BUKU ABSTRAK - Universiti Putra Malaysia

Work-family Conflict among Single Mother Employees
Prof. Dr. Aminah Ahmad
Maznah Baba and Siti Aishah Hassan
Faculty of Educational Studies, University Putra Malaysia,
43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
+603-8946 8225; aminah@ace.upm.edu.my
Keywords: Work-family conflict, dispositional factors, job factors, organisational factors, single mother employees
Emotional Exhaustion and Parental Functioning of Junior Medical Doctors
Prof. Dr. Aminah Ahmad
Maznah Baba
Faculty of Educational Studies, University Putra Malaysia,
43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
+603-8946 8225; aminah@ace.upm.edu.my
Keywords: Role overload, work-family conflict, emotional exhaustion, junior doctors
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Social Sciences
Researchers have identified work-family conflict as one of the major stressors in the workplace leading to
various negative outcomes, including impaired well-being. Although many studies have been conducted on the
experience of work-family conflict on dual-earner couples, only a few were conducted on single parent employees.
The aim of this study was to determine the level of work-family conflict experienced by single mother employees
and its antecedents including dispositional (locus of control, perfectionism and gender role orientation), job (role
overload and role conflict) and organisational (supervisor support and job flexibility) factors. Data were gathered
from 159 Malaysian single mother employees using self-administered questionnaires, and through the drop and
collect method. Single mother employees meeting the following criteria were identified: (a) aged 45 and below;
(b) working full-time, and (c) has at least one child. Seven scales were used to measure the variables, namely
work-family conflict (8 items), locus of control (9 items), perfectionism (23 items), role conflict (7 items), role
overload (10 items), supervisor support (8 items), and job flexibility (7 items) scales. Descriptive statistics, as
well as correlation and regression coefficients were calculated. The findings of the study indicated that 66%
of the single mother employees experienced moderate to high levels of work-family conflict. The factors that
characterise employee disposition, job factors as well as organisational factors contributed 51% to work-family
conflict, with job factors contributing the most. The experience of work-family conflict among single mother
employees can be explained by dispositional and job factors. The findings imply the need for measures to be
taken by employees, human resource managers and organisations to help reduce the level of work-family conflict.
Future research needs to focus on the adoption of family-friendly employment policies that could further help
reduce such conflict.
The use of a mediation model for understanding the mediating impact of work-family conflict on the
relationship between role overload and emotional exhaustion as well as parental functioning has not been given
much attention. This study tested a mediation model consisting of emotional exhaustion and parental functioning
as dependent variables and role overload as the independent variable, with work-family conflict as its mediator.
Data were gathered from a sample of 220 female junior doctors aged 40 years and below, having at least one child
as well as working full-time in 14 public hospitals in Malaysia, using self-administered questionnaires. The data
were analyzed using correlation and multiple regression analyses. Results of correlation analyses revealed that
role overload was significantly related to work-family conflict, emotional exhaustion and parental functioning,
and work-family conflict was significantly related to emotional exhaustion and parental functioning. Results of
a series of multiple regression analyses indicated that work-family conflict partially mediated the relationship
between role overload and emotional exhaustion, as well as the relationship between role overload and parental
functioning. Junior doctors who experience role overload seem to be more emotionally drained and the role
overload had an impact on the quality of parental functioning, and they seem to experience greater conflict
between work and family roles. There is a need to reduce the role overload that doctors experience by reviewing
the ratio between doctors and patients and re-assessing the number of work hours and the weekly frequency of
on-calls. Limiting on-call frequency and hours may be more likely to reduce work-family conflict as well as
emotional exhaustion.