Work-Family Conflict and Family-Work Conflict

Abstract

This measure, developed by Netemeyer, Boles, and McMurrian (1996), provides a parsimonious and psychometrically sound assessment of work-family conflict and family-work conflict. The scale utilizes two separate, five-item subscales to capture the bidirectional nature of interrole conflict. A key design objective was to refine existing measures by eliminating items that reflected conflict outcomes rather than the core conflict constructs themselves, ensuring a cleaner assessment of the interference experienced between work and family domains.

Keywords

Work-Family Conflict, Family-Work Conflict, Bidirectional Conflict, Interrole Conflict, Job Stress, Confirmatory factor analysis, Organizational Psychology, Coefficient alpha

Authors

Netemeyer, R. G., Boles, J. S., McMurrian, R.

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Purpose

The primary purpose of this instrument is to provide a concise and empirically distinct measurement of the two major directions of interference between professional and domestic life: Work-Family Conflict (WFC) and Family-Work Conflict (FWC). The developers aimed to create a measure that was highly focused on the demands and strain experienced across domains, rather than conflating the conflict with associated negative results such as depression or dissatisfaction.

Each subscale consists of five items, making the instrument highly efficient for use in large-scale organizational and psychological studies where minimizing survey length is essential. By employing separate subscales for WFC and FWC, the measure supports research into the differential antecedents and consequences of conflict based on its directionality.

Construct

The scale measures Interrole Conflict, defined specifically as the strain resulting from incompatible demands stemming from the work and family roles. This construct is operationalized in two distinct dimensions:

The first dimension is Work-Family Conflict (WFC), which occurs when the demands of the work role interfere with the fulfillment of responsibilities in the family role. This typically manifests through time constraints, strain from job duties carrying over into home life, or behavioral requirements of the job being incompatible with family expectations.

The second dimension is Family-Work Conflict (FWC), which is the inverse—when demands originating from the family domain interfere with the ability to meet work-related responsibilities. This can include family demands consuming time needed for work, domestic strain reducing the capacity to perform job duties, or family commitments requiring changes to work plans.

Validity

Strong evidence supports both the convergent and discriminant validity of the WFC and FWC subscales across multiple samples. The scales demonstrated expected relationships with key organizational and life outcomes:

• WFC and FWC both correlated negatively and significantly with overall job satisfaction and general life satisfaction, confirming their role as stressors.
• Both conflict dimensions correlated positively with adverse outcomes, including heightened job tension, increased burnout, and stronger intention to leave the organization.

Furthermore, specific correlations provided evidence of differential validity: WFC correlated positively with objective measures of work investment, specifically the number of hours worked, while FWC showed a positive correlation with family structure variables, such as the number of children living at home. Crucially, Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) established that the WFC and FWC subscales are empirically distinct constructs, successfully demonstrating discriminant validity and confirming the appropriateness of measuring them separately (Netemeyer et al., 1996).

Reliability

The internal consistency reliability of the measure is robust. The Coefficient alpha values (Cronbach’s alpha) calculated for both the Work-Family Conflict subscale and the Family-Work Conflict subscale were high, ranging consistently from 0.88 to 0.89 across the different validation samples utilized by the developers. This indicates that the five items within each subscale reliably measure their intended latent construct.

Factor Analysis

The dimensional structure of the scale was rigorously tested using Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The CFA results confirmed a two-factor model, supporting the theoretical distinction between WFC and FWC. This analysis showed that the factor loadings for the items and the correlation between the two factors were invariant across the three independent samples used in the validation study (Netemeyer et al., 1996). This demonstration of measurement invariance suggests that the scale structure is stable and generalizes well across different groups of respondents.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-Report Inventory

Format: 7-point Likert-type scale (1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree). The scale consists of 10 items divided into two 5-item subscales.

Language Available: English (Original validation)

Population Group: Working Adults/Professionals

Age Group: Adult (Appropriate for individuals holding employment and family roles)

Population Details: The original validation study included samples of employees from various organizations.

Test Methodology: Pencil-and-paper or electronic self-administration.

Keywords

Job Tension, Life Satisfaction, Organizational Behavior, Measurement Invariance, Confirmatory factor analysis, Likert Scale, Netemeyer Scale

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Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not specified in the source material.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not specified in the source material.

Correspondence Address: Not specified in the source material.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Year: 1996

Permissions and Fees: The original publication was copyrighted by the American Psychological Association (APA). Permission for use or reproduction of the items should be sought from the APA or the primary author, R. G. Netemeyer.

Reference’s

Netemeyer, R. G., Boles, J. S., & McMurrian, R. (1996). Development and validation of work-family conflict and family-work conflict scales. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81(4), 400-410.

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Items of the Work-Family Conflict and Family-Work Conflict

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

Responses are obtained using a 7-point Likert-type scale where 1 = strongly disagree and 7 = strongly agree.

Work-family conflict items:

1. The demands of my work interfere with my home family life
2. The amount of time my job takes up makes it difficult to fulfill family responsibilities
3. Things I want to do at home do not get done because of the demands my job puts on me
4. My job produces strain that makes it difficult to make changes to my plans for family activities
5. Due to work-related duties, I have to make changes to my plans for family activities

Family-work conflict items:

1. The demands of my family or spouse/partner interfere with work related activities
2. I have to put off doing things at work because of demands on my time at home
3. Things I want to do at work don’t get done because of the demands of my family or spouse/partner
4. My home life interferes with my responsibilities at work such as getting to work on time, accomplishing daily tasks, and working overtime
5. Family-related strain interferes with my ability to perform job-related duties