Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
ARTICLE NO.
0025
AND
VERONICA M. GODSHALK
NICHOLAS J. BEUTELL
Hagan School of Business, Iona College
The study examines the influence of work and family variables on the career success
and psychological well-being of 111 men and women entrepreneurs. The results show
that work-domain variables account for significant variation in time commitment to
work, whereas family-domain variables explain substantial variation in time commitment to family. Time commitment to work and time commitment to family play an
important role in mediating the effects of gender, work and family characteristics, and
role demands on work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict. These two types
of workfamily conflict in turn mediate the effects of time commitment to work and
family and selected work and family variables on entrepreneurs career success and
life stress. Implications of the findings and directions for further research are discussed.
q 1996 Academic Press, Inc.
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The literature on entrepreneurs shows that men and women start businesses
for many of the same reasons, prominent among which are the need for
achievement, autonomy, and flexibility (Bowen & Hisrich, 1986; Brenner,
Pringle, & Greenhaus, 1991; Cromie, 1978; Moore, Buttner & Rosen, 1992;
Quinn & Staines, 1978; Waddell, 1983). Women entrepreneurs, in particular,
view the freedom and flexibility offered by business ownership as facilitating
the pursuit of active careers and family roles simultaneously (Bowen & Hisrich, 1986; Kaplan, 1988; Main, 1990). Greenhaus and Callanan (1994) have
pointed out, however, that the relation between entrepreneurship and family
obligations is paradoxical. Theoretically, entrepreneurs are their own bosses,
enjoy greater personal freedom than organizational employees, and have the
flexibility to modify their work schedules to fulfill family commitments. In
reality, however, this freedom is bounded by their responsibility for the survival and economic success of the enterprise. Success usually entails escalating business demands that can diminish the time available to fulfill family
role responsibilities (Goffee & Scase, 1985; Greenhaus & Callanan, 1994;
Hornaday & Aboud, 1987; Loscocco et al., 1991; Mannheim & Schiffrin,
1984). On the other hand, heavy family responsibilities limit the entrepreneurs ability to devote time and energy to the enterprise.
Gender has long been assumed to influence the allocation of time and
energy to the competing role demands of work and family (Pleck, 1977;
Pleck, Staines, & Lang, 1980). Early research on gender differences in commitment to the work role tended to be descriptive and atheoretical. Recent
theoretical formulations of work and family linkages propose that individuals
investment in work and family roles can be explained in utilitarian terms
based on rational models of decision making, gender-role congruence, and
the psychological importance of the two roles (Gutek, Searle, & Klepa, 1991;
Lobel, 1991; ODriscoll et al., 1992). Thus, it is necessary to examine the
role of gender in influencing the time devoted to work and family, and the
consequences of this for entrepreneurs career success and well-being.
The present study seeks to address several gaps in the research on entrepreneurial careers. First, it examines the relations of gender, work, and family
variables with entrepreneurs personal career success and psychological wellbeing in both the work and family domains. Focusing on the internal career,
the study examines three indicators of entrepreneurial success and well-being:
career satisfaction, family satisfaction, and life stress. Moreover, the study
seeks to understand the mechanisms or processes that link work and family
variables with career success and well-being among entrepreneurs, and to see
if they are similar to the findings relating to organizationally employed women
and men. Specifically, it investigates the role of time commitment to work
and time commitment to family respectively as intervening variables linking
work and family characteristics and role demands with workfamily conflict.
Recent conceptual refinements in the definition of workfamily conflict
emphasize the need to recognize the bidirectional nature of workfamily
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FIG. 1.
PARASURAMAN ET AL.
Conceptual model of work and family variables and entrepreneurial career success.
conflict (Frone et al., 1992; Gutek et al., 1991; ODriscoll et al., 1992), and
to distinguish between work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict.
Thus, we examine work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict as
second-level, intervening variables linking work demands and family role
responsibilities with entrepreneurs well-being. In summary, the present study
examines the role of time commitment to work and family, and workfamily
conflict in mediating the relations of gender, work and family characteristics
and role demands with entrepreneurs career success, family satisfaction, and
life stress.
