.3.1 Hypothesis

Keeping in view the above theoretical framework, following hypotheses are drawn:

17
Hypothesis 1a: Two dimensional work-family conflicts are positively related to employee
lateness.
Hypothesis 1b: Two dimensional work-family conflicts are positively related to employee
absenteeism.
Hypothesis 1c: Two dimensional work-family conflicts are positively related to employee
turnover intention.
Hypothesis 2: Availability and use of family friendly policies have a negative impact on
lateness, absenteeism and turnover intentions.
Hypothesis 3: Availability and use of family friendly policies moderate the relationship
between two dimensional work family conflicts and various withdrawal behaviors.

2.4 Conclusion

In this chapter, past literature on the relationships of work family conflict with various
withdrawal behaviors is explained with theoretical concepts and pictorial views. The next
chapter will emphasize on the research methodology.

18
 CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH DESIGN

19
3.1 Introduction

This chapter will enlighten the tools, techniques and procedures incorporated in the
research process. This chapter connects the literature with the empirical study undertaken
for testing the hypothesis. This study involves quantitative method approach to analyze the
relationship between two dimensional WFC and various withdrawal behaviors, and
determine the role of family friendly policies as moderators to this relationship. This
chapter will shed light on data collection methods and data analysis procedures in detail.

3.2 Research Design

Research design is a complete outline of data collection and data analysis. It highlights the
complete information about research mechanism and data collection methods employed in
research, and takes into account how this information taken from the survey can be
analyzed. The aim of this research is to find out the relationship between work family
conflict/family to work conflict and various withdrawal behaviors in the presence of family
friendly policies as moderating variable. It investigates the direct relationship between one
independent variable that is work family conflict and dependent variables that is various
withdrawal behaviors. It also investigates the indirect relationship between these variables
in the presence of moderating variable as to how the relationship changes because of this
moderator.

This study involves hypothesis testing as the correlation among the variables needs to be
analyzed. Data collection is done by using self administered questionnaire that is designed
by adopting standardized measures from past literature. In addition to this, the study is
cross sectional in nature, in which the responses for different measures are collected at the
same time.

3.3 Variables and Measurement

The questionnaire is divided into two sections; section A and B. SECTION A contains
questions about employee’s family and work related factors. Questions in section A will
be measured using nominal and ordinal scale. While SECTION B taps into feelings about
work family conflict, role of family friendly policies and employee withdrawal behaviors.

20
Section B consists of three parts; Part 1 includes questions related to two dimensional
work-family, Part 2 includes questions related to turnover intention and Part 3 about family
friendly policies. Variables included in section B were measured using five point likert
scale. Questionnaire survey is attached in appendix C.

Following are the variables and the standardized instruments for measuring them. .
• Work-family conflict and Family-work conflict was measured by the instrument
developed by(Netemeyer et al., 1996). This instrument consists of 10 items. There are
five work-family related items such as “The demands of my work interfere with my
home family life” and five family-work related items such as “The demands of my
family or spouse interfere with work related activities”. Participants use a 1-5likert scale
to signify the extent to which each item raises conflict for them with 1 as “strongly
disagree” and 5 as “strongly agree.”
• Family friendly policies were measured using a 7-item scale such as “flexi time” adapted
from the WERS 2011 Survey of Employees. It is the most commonly used instrument
for measuring family friendly policies. This instrument uses a 5 point likert scale from
1 to 5; where 1 equals “available and accessible” and 5 equals “don’t know”.
• Consistent with the earlier studies (Clegg, 1983; Koslowsky & Dishon-Berkovits, 2001;
Koslowsky, 2000) that used the self-report measures for evaluating the frequency of
employee lateness, the present study aims to adapt the same measures for evaluating the
frequency of individual lateness. However, as reported in earlier studies (Hammer,
Bauer, & Grandey, 2003; Koslowsky et al., 1997) this study will also focus on the
reasons of being late to work. Therefore, this study will bring both dimensions of
employee lateness literature under one roof that will address not only the frequency but
also the reasons of being late to work. This was done using two-scale items such as
“How many times you were late to work due to illness and family reasons in the past 30
days?”
• Similarly, consistent with the past independent studies on absenteeism concerning
frequency and duration(Hammer et al., 2003; MacEwen & Barling, 1994; Neal, M. B.,
Chapman, ingersoll-Dayton, & Emlen, 1993)and reasons of being absent (Sagie, 1998),
this study focuses on both the facets simultaneously. This was done using a 4 item scale

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 such as “How many times you were absent from work due to illness/family reasons in
the past 30 days?” and “Each time, for how many days you were absent from work due
to illness/family reasons in the past 30 days?”
• Lastly, turnover intention was measured using 3-scale item adapted from(Mobley,
Horner, & Hollingsworth, 1978). This instrument consists of items such as “I think a lot
about leaving the organization”. This scale also utilizes a 5 point likert scale from 1 to 5;
where 1 indicates “strongly disagree” and 5 means “strongly agree”.

