Ob Presentation

Work–Family Conflict, Policies, and the Job–Life Satisfaction Relationship: A Review and Directions for Organizational Behavior–Human Resources Research*1

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Ellen Ernst Kossek, and Cynthia Ozeki

School of Labor and Industrial Relations, Michigan State University, USA

Received 21 February 1997; 

revised 30 September 1997; 

accepted 2 October 1997. 

Available online 4 September 2002.

Abstract

This review examines the relationship among work–family (w-f) conflict, policies, and job and life satisfaction. The meta-analytic results show that regardless of the type of measure used (bidirectional w-f conflict, work to family, family to work), a consistent negative relationship exists among all forms of w-f conflict and job–life satisfaction. This relationship was slightly less strong for family to work conflict. Although confidence intervals overlap, the relationship between job–life satisfaction and w-f conflict may be stronger for women than men. Future research should strive for greater consistency and construct development of measures, examination of how sample composition influences findings, and increased integration of human resources policy and role conflict perspectives, including whether a positive relationship between w-f policies and satisfaction is mediated by w-f conflict.

*1 This research was funded by a doctoral assistantship provided by the School of Labor and Industrial Relations at Michigan State University.

School of Labor and Industrial Relations, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan