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The effects of inter-role conflicts on

turnover intention among frontline

service providers: does gender matter?Min-Hsin Huang

a& Zhao-Hong Cheng

a

a Department of Business Management, National Sun Yat-SenUniversity, 70, Lien-Hai Road, Kaohsiung, 80424, Taiwan

Published online: 31 Jan 2011.

To cite this article: Min-Hsin Huang & Zhao-Hong Cheng (2012) The effects of inter-role conflicts on

turnover intention among frontline service providers: does gender matter?, The Service Industries

Journal, 32:3, 367-381, DOI: 10.1080/02642069.2010.545391

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The effects of inter-role conflicts on turnover intention among frontline

service providers: does gender matter?Min-Hsin Huang and Zhao-Hong Cheng

Department of Business Management, National Sun Yat-Sen University, 70, Lien-Hai Road,Kaohsiung 80424, Taiwan

(Received 22 January 2010; Revised 18 October 2010; final version received 20 October 2010)

This study contrasts the different levels of the work and family conflict on turnoverintention between male and female service employees. A conceptual model of therelationship between work-family conflicts (WFCs), family-work conflicts (FWCs),

job stress, job satisfaction, and turnover intention is proposed and empirically testedacross male and female service providers. The moderated multiple regression modelsare applied to data collected from frontline employees within two service industriesin Taiwan to test the hypotheses. Results of this study indicate that WFC affectsfemale employees job stress more strongly than it does in males; more importantly,FWC and job stress have stronger effects on turnover intention among femaleservice employees.

Keywords: turnover intention; role conflict; job stress; work-family conflict; employeesatisfaction

Introduction

Among many managerial issues, employees turnover intention is one of the topics that is

widely discussed and examined by scholars in marketing, organization, and psychology

literature (e.g. Fishbein & Ajzen, 1974; Netemeyer, Brashear-Alejandro, & Boles,

2004; Schwepker, 2001). Minimizing the turnover of skilled employees is desirable

because the experienced and knowledgeable employees help the organization in develop-

ing mutually beneficial customeremployee relationships and building customer satisfac-

tion and loyalty (Gremler & Gwinner, 2000). In addition, employee turnover is costly as

expenses due to recruiting, training, lost productivity, and administrative efforts devoted to

substandard employees can be excessive.

An area in which research on turnover is particularly important is frontline service pro-

vider. This is because the job environment of a frontline service provider is characterized by

long hours, irregular work schedules (e.g. hotels, restaurants, and retail stores), and com-

paratively low pay (Good, Page, & Young, 1996). Conflict between work and family is a

form of inter-role conflict (RC) arising when the employee cannot simultaneously

perform the responsibilities of work and family well (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985). Research

on the impact of work and family conflicts on employees turnover intension has been dis-

cussed in previous literature. For example, Netemeyer, Boles, and McMurrian (1996) devel-

oped and validated a short, self-report scale of work-family conflict (WFC) and family-work

conflict (FWC), and predicted that intension to leave an organization and search for another

job would be positively correlated with the WFC and FWC scales. Netemeyer et al. (2004)

ISSN 0264-2069 print/ISSN 1743-9507 online

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Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]

The Service Industries Journal

Vol. 32, No. 3, February 2012, 367381

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proposed a model of job-related outcomes of WFC, FWC, work RC, and work-role ambi-

guity (RA) with three cross-national samples; the results revealed that WFC and FWC

have greater effects than RC and RA on the job-related outcomes. Karatepe and Kilic

(2009) investigated the effects of two directions of conflict and facilitation simultaneously

on job performance, job satisfaction, and affective organizational commitment and found

that FWC dismissed job performance, while family-work facilitation enhanced job per-

formance. However, little research focused on comparing the difference in relationships

across gender among work and family conflicts.

The literature indicated that male and female employees may well have different

perceptions of their roles between work and family (e.g. Bird, Lynch, & Ingram, 2002;

Wiersma, 1990). Consequently, there may be difference in the determinants of turnover

between male and female service providers due to the different levels of work and

family conflicts they face. As typical frontline service providers are occupied by both

men and women, it is critical for service managers to understand the difference and

adopt various strategies to reduce turnover among male and female service employees.

The objective of this study presented here is (i) to examine the direct effects of the conflictsbetween work and family as distinguished into two constructs, WFC and FWC, on

turnover intension of service providers, (ii) to predict the indirect effects of these two con-

structs on turnover intension as moderated by employees job stress and job satisfaction,

and (iii) to contrast the difference level of these relationships across male and female

service providers within two service industries in Taiwan.

This study differs from previous works in two critical points. First, despite the recog-

nition that the effects of inter-role conflicts on turnover intension have been examined in

prior studies, few studies focus on the service settings. Extension of the research to service

industries is important because frontline service employees are often underpaid, carry

heavy workloads, work long hours and irregular schedules (Boles & Babin, 1996;Singh, 2000). These associated with todays social conditions (e.g. rise in the number

of dual-career couples) give rise to strengthened conflicts between work and family

roles. Furthermore, frontline service employees are main actors in the delivery of

service quality (Bettencourt & Brown, 2003). Retention of motivated and committed

frontline service employees who can consistently deliver high-quality service is important

to service business success. Second, previous research on the topics of FWC and WFC has

been conducted in developed countries such as the USA (Boles, Wood, & Johnson, 2003;

Netemeyer, Maxham Iii, & Pullig, 2005) and Europe (Kinnunen & Mauno, 1998; Mauno

& Kinnunen, 1999). As Barnett and Hyde (2001) indicate, much of what we know on the

issue is based on studies of western society. Because topics of family and work conflicts

are closely coupled with a societys gender roles and culture (Zeynep & Mehmet, 2005),

extension of the research stream to other societies is critical for providing informed

judgments regarding the generalizability of western findings.

We briefly review the literature in the following section. Then, a model of relationships

between previously identified constructs is proposed, followed by the methodology of this

study. Finally, empirical results are provided and discussed as per their implications for

service industry management theory and practice.

Conceptual background

Turnover intentionTurnover intention is defined as an employees willingness to leave his (or her) present job

(Tett & Meyer, 1993). Researchers have investigated the importance of turnover intention

368 M. Huang and Z. Cheng

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to organizations for several decades, because previous research has found that turnover

intention is an antecedent with a significant effect on employees actual turnover (Fishbein

& Ajzen, 1974; Mowday, Koberg, & McArthur, 1984). Employees turnover behavior is

viewed as an organizations cost, including recruitment, training, low productivity, and

increased time for managers to devote to new employees (Netemeyer et al. 2004). Accord-

ingly, researchers have focused on employees turnover intention to lower their turnover

rate. Previous studies have found that certain organizational variables have significant

effects on workers propensity to leave, such as job satisfaction and job stress (Netemeyer

et al. (2004); Rahim & Psenicka, 1996; Schwepker, 2001). Previous research also

suggested that the motivation to quit is associated with increased work and family conflicts

(Greenhaus, Parasuraman, & Collins, 2001).

Work and family conflicts

The issue of inter-role conflicts raised between work and family has been highlighted in

organization and marketing literature for more than two decades (Duxbury & Higgins,1991; Frone, Russell, & Cooper, 1992; Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985; Netemeyer, et al.,

2005). Previous research in the 1980s conceptualized work and family conflicts as a

one-dimensional construct (Bedeian, Burke, & Moffett, 1988). In recent years, more

studies distinguish the construct into two facets, that is, WFCs and FWCs (Frone, et al.,

1992; Netemeyer, et al., 2005). The former is defined as demands from work that interfere

with family responsibilities (e.g. long periods of time spent working prevents the perform-

ance of family duties), and the latter is defined as family demands that interfere with work

responsibilities (e.g. baby care preventing attention at work).

Job satisfaction and job stress

Job satisfaction is a positive emotional state related to employees appraisals of their job

situations, including the supervisor, salary, characteristics of work, coworkers, and oppor-

tunities for promotion (Brown & Peterson, 1993; Churchill, Ford, & Walker, 1974).

Previous research suggests that job satisfaction has stable and significant effects on

organizational factors such as performance and turnover intention (Netemeyer et al. 2004).

Although there have been different definitions of job stress in past studies, most

researchers generally agree that job stress is defined as an unpleasant emotional experi-

ences, including nervousness, depression, sadness, fear, and anxiety that employees

experience at work (Bolino & Turnley, 2005). A great deal of research reported that job

stress is an important predictor of job satisfaction and turnover intention (Good, Sisler,

& Gentry, 1988; Netemeyer et al. 2004).

There are five constructs, i.e. WFC, FWC, job stress, job satisfaction, and turnover

intention included in our study. These constructs are widely applied in literatures

(Netemeyer et al., 2004, 2005; Ugur, Emin, & Osman, 2008). More importantly, our

hypothesized relationship is supported by three theoretical rationales: (i) inter-role conflict

theory (Kahn & Byosiere, 1992), (ii) identity theory (Thoits, 1991), and (iii) conservation

of resources (COR) theory (Hobfoll, 2002).

The inter-role conflict theory suggests that individuals are likely to experience job

stress when they try to fulfill both work and family roles. The job stress results in the com-

peting demands that WFC and FWC place necessarily on resources of time, cognition, and

emotion to meet the responsibilities from work and family (Frone et al., 1992). The iden-

tity theory indicates that individuals devote resources to maintain the multiple role

The Service Industries Journal 369

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identities which are salient to them. A job stress is experienced when individuals encounter

the conflict between work and family and fail to maintain their identities (Thoits, 1995).

The COR theory (Hobfoll, 2002) contends that people strive to acquire, maintain, and

preserve their resources, such as energy, cognition, and so forth. Psychological stress

occurs when individuals lose these resources after significant investment. Thus, people

are likely to experience job stress when the conflicts arise from work/family interface

and their resources lost while juggling work/family roles. In addition, prior empirical

research supports the view that both WFC and FWC lead to employees job stress

(Frone, 2000; Netemeyer et al., 2005; Parasuraman & Simmers, 2001).

We further propose that both WFC and FWC positively affect employees turnover

intentions. As the COR theory states, employees attempt to leave their current job to main-

tain their finite resources while they may not cope with the WFCs well (Grandey &

Cropanzano, 1999). This argument is empirically supported by a great deal of research.

For example, in Allen, Herst, Bruck, and Sutton (2000) meta-analytic inquiry, they

found a strong relationship between WFC and turnover intention. The relationship

between FWC and turnover intention is also supported in previous empirical research.For instance, Ugur et al. (2008) suggested that people who are more sensitive to family

needs are apt to lose their role in the organization to fulfill the family demands.

Job satisfaction and job stress are considered to be important predictors of turnover

intention. The relationships among job stress, job satisfaction, and turnover intention

have been evidenced by a great deal of research (Good et al., 1988; Netemeyer et al.

2004; Rahim & Psenicka, 1996). Netemeyer et al. (2004) found direct and negative

relationship between job satisfaction and turnover intention. Rahim and Psenicka (1996)

indicated positive and direct relationship between job stress and propensity to leave. In

addition, researchers suggested that job stress increases employees turnover intention

through the influence of job satisfaction (Netemeyer et al. 2004). The inter-role conflicttheory (Kahn & Byosiere, 1992) supports the view that job stress results in anxiety and

nervousness, and produce employee dissatisfaction. When employees feel unsatisfied,

they will have negative affective appraisals and increase their motivations to quit

(Brown & Leigh, 1996). Therefore, job satisfactions effect on turnover intention is

direct, whereas the impact of job stress on turnover intention is mediated by job

satisfaction.

Hypotheses development

Differences in sex role

The potential rationale of sexual inconsistency is related to the expectation of sex role.

Reifman, Biernat, and Lang (1991) suggested that women report higher levels of family

responsibilities compared with men. Several studies found gender-based difference with

respect to the conflicts that occurred in the WFC and relative consequences (Duxbury

& Higgins, 1991; Gutek, Searle, & Klepa, 1991). Previous research also found that

females report higher levels of WFCs in some dimensions (Gutek et al., 1991).

Effects of WFC and FWC on job stress

Plecks (1979) sensitization theory supported a gender difference in the relationship

between work and family conflicts. Previous empirical research indicated that women

report higher levels of family-related responsibilities (Reifman et al., 1991), whereas

men attach higher priorities to their work roles than family roles (Martins, Eddleston, &


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Veiga, 2002). Female employees experience greater FWC while meeting excessive job

demands (e.g. irregular, incompatible, and long work hours) because of the higher priority

placed on their family roles (Wayne, Musisca, & Fleeson, 2004). Based on the above

discussions, our hypotheses are as follows:

H1a: The positive relationship between WFC and job stress is moderated by gender, such thatthe effect is stronger among female employees than male employees.H1b: The positive relationship between FWC and job stress is moderated by gender, such thatthe effect is stronger among female employees than male employees.

Effects of WFC and FWC on turnover intention

The strategies that women use to deal with inter-role conflicts differ from the strategies

that men use. Previous studies found that women will take reactive strategies to cope

with inter-role conflicts (i.e. tried to respond to all role senders expectations), thus they

experience a relatively high extent of conflicts between work and family (Beutell & Green-

haus, 1983; Duxbury & Higgins, 1991; Frankenhaeuser et al., 1989). This result causeswomen to have a lower quality of work life and higher negative affective appraisal on

their work than men, which increases their quitting motivation (Brown & Leigh, 1996;

Duxbury & Higgins, 1991). Babin and Boles (1998) further indicated that women may

leave their work because of family factors. In addition, although the number of working

women is increasing in todays global work environment, working wives and husbands

share unequal portions of family duties (McElwain, Korabik, & Rosin, 2005). Female

employees are expected to face higher levels of family demands (Reifman et al., 1991),

and are susceptible to higher levels of FWCs (Boles et al., 2003; Reifman et al., 1991).

Therefore, a number of working wives prefer to leave current jobs and seek new jobs

that allow them to spend more time in fulfilling family duties (Eagle, Miles, & Icenogle,1997). The above discussions lead to the following hypotheses:

H2a: The positive relationship between WFC and turnover intention is moderated by gender,such that the effect is stronger among female employees than male employees.

H2b: The positive relationship between FWC and turnover intention is moderated by gender,such that the effect is stronger among female employees than male employees.

Effects of job stress and job satisfaction on turnover intention

The empirical evidence supports that female employees experience relatively high stress

in the workplace (Babin & Boles, 1998). The phenomenon leads women to be apt to lack

necessary resources in performing their multiple roles well and they are forced to make

tough choices to maintain these resources lost to work responsibilities. Consequently,

women are more likely to exhibit quitting motivations by seeking new jobs or by consid-

ering leaving current jobs altogether in order to better fulfill their role demands (Eagle

et al., 1997). This argument is consistent with the finding that women experience a

greater amount of work changes associated with stress than men (Levenson, Hirschfeld,

Hirschfeld, & Dzubay, 1983).

H3: The positive relationship between job stress and turnover intention is moderated bygender, such that the effect is stronger among female employees than male employees.

H4: The negative relationship between job satisfaction and turnover intention is moderated by

gender, such that the effect is stronger among male employees than female employees.H5: The negative relationship between job stress and job satisfaction is moderated by gender,such that the effect is stronger among male employees than female employees.


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Methodology

Sample

To examine the above hypotheses, the sample was drawn from two service industries: full-

service restaurants and retail stores in Taiwan. The reason for choosing these two service

industries is that these two industries represent the largest two service industries in termsof number of employees in Taiwan. More importantly, we chose these two service indus-

tries to represent broad categories of services because these two services are tangibly the

same in nature, but different in people processing (full-service restaurants) and possession

processing (retail stores) as categorized by Lovelock and Wirtz (2007, p. 34).

