WORK-FAMILY CONFLICT, WORK-FAMILY FACILITATION AND JOB SATISFACTION: CONSIDERING THE ROLE OF GENERATIONAL DIFFERENCES

Abstract

This study investigates the relation between work-family conflict, work-family facilitation and job satisfaction among the three different generations at an Enforcement Agency in Malaysia. The term work-family conflict includes both work to family conflict and family to work conflict; whereas work-family facilitation refers to both work to family facilitation and family to work facilitation. Using questionnaire adopted from Greenhaus and Beutell (1985), Wayne, Musisca, and Fleeson (2004) and Spector (1985)’s Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS), data was collected from 300 employees at its Sarawak office. Analyses showed that Gen X reported higher job satisfaction, Gen Y reported higher work-family, while Baby Boomer reported higher work-family conflict. Pearson correlation analysis showed that workfamily conflict was negatively related to job satisfaction while work-family facilitation was positively related to job satisfaction for all three generations. When these relations were examined by cohorts, the findings showed different level of strength and significance. The study contributed towards understanding that managers need to consider generational differences in designing work-family programs, to reduce work-family conflict as well as to enhance workfamily facilitation, as these are directly related to job satisfaction.