The variables in the study and the pattern of relationships proposed among
them are summarized in Figure 1. Gender, work-domain variables, and familydomain variables are expected to be directly related to time commitment to
work and time commitment to family. These two variables in turn are posited
to influence work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict, and through
them the career satisfaction, family satisfaction, and life stress experienced
by entrepreneurs. Thus, time commitment to work and time commitment to
family are expected to play a mediational role, linking gender and the antecedent work and family-domain variables to the two types of workfamily conflict. Similarly, work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict are expected to mediate the relation of time commitment to work and family respectively with the three indicators of well-being. Based on prior research we
also expect that work- and family-domain variables will have direct effects
on the two types of workfamily conflict and the three outcome measures.
The rationale for the variables selected and the hypothesized pattern of relations among them are discussed in the following sections.
Previous research on workfamily dynamics has treated gender as both an
independent variable directly related to time commitment to work and time
commitment to family (Frone et al., 1992; Gutek et al., 1991), workfamily
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PARASURAMAN ET AL.
ceived control over situations, it can reduce the perceived severity of workrole stressors (Parasuraman & Alutto, 1981, 1984) and workfamily conflict
(Greenhaus & Kopelman, 1981). Greenhaus et al. (1989) found autonomy to
be negatively related to time-based workfamily conflict among women, and
to strain-based workfamily conflict among men. Autonomy has also been
reported to be associated with increased job satisfaction and decreased felt
stress (Parasuraman & Alutto, 1984). In the case of entrepreneurs, the greater
perceived control implied by autonomy may enable them to structure their
work in a manner that accommodates their family responsibilities, delegate
responsibility for certain work-related tasks, or be more efficient in accomplishing them, thereby making time for dealing with family role demands, and
minimizing or reducing workfamily conflict (Greenhaus et al., 1989;
Quinn & Staines, 1978).
Entrepreneurs, however, do not enjoy unfettered autonomy. Their degrees
of freedom may be limited by the characteristics of the business in which
they are engaged. Certain deadline-driven and/or client-centered businesses
may involve schedule constraints that exacerbate work-role pressures, and
reduce the time available to devote to family-role demands. Schedule inflexibility represents a structural source of interference between work and family
that makes it difficult to devote the time needed to fulfill family responsibilities
(Bowen & Hisrich, 1986; Kaplan, 1988). Business-related travel may also
add to schedule inflexibility. Thus schedule inflexibility reduces the degrees
of freedom available to entrepreneurs in dealing with competing role demands
(Loscocco & Roschelle, 1991; Pleck et al., 1980; Quinn & Staines, 1978).
Although autonomy and schedule inflexibility are correlated, they are conceptually and empirically distinct (Greenhaus et al., 1989). Thus, autonomy and
schedule inflexibility are likely to have opposite effects on time commitment
to work and family. Despite the observation that a majority of men and
women rank work second in importance to family, work demands usually take
precedence over family-role demands. Autonomy is expected to be positively
related to time commitment to work and family. Conversely, schedule inflexibility is expected to be associated with increased time commitment to work
and decreased time commitment to family.
Work-role overload refers to the perceived magnitude of work-role demands, and the feeling that there are too many things to do and not enough
time to do them (Caplan, Cobb, French, Harrison, & Pineau, 1975;
Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985; Greenhaus et al., 1989). The myriad tasks involved in starting and operating ones own business, the need to perform
multiple functions concurrently, and the demands and pulls of different constituencies are likely to be reflected in perceptions of role overload
(Greenhaus & Callanan, 1994). Work-role overload is hypothesized to be
associated with increased time commitment to work and decreased time commitment to family.
Job involvement, which refers to the psychological involvement in and
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perceived interference of the work domain on the family domain (i.e., workto-family conflict). Conversely, the investment of additional time in the family
role diminishes time available for the work role, thereby generating perceptions of family-to-work conflict. Hence this study examines both work-tofamily conflict and family-to-work conflict experienced by entrepreneurs.
Career satisfaction, reflecting the entrepreneurs personal satisfaction with
various aspects of career progress and success, was examined as an internal
index of career success. Family satisfaction and life stress were included as
indicators of well-being in the family domain and life overall. Family satisfaction refers to entrepreneurs feelings of positive affect about their family
situation, whereas life stress reflects the psychological response state of disturbed affect in relation to stresses in ones life.