Consistent with previous studies (e.g. Babin & Boles, 1998), the convenience sampling

procedure is adopted to collect data used in this study. With the restaurants sample, a total

of 250 questionnaires were sent to frontline employees who were not working at manage-

ment levels; 201 completed responses were returned, which represents an 80.4% usable

response rate. With the retail stores sample, 250 questionnaires were sent to frontline

employees and 170 completed responses were returned (68% response rate). The highresponse rate was due, in part, to the firms helping distribute and manage the surveys.

Table 1 reports the general demographic composition of the sample, which adequately

mirrored that of these two service industries.

Measures

The survey asked employees about their perceptions of the focal constructs; i.e. WFC,

FWC, job stress, job satisfaction, and turnover intention. Appendix 1 presents the items

and their sources. These scales have been used extensively in marketing and organiz-

ational research (e.g. Babin & Boles, 1998; Boles et al., 2003; Netemeyer et al. 2004,

2005). All items were rated on a five-point scale, ranging from 1 strongly disagreeto 5 strongly agree. The questionnaire was drafted in English first and translated

into Chinese by a bilingual expert fluent both in English and Chinese. The pre-survey

interview was conducted by asking six specialists (i.e. one services marketing professor

and five service employees) to check the clarity of questionnaires. The questionnaire

was then back-translated into English and checked for consistency with the original trans-

lated versions to ensure translation equivalence (Van de Vijver & Leung, 1997).

Table 1. Demographics of service industry and samples.

Item CategoriesWhole serviceindustry (%)a

Restaurantssample (%)

Retail storessample (%)

Gender Male 49.5 39.8 41.2Female 50.5 60.2 58.8

Education Junior high school 11.9 5.5 1.8Senior high school 35.9 31.3 26.5College 43.9 57.7 70.0Others 8.3 5.5 1.7

Family size 3 or less 27.8 13.54 21.9 29.45 23.4 19.4

6 or more 26.9 37.7Sample size (n) 201 170

aSource: Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting, and Statistics, Executive Yuan, Taiwan.


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Analytical results

Measurement results: validity and reliability

We assessed measurement quality by confirmatory factor analysis. The fit indices

suggested that the full model fits the data well (x2 273.50, df 160; comparative fit

index

0.98; non-normed fit index

0.98; and root mean square error of approxi-mation 0.044) (Hu & Bentler, 1995). Tables 24 show summary statistics, internal con-

sistency, and correlations for full male and female samples. All coefficient alpha (from

0.86 to 0.94) and composite reliability (C.R.) estimates (from 0.89 to 0.97) exceed 0.7.

Thus, reliability for measurement model is supported (Nunnally, 1978). All factor loadings

exceed 0.7, t-values were significant (p , 0.01), and average variance extracted exceed

0.5. Therefore, convergent validity is supported (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). Finally, we

examined the discriminant validity following the criterion that the square of parameter

estimate between two constructs is less than the average variance extracted (AVE)

(Fornell & Larcker, 1981). The relationships among the constructs ranged from 20.83

to 0.84, and AVE ranged from 0.67 to 0.94. All possible pairs of constructs met this

criterion in Tables 24. Thus, discriminant validity is supported.

Invariance test

This study combines two different samples (restaurant and convenience stores) to test the

theoretical model. The invariance test, which examined the factor structures across two

industry samples by comparing results of a confirmatory model, was conducted. The

factor structure (i.e. factor loadings, factor variances, covariances, and item error loadings)

are equal across two service industries, and it is suitable for us to combine these two

samples to examine our hypothesized model.

Results of moderated multiple regression

Three hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted to examine the gender as modera-

tor of the relationships among all variables. For all three multiple regressions, all indepen-

dent variables (i.e. WFCs and FWCs) and moderator variable (i.e. gender) were entered on

Table 2. Summary statistics, internal consistency estimates, and correlations among constructs(full sample).