3.4 Data Collection

3.4.1 Method

Primary data is collected by using self-administered questionnaire survey method.

Questionnaire is designed by using he already established measurement instruments as it
ensures data reliability. Questionnaire includes two sections; first section is relevant to
respondents’ demographic information and work and family related variables while second
section is related to the variables of the proposed model. Questionnaires were filled
manually.

3.4.2 Population

The objective of this study is to uncover the relationship between two-dimensional work
family conflict and withdrawal behaviors in the presence of family friendly policies as
moderating variable among working mothers. The population includes only the working
mothers who are working in different organizations of Pakistan as past literature identifies
that working mothers face highest level of two dimensional conflicts and need more family
supportive resources to keep a balance between work and family.

3.4.3 Sample

The sampling locations chosen for this study are Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Purposive
sampling technique was used for data collection as every working woman might not be
married or have children so to approach working mothers specifically, for data collection
the respondents were asked whether she falls in the requisite category or not.

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 3.4.4 Response Rate

A total of 520 questionnaires were distributed in different organizations such as schools,

colleges, universities and banks. Out of this number, 496 questionnaires were filled and
received and this is a reasonable sample size according to the standard rules of statistics.
The total response rate was 95.4% that can help bring up generalized results.

3.5 Data Analysis Techniques

For generating the results from the obtained responses, following procedures were
incorporated.

• Data Transcribing
• Data Screening
• Reliability of measures
• Descriptive Analysis
• Hypothesis Testing

3.5.1 Data Transcribing and Screening

This study involves twofold analysis; descriptive as well as quantitative analysis of the data
collected. Data was compiled and properly fed and coded in SPSS software. Data
screening was done in which issues related to missing values, normality and outliers were
dealt and fixed. As the questionnaire was not much complicated and easy to understand
therefore majority of the respondents filled the questionnaires completely. However, the
existing missing values were treated using the imputation method as the missing values in
the collected data were less than 2%. Then, reliability of measures and descriptive statistics
followed by correlation and regression analysis was done for generating final results.
Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for the data analysis.

3.5.2 Reliability of Measures

Cronbach alpha (α) was used to check the reliability of the constructs employed in this
study. It signifies the resemblance of different items used to evaluate the same construct.
Value of alpha can range from zero to one. According to Gerbing et al. (1988), the items

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will have more internal consistency if the value of cronbach alpha is equal to 0.7 or greater
than 0.7. If the value is less value than 0.7, it means that there is weak similarity among the
items of the construct. In the present study, reliability test of all the constructs were
conducted and their results were elaborated in the next chapter.

3.5.3 Descriptive Analysis

Descriptive analysis is done to summarize the basic characteristics of the data before
conducting the correlation and regression analysis. In the current study, descriptive
statistics of demographic variables were analyzed. These descriptive statistics include
central tendency, variances, standard deviations, skewness, kurtosis and frequencies to
present the main characteristics of the sample.

3.5.4 Hypothesis Testing

The descriptive analysis was followed by the correlation analysis among the independent
variable (WFC/FWC), moderating variable (Family Friendly Policies) and dependent
variable (withdrawal behaviors). This was then followed by simple linear regression to
examine the direct relationships between (a) Work-family conflict and withdrawal
behaviors (b) Family-work conflict and withdrawal behaviors. Moderated role of
availability and use of family friendly policies was tested through hierarchical moderated
regression model. As identified by Baron & Kenny (1986), if the interaction term of
independent and moderating variable on the dependent variable is significant then the
moderator hypothesis is accepted.

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 Table 3.2: Data Analysis Techniques

Type of Analysis Purpose Reason for choosing

Normality Test For testing the normality of Before performing detailed
data distribution. analysis, to ensure data
normally distributed.
Cronbach Alpha For measuring the reliability To produce reliable results.
of the questionnaire items.
Simple Linear Regression For analyzing the To determine how strong
relationship between: the relationship between
• Independent and different variables.
moderating variables
• Independent and
dependent variable
• Moderating and
dependent variable
Hierarchical moderated For measuring the To determine whether
regression model moderating effect moderating variables
(Baron and Kenny 1986) buffers the relationship.

3.6 Conclusion

In this chapter, data collection and analysis techniques used in the research are elaborated
at length. The next chapter will focus on the results obtained from the data analysis.

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