Previous research indicates that overall workfamily conflict is associated
with lower levels of job, family, and life satisfaction, greater life stress, and
symptoms of decreased mental and physical well-being (Bedeian et al., 1988;
Kopelman, Greenhaus, & Connolly, 1983; Lewis & Cooper, 1988; Parasuraman et al., 1992; Pleck et al., 1980; Sekaran, 1986). ODriscoll et al. (1992)
reported that job interference with family is associated with decreased nonjob
satisfaction, which in turn contributes to increased psychological strain. Based
on these findings, work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict are
hypothesized to be negatively related to career satisfaction and family satisfaction, and positively related to life stress. Moreover, extending the findings of
Frone et al. (1992) and ODriscoll et al. (1992), the study posits that workto-family conflict and family-to-work conflict will mediate the relations of
time commitment to work and time commitment to family respectively with
the three indicators of entrepreneurial career success and well-being.
METHOD
Sample
The sample consisted of 111 business owners who completed and returned
a survey entitled Work and Family Research Study distributed in class to
men and women enrolled in continuing professional education courses for
small business owners in two eastern universities. For the purpose of this
study a broad and inclusive definition of the term entrepreneur was used to
refer to a self-employed person who owned and operated his or her own
business (Evans, 1957). The criteria for inclusion in the present study was
that the respondent be self-employed in his or her own business, work twenty
hours or more per week in the business, and be a member of a two-career
relationship. The surveys were anonymous and returned directly to researchers
at the university. Of the 111 respondents, 59 were men and 52 were women.
The age of the entrepreneurs in this study ranged from 2661 years; their
average age was 41 years. Over 60% of the sample had completed a bachelors
degree or higher level of education.
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PARASURAMAN ET AL.
Measures
The measures used to operationalize the variables in the study were selected
from the literature with appropriate modifications for use with a sample of
entrepreneurs. In all cases the alpha reliability coefficients of the adapted
measures were computed to test the appropriateness of the instrument for use
with a sample of business owners. Internal consistency reliability coefficients
were also calculated for the few new measures developed for this study.
Autonomy was measured by a four-item scale developed by Parasuraman
and Alutto (1981, 1984) to reflect the extent of freedom involved in the job.
The scale was used by Greenhaus et al. (1989) as an antecedent of work
family conflict. An example of an item is How often do you find that you
have freedom to adopt your own approach to the job? The response anchors
ranged from 1 (never) to 5 (always). The referent work or business was
used instead of job in this study. The alpha reliability coefficient of the scale
as used in the current study was .85.
Schedule inflexibility was assessed by a scale with three items developed
by Greenhaus et al. (1989). Two items refer directly to inflexibility, (e.g.,
How flexible is your work schedule, i.e., to what extent can you make
adjustments concerning the time you go to work and the time you leave
work?) The response options ranged from 1 (not at all flexible) to 4 (very
flexible). A third item asked respondents to indicate the extent to which their
work involved out-of-town travel. Responses were anchored on a five-point
scale ranging from 1 (almost none) to 5 (a great deal). Since frequent outof-town travel increases the inflexibility of schedules, responses to the three
items were standardized, and the mean was used as a composite measure of
schedule inflexibility (alpha .68).
Work-role overload refers to the perception that the quantity of work exceeds the time or resources available to complete it. A four-item scale adapted
from Caplan et al. (1975) was used to operationalize this variable. A sample
item is There is a great deal to be done at work, with responses made on
a five-point scale ranging from 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree).
The scale items were recoded and averaged such that high scores denoted
high work-role overload (alpha .77).
Job involvement was measured by Lodahl and Kejners (1965) abbreviated four-item scale, which has been used widely as an index of the psychological importance of work in the persons life (Frone et al., 1992; Kopelman et al., 1983; Greenhaus et al., 1989; Parasuraman & Alutto, 1984).
An illustrative item is The most important things that happen to me
involve my job. The word work was used instead of job as the referent
for entrepreneurs. The alpha coefficient of the measure of job involvement
used in this study was .78.