Construct WFC FWC JSAT JSTR TURNWFC 1.00FWC 0.41 1.00JSAT 20.28 20.54 1.00JSTR 0.39 0.61 20.78 1.00TURN 0.34 0.68 20.70 0.79 1.00Mean 3.39 2.93 2.94 3.26 3.08Standard deviation 0.85 0.97 0.90 0.90 0.95Cronbach a 0.93 0.87 0.94 0.91 0.90C.R. 0.92 0.90 0.94 0.90 0.90AVE 0.68 0.70 0.84 0.74 0.68C.R. (Sloading)2/((Sloading)2 + (Var))

AVE (Sloading2

)/((Sloading2

) + (Var))

Note: JSTR, job stress; JSAT, job satisfaction; TURN, turnover intention. All correlations are significant at the0.01 level or better.


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the first step. On the second step, the interaction items (i.e. WFCs gender; FWCs

gender) were entered. The dependent variables in this study were job stress, job satisfac-

tion, and turnover intention.

Table 5 shows the results of moderated multiple regressions. For the model predict-

ing job stress, 46.4% of the variance was found on the first step. Higher levels of WFCs

and FWCs were related to more job stress. The results report a significant interaction

effect between WFCs and gender (b 0.138, p , 0.05). For the model predicting job

satisfaction, the variables entered on step one accounted for 49.7% of the variance.

Female employees report more job satisfaction, and job stress negatively affected job

satisfaction. The interaction item (job stress gender) was entered on step two, and

the findings support a significant additional portion of the variance (DR2 0.009, p ,

0.05). The results suggest a significant interaction effect between job stress and gender

(b 0.501, p , 0.05). For the model predicting turnover intention, the results show

Table 3. Summary statistics, internal consistency estimates, and correlations among constructs(male sample).

Construct WFC FWC JSAT JSTR TURN

WFC 1.00

FWC 0.34 1.00JSAT 20.16 20.55 1.00JSTR 0.24 0.52 20.83 1.00TURN 0.25 0.57 20.78 0.77 1.00Mean 3.35 2.94 2.90 3.09 3.05Standard deviation 0.83 0.94 0.93 0.93 0.92Cronbach a 0.92 0.89 0.93 0.92 0.89C.R. 0.93 0.90 0.97 0.96 0.92AVE 0.69 0.68 0.91 0.89 0.74C.R. (Sloading)

2 / ((Sloading)2 + (Var))AVE (Sloading2) / ((Sloading2) + (Var))

Note: JSTR, job stress; JSAT, job satisfaction; TURN, turnover intention. All correlations are significant at the0.01 level or better.

Table 4. Summary statistics, internal consistency estimates, and correlations among constructs(female sample).

Construct WFC FWC JSAT JSTR TURN

WFC 1.00FWC 0.46 1.00JSAT 20.28 20.53 1.00JSTR 0.47 0.71 20.74 1.00

TURN 0.42 0.76 20.63 0.84 1.00Mean 3.42 2.92 2.97 3.34 3.11Standard deviation 0.87 0.99 0.87 0.97 0.97Cronbach a 0.93 0.86 0.94 0.90 0.91C.R. 0.95 0.89 0.98 0.92 0.94AVE 0.74 0.67 0.94 0.79 0.79C.R. (Sloading)2 / ((Sloading)2 + (Var))AVE (Sloading2) / ((Sloading2) + (Var))

JSTR, job stress; JSAT, job satisfaction; TURN, turnover intention. All correlations are significant at the 0.01level or better.


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58.6% of the variance. On the first step, both FWCs and job stress positively affect

turnover intention, whereas job satisfaction has negative effect on turnover intention.

Similarly, our analyses found a significant additional portion of the variance (DR2

0.013, p , 0.05) on step two. The results of analyses suggest significant interaction

items, including WFCs gender (b 0.238, p , 0.05), job stress gender (b

0.441, p , 0.05), and job satisfaction gender (b 0.386, p , 0.05).

To advance further interpretations, we plotted the interaction effects among thesevariables and conducted simple slope analyses to test whether each slope was significantly

different from zero (Aiken & West, 1991). Because our predictors (i.e. WFC, FWC, job

stress, and job satisfaction) are continuous, we choose two levels of values for each

predictor to be used in plotting lines. The value of low level is the mean 2 1 standard

deviation, while the value of high level is the mean + 1 standard deviation. We presented

the results in Figure 1.