Parental demands were assessed by a scale derived from several questions
relating to the presence or absence of children, the number and ages of the
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children living at home, and the age of the youngest child. Applying Lopatas
(1966) model of family stages, we used the coding strategy used by Bedeian
et al. (1988) to categorize the respondents into five groups to reflect increasing
levels of parental demands: 1 (no children), 2 (one or more children older
than 22 but none under the age of 22) 3 (one or more children between 19
and 22 but none under the age of 19), 4 (one or more children between 6
and 18 but none under 6), and 5 (one or more children under 6 years of
age). The five groups were coded 1 to 5 and used to form an ordinal scale
indicating increasing parental role demands, reaching a peak for parents in
category 5 (i.e., one or more children under age 6). Instrumental support
was measured by a single behavioral item developed by Parasuraman and
Greenhaus (1994). Individuals were asked to indicate, On average days
when your spouse or partner is working, about how much time does he or
she spend on housework and/or childcare? A four-point response option
was provided, ranging from 1 (less than 1 hour) to 4 (more than 4 hours).
Although the reliability of a single-item measure is generally open to question,
because this measure is behaviorally anchored it may be considered quasiobjective. This measure was related to selected variables in the expected
direction in previous research (Parasuraman & Greenhaus, 1994), and in the
current study, for example, gender (r .39, p .001, where 0 women
and 1 men) and parental demands (r .40, p .001). These findings
provide additional confidence in the validity of the measure. The level of
informational or emotional support received by the entrepreneur was assessed
by a six-item scale developed and used by Parasuraman et al., 1992. Respondents were asked to indicate how much support of various types they received
from their spouse or partner. An illustrative item relating to informational
support is To what extent does your spouse or partner give you advice or
suggestions when you have a problem? An example of an item reflecting
emotional support is To what extent is your spouse or partner willing to
listen to your problems? The response anchors ranged from 1 (almost none)
to 5 (a great deal). The mean of the six items was used as a measure of
perceived informational or emotional support (alpha .86).
Family involvement was measured by a scale that paralleled the job involvement scale, with the word family substituted for the word job. This scale as
modified by Kopelman et al. (1983), has been used to assess family involvement in a number of research studies (e.g., Frone et al., 1992; Parasuraman
et al., 1992). The negative correlation of this variable with job involvement
and positive correlation with time commitment to family provide additional
confidence in the validity of this scale as a measure of family involvement.
The alpha coefficient of the scale as used in this study was .76. Gender was
a dummy variable coded 0 for women and 1 for men.
Time commitment to work was measured by a self-report, behaviorally
anchored item that asked respondents, How many hours would you say you
work in an average week? Include the time spent at the office, time spent
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PARASURAMAN ET AL.
traveling, and time spent working at home. The response categories ranged
from 1 (2029 hours) to 5 (60 hours or more). The modal time commitment
to work was 5059 hours for men and 4049 hours for women. Time commitment to family was assessed by a behaviorally anchored item: On the average
on days when you are working, about how much time do you spend on
housework and/or child care? Four response categories ranging from 1 (less
than 1 hour) to 4 (more than 4 hours) were provided.
Work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict were measured by a set
of items developed by Kopelman et al. (1983). The scale measuring workto-family conflict consisted of six items dealing with the interference of work
with family. An illustrative item is: My work takes up time Id like to spend
with my family. Responses to these items were made on five-point scales
anchored by 1 (strongly disagree) and 5 (strongly agree). The mean of the
six items was used as a measure of work-to-family conflict (alpha .87).
The measure of family-to-work conflict included four items reflecting the
interference of family with work (e.g., My family takes up time Id like to
spend working) (alpha .64). The two types of workfamily conflict were
correlated in the expected direction (r 0.31, p .01).
Career satisfaction was measured with a 5-item scale developed by Parasuraman et al. (1992). The items asked respondents to indicate their level of
satisfaction with their career progress and success, including progress made
in meeting goals for income and development of new skills. An example is
How satisfied are you with the progress you have made toward meeting
your overall career goals? The response options were anchored on a fivepoint scale from 1 (dissatisfied) to 5 (very satisfied). The mean of the five
items was used as a measure of career satisfaction (alpha .87).
Family satisfaction was measured by a three-item scale used originally
by Kopelman et al. (1983) and subsequently by other researchers as well
(Parasuraman et al., 1992). The items used a five-point rating scale, ranging
from 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree). An example is Generally
speaking, I am very satisfied with my family. The items were recoded such
that high scores denoted high family satisfaction (alpha .76).
Life stress was assessed by a ten-item scale developed by Parasuraman et
al. (1992). The scale measures the psychological response state of disturbed
affect in relation to stressors in ones life. The scale items ask individuals to
indicate the extent to which they experience various feelings about things in
their life such as being upset, frustrated, under pressure, feeling blue and
tired or worn out. The ten items were averaged and used as a measure of
overall life stress (alpha .89).
Control variables included the organizations size, and the number of years
of business ownership. Previous research has shown these two variables to
be strongly related to gender, entrepreneurial business success, income, and
satisfaction (Chaganti & Schneer, 1994; Kalleberg & Leicht, 1991; Loscocco
et al., 1991). Hence they were treated as controls to avoid confounding the
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Gender
Autonomy
Work role overload
Schedule
inflexibility
Job involvement
Parental demands
Info./Emotional
support
Instrumental support
Family involvement
Time commitment
to work
Time commitment
to family
Work-to-family
conflict
Family-to-work
conflict
Career satisfaction
Family satisfaction
Life stress
.87
.99
.84
3.87
2.04
4.01
2.25
.00
2.86
2.88
3.02
2.04
.64
.73
.80
.67
.82
1.05
1.33
.71
.76
1.91
0.30
3.10
2.83
3.48
.65
.76
SD
4.49
3.61
Mean
0.11
.31
0.04
0.12
.19
0.47
.43
.24
.39
0.03
.04
.25
.00
.07
.19
0.36
.32
0.13
0.20
0.01
0.11
.07
.31
0.14
.10
0.18
.23
.03
.06
.08
.22
0.02
.34
.61
0.28
.47
.14
0.01
.07
.10
.28
.00
.18
0.09
0.28
.12
.22
0.01
.20
.26
0.06
0.02
.22
0.26
.34
.11
.17
0.30
0.03
.26
0.33
.24
.06
.23
.05
.13
0.02
0.16
.17
.06
.42
0.02
0.03
.40
.22
0.38
.27
.05
0.08
.07
0.13
.13
0.02
.40
.08
.11
0.06
.09
.10
.15
.29
0.09
0.32
.11
.04
0.08
0.15
.15
0.11
Note. Gender was coded 0 women, 1 men. r .15, p .05; r .25, p .01; r .36, p .001.
14.
15.
16.
13.
12.
11.
8.
9.
10.
5.
6.
7.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Variables
0.06
.27
0.09
.11
.51
0.33
10
TABLE 1
Means, Standard Deviations, and Intercorrelations among Study Variables
.13
0.12
.10
.03
0.31
11
.16
.03
0.02
.53
12
0.28
0.03
.33
13
.21
0.16
14
.04
15
.25
289
290
PARASURAMAN ET AL.
TABLE 2
Path Analysis Results for Time Commitment to Work and Time Commitment to Family
Time commitment to work
Independent variables
Controls
Gender
Work domain
Autonomy
Schedule inflexibility
Work-role overload
Job involvement
Family domain
Parental demands
Info./emotional support
Instrumental support
Family involvement
Adjusted R 2
Direct
effect b
.41***
.04
.19*
.36***
.14
0.06
0.01
.19
0.05
R2
DR 2
Direct
effect b
R2
DR 2
.04
.21***
.17***
0.46***
.02
.23***
.21***
.21***
0.04
.05
0.16
0.13
.29***
.06
.50***
.44***
.21***
.42***
.45***
.38***
.03
.32***
.03
.25*
.03
Note. The control variables were organizational size and number of years of business ownership. Gender was coded 0 women, and 1 men.
* p .05.
** p .01.
*** p .001.
conflict are reported in Table 3. The results provide substantial support for
the hypothesis that time commitment to work and time commitment to family
will be directly related to the two types of workfamily conflict. Time commitment to work was related positively with work-to-family conflict (b
.25, p .05), whereas time commitment to family was negatively related
with both family-to-work conflict (b 0.24, p .05) and work-to-family
conflict (b 0.24, p .05). Work-role overload (b .49, p .001) and
parental demands (b .22, p .05) also were associated with heightened
work-to-family conflict. Cross-domain effects were noted for job involvement,
which was positively related to work-to-family conflict (b .31, p .001)
and for family involvement, which was associated with decreased work-tofamily conflict (b 0.22, p .05). Autonomy (b 0.32, p .001) had
a direct negative effect on family-to-work conflict. Informational/emotional
support (b .25, p .01) was negatively associated with family-to-work
conflict.