As shown in Figure 1a, the relationship between WFC and job stress was positive for

women (b 0.310, p , 0.01). However, WFC and job stress were not significantly

related for men (b 0.112, n.s.). To further probe the interaction effect, we performed

a slope difference test that examined whether the slopes of a pair of simple regression

lines differ from one another (Aiken & West, 1991). The significant slope difference

(Db 0.310, p , 0.01) indicated that the relationship between WFC and job stress

was stronger for female employees. Thus, H1a was supported. Figure 1b shows that

FWC and turnover intention were positively related for women (b 0.460, p , 0.01)

and men (b 0.222, p , 0.05). The slope difference test also supported that women

had more intention to leave the current company when they experience FWC (Db

0.238, p , 0.05). Thus, H2b received support. Figure 1c reveals positive relationship

between job stress and turnover intention for both female (b 0.926, p , 0.01) and

male employees (b 0.485, p , 0.01). The significant slope difference (Db 0.441,

p , 0.01) indicated a stronger positive relationship between job stress and turnover inten-

tion for female employees than for male employees. Thus, H3 was supported. Figure 1dindicates that, for men, higher levels of job satisfaction were related to less turnover inten-

tion (b 20.288, p , 0.01). However, job satisfaction and turnover intention were not

Table 5. Results of moderated multiple regression analyses.

Variables

Job stress Job satisfaction Turnover intention

R2

DR2

b R2

DR2

b R2

DR2

b

Step1 (main effects) 0.464 0.497 0.586 Gender 0.121 0.133 20.021WFC 0.172 20.002FWC 0.586 0.222

JSTR 20.709 0.485

JSAT 20.188

Step2 (interactions) 0.475 0.011 0.506 0.009 0.599 0.013

WFC gender 0.138 20.197FWC gender 0.069 0.238

JSTR gender 0.501 0.441

JSAT gender 0.386

Note: JSTR, job stress; JSAT, job satisfaction; TURN, turnover intention. Gender: 0 male, 1 female.p , 0.05.p , 0.01.


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significantly related for women (b 20.098, n.s.). Further slope analysis suggested that

the negative effect of job satisfaction on turnover intention was stronger among men than

women (Db 0.288, p , 0.01). Thus, H4 received support. Figure 1e also shows that

there was a negative relationship between job stress and job satisfaction for male

employees (b 20.709, p , 0.01), and job stress was unrelated to job satisfaction forfemale employees (b 20.118, n.s.). Examination of slope difference supported that

the negative relationship was stronger between job stress and job satisfaction among

Figure 1. Moderating effects of gender on the relationship between WFC, FWC, job stress, jobsatisfaction, and turnover intention.


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male employees than among female employees (Db 0.709, p , 0.01). Thus, H5 was

supported.

Implication and conclusions

The long working hours and irregular working schedules of the frontline service providers

increase their role conflicts between work and family. This study developed and tested a

model to investigate the effects of work and family conflicts on three job-related out-

comes: job stress, job satisfaction, and turnover intention. More importantly, the current

study contrasts the different levels of the WFC on turnover intention between male and

female service employees.

Of the seven hypotheses we examined, five received support for data received from

frontline service employees in Taiwan. Similar to the results indicated by previous

research (Ugur et al. (2008), the findings explain that FWC is an important predictor of

service employees turnover intentions. Our results also mirror the research of Netemeyer

et al.s (2004) cross-national study and Good et al.s (1988) findings, which report thatboth job stress and job satisfaction are at the root of frontline service employees quitting

intentions. More importantly, our results show that gender acts as a moderator in the

relationships among FWCs, job stress, job satisfaction, and turnover intention.

Nevertheless, an insignificant effect is found in the WFCs turnover intention path.