Table 4 presents the path analyses results for career satisfaction, family
satisfaction, and life stress. The work-domain variables as a set accounted
for most of the variation in career satisfaction (D R2 .25, p .001). The
workfamily conflict variables also made a significant incremental contribu-
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.13
.08
.00
0.24
.25
0.24
0.02
.13
.58
.02
.19
.22*
.09
.01
0.22*
.25*
0.24*
0.05
.05
.49***
0.12
0.13
Direct
effect
b
0.09
0.01
0.01
0.02
.00
.00
0.03
.08
.09
.14
.32
Indirect
effecta
.04
.07***
.52***
.45***
.35***
.03
DR 2
.45***
.41***
.03
.06
R2
.18
0.24
0.07
0.13
0.15
.13
0.40
0.03
.02
.33
0.10
Total
effect
b
.13
0.25
0.08
0.15
0.15
.13
0.32***
.01
.15
.31***
.01
Direct
effect
b
.05
.01
.01
.02
.00
.00
.08
.04
0.13
.02
0.09
Indirect
effecta
.39***
.30***
.39***
.27***
.06
.07
R2
Family-to-work conflict
Note. The control variables were organizational size and number of years of business ownership. Gender was coded 0 women, 1 men.
a
The indirect effect is the difference between the total effect and the direct effect.
* p .05.
** p .01.
*** p .001.
Controls
Gender
Work domain
Autonomy
Schedule inflexibility
Work-role overload
Job involvement
Family domain
Parental demands
Info./emotional support
Instrumental support
Family involvement
This commitment to work
Time commitment to family
Adjusted R 2
Independent variables
Total
effect
b
Work-to-family conflict
TABLE 3
Path Analysis Results for Work-to-Family Conflict and Family-to-Work Conflict
.02
.09
.20***
.01
DR 2
291
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0.08
0.06
.02
.07
.08
.21
0.14
0.26*
.09
.21
0.14
0.26
.24*
0.14
.17
.35***
.33
0.14
.17
.22
0.08
.00
.11
.14
.08
Direct
effect b
.16
Total
effect b
.00
.00
.00
.01
.00
.06
.09
.07
.09
.00
.00
0.13
.08
Indirect
effecta
.03
.06*
.40***
.29***
.01
.25***
.03
DR 2
.34***
.31***
.30***
.02
.05
R2
.29*
.17
0.08
0.18
0.12
.24
.17
0.08
0.18
.04
.02
0.12
0.20
0.26*
.05
.14
0.20
0.23
.02
.10
0.07
.09
.07
0.14
.05
Direct
effect b
0.08
Total
effect b
.33***
.22***
.02
.04
0.11
.51
.20
.31***
.21
.06
.07
0.19
0.18
.02
.38
0.04
0.13
Total
effect b
0.05
.00
.00
.02
.06
.00
DR 2
0.02
.27***
.25***
.18***
.19***
R2
.06
.11
.05
.05
0.02
.00
.03
0.03
0.04
0.03
Indirect
effecta
Family satisfaction
0.01
.51***
.20*
0.12
.10
.07
.11
0.04
0.09
0.06
.13
0.13
0.21
Direct
effect b
.10
.00
.00
.10
.11
0.01
0.04
0.15
.09
0.09
.08
.08
Indirect
effecta
Life stress
.44***
.35***
.27***
.27***
.25
.21***
.03
.05
R2
Note. The control variables were organizational size and number of years of business ownership. Gender was coded 0 women, 1 men.
a
The indirect effect is the difference between the total effect and the direct effect.
* p .05.
** p .01.
*** p .001.
Controls
Gender
Work domain
Autonomy
Schedule inflexibility
Work-role overload
Job involvement
Family domain
Parental demands
Info./emotional support
Instrumental support
Family involvement
Time commitment to
work
Time commitment to
family
Work-to-family conflict
Family-to-work conflict
Adjusted R 2
Independent variables
Career satisfaction
TABLE 4
Path Analysis Results for Career Satisfaction and Well-Being of Entrepreneurs
.17***
.00
.06
.16***
.02
DR 2
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PARASURAMAN ET AL.
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FIG. 2. Direct and indirect effects of work and family variables on entrepreneurial career
success and psychological well-being.
tion (D R2 .06, p .05) to variation in career satisfaction, with familyto-work conflict decreasing career satisfaction (b 0.26, p .05). The
model variables explain 33% of the variation in family satisfaction. Schedule
inflexibility (b 0.26, p .05) detracted from family satisfaction, and time
commitment to family (b .29, p .05) enhanced satisfaction. Neither of the
two types of workfamily conflict was directly related to family satisfaction.
Consistent with our hypothesis, work-to-family conflict (b .51, p
.001) and family-to-work conflict (b .20, p .05) were related directly to
life stress, and jointly make a substantial incremental contribution (D R2
.17, p .001) to variation in life stress. The effects of gender and several
work and family variables on life stress were transmitted through time commitment to work and time commitment to family at the first level, and through
the two types of workfamily conflict at the second level. Thus, the results
provide moderately strong support for the mediational role of time commitment to work and family and workfamily conflict.
Figure 2 summarizes the total pattern of significant relations among the
study variables. The diagram shows that time commitment to work partially
mediated the effects of gender, role overload, and schedule inflexibility on
work-to-family conflict. Similarly, time commitment to family served a partial
mediational role in transmitting the effects of gender, parental demands, and
instrumental support on work-to-family conflict and family satisfaction. In
other words, the effect of work and family variables on the two types of
workfamily conflict was transmitted through time commitment to work and
time commitment to family. Work-to-family conflict mediated the effects of
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and some of the work and family variables (parental demands, job involvement, and instrumental social support) have interaction effects on the dependent measures.
Contrary to expectations, the results indicate that psychological involvement in work and family roles have virtually no effect on time commitment
to work and time commitment to family; rather, they have direct effects on
the two types of workfamily conflict. Moreover, job involvement and family
involvement have differential cross-domain effects on workfamily conflict.
High levels of job involvement are associated with increased family-to-work
conflict independently of the time commitment to work, whereas high levels
of family involvement are associated with decreased work-to-family conflict.
Thus, as suggested by Greenhaus and Parasuraman (1994), it appears that the
extent of psychological involvement in a role importantly affects perceptions
of the direction of role interference.
Our findings indicate that extensive parental demands necessitate increased
time commitment to family, which in turn is associated with decreased workto-family conflict, but unrelated to family-to-work conflict. It appears from
this that the additional time devoted to the family role by entrepreneurs with
young children is viewed positively by them and is not perceived to interfere
with the work role. The positive direct relation of spouse instrumental support
with time commitment to family is surprising and contrary to what was
expected. This may reflect in part the operation of reciprocity in the exchange
of support by entrepreneurs and their spouses (i.e., entrepreneurs who provide
extensive instrumental support to their spouse, are also likely to receive similar
support in return) (Parasuraman & Greenhaus, 1994). However, the possibility
of common method variance contributing to the result cannot be ruled out.
The beneficial effects of autonomy in enabling entrepreneurs to meet the
dual demands of work and family roles are reflected in the direct negative
effect of autonomy on family-to-work conflict. This finding suggests that
the latitude provided by autonomy enables the entrepreneur to minimize the
intrusion of family into work. An additional benefit of autonomy is its positive
effect on career satisfaction.
An important contribution of this study is the confirmation of the role of
time commitment to work and time commitment to family in mediating the
effects of gender, work-domain, and family-domain variables on work-tofamily conflict and family-to-work conflict, respectively. The findings also
demonstrate that the two types of conflict operate as second-level, intervening
variables, through which the effects of time commitment to work and time
commitment to family are transmitted to career success and life stress. It is
interesting to note that work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict
have cross-domain consequences on entrepreneurs well-being. Work-to-family conflict is associated with heightened life stress, whereas family-to-work
conflict is associated with decreased career satisfaction of entrepreneurs.
Work-to-family conflict also plays a more important mediating role than
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