One possible explanation for this unexpected finding may be that employees who experi-

ence WFCs tend to revise their family responsibilities to meet job demands rather than

quitting (turnover) because unemployment rates have increased recently. Thus, the

employees fear that another job may be difficult to get after leaving his/her current

work tends to encourage them to fulfill job demands and retain their job. Contrary to

our predictions, the relationship between FWC and job stress was not stronger amongwomen than men. A potential explanation for this unexpected result may be based on

Chou, Fosh, and Fosters (2005) argument that Taiwanese female employees feel that

their promotional opportunities had contemporarily improved significantly. These findings

may inspire the female service employees in Taiwan and reduce the effect of FWC on

job stress.

Managerial implications

The findings of this study provide some important managerial implications for service

managers. First, service employees do not work without family problems. Managers

should encourage employees to balance the demands from work and family. Some pro-

grams can help managers to achieve this purpose; for example, child care, flextime, and

on-site job counseling. Many studies indicate that these programs are helpful for service

managers to effectively reduce employees conflicts in the work-family interface

(Lobel, 1999). In addition, service organizations should train managers to regard their

employees as family members. Managers need to take at least some ownership of pro-

blems that occur between work and family. Although training programs may bring high

costs to organizations, these implementations may be effective for the organization to

minimize the turnover of skilled service employees.

Second, our findings indicate that job stress is at the root of frontline service employ-

ees job satisfaction and quitting intentions. Results of the current study suggest that it is

essential for service organizations to reduce employees job stress. Managers should take

actions to help employees feel less stressed. For example, managers can offer workshops


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for discussions. Based on employee feedback, managers may know how to help employees

to solve their problems. Some evidence indicates that workshops can create a welcoming

forum to lead employees to freely provide suggestions, and these suggestions can effec-

tively reduce their anxiety, irritability, and depression (Kossek, Colquitt, & Noe, 2001).

Finally, the differences between men and women are found in relationships among

FWC, job stress, job satisfaction, and turnover intention. Results indicate that female

employees are affected more severely by increased WFC, and job stress. Therefore,

service managers need to consider differential effects when managing employees

WFC, and job stress among female and male service employees. For example, female

employees have higher levels of turnover intention when they experience WFCs.

Mangers need to provide more organizational supports and concerns to help them elimin-

ate the conflicts or stress.

Further research and limitationsThe research limitations were based on the nature of the data and sample characteristics.

Although the sample may be representative of the important service industries in Taiwan

in general, it is possible that results may vary for specific service industries and countries.

Also, while the most important two service industries are covered by the data, a transfer of

the findings to other service types would be largely speculative and could vary on the key

characteristics of the service types. Thus, future research might be conducted in a variety

of industries and countries. The current study applying cross-sectional research design

does not allow us to make causal inferences. Future studies using longitudinal designs

would be very helpful in examining causal relationship. Furthermore, some unsupported

hypotheses (e.g. the effects of FWC on job stress) in this study highlight the need forqualitative studies to gain richer insights into how male and female frontline service

providers experience and deal with conflicts between family and work interface.

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AppendixMeasures of constructs

Constructs Source

WFC (1 Strongly Disagree to 5 Strongly Agree) Netemeyer et al. (1996)1. Due to work-related duties, I have to make changes to my

plans for family activities.2. The amount of time my job takes up makes it difficult to

fulfill family responsibilities.3. The demands of my work interfere with my home and family

life.

4. Because of my job, I cannot involve myself as much as Iwould like in maintaining close relations with my family (orspouse/partner).

5. Things I want to do at home do not get done because of thedemands that my job puts on me.

6. I often have to miss important family activities because ofmy job.

FWC (1 Strongly Disagree to 5 Strongly Agree) Netemeyer et al. (1996)1. The demands of my family or spouse/partner interfere with

work-related activities.2. Things I want to do at work do not get done because of the

demands of my family or spouse/partner.

3. My home life interferes with my responsibilities at work,such as getting to work on time, accomplishing daily tasks,and working overtime.

4. I sometimes have to miss work so that my familyresponsibilities are met.

Job stress (1 Strongly Disagree to 5 Strongly Agree) Netemeyer et al. (2005) and Huuseand Rizzo (1972)

1. My job tends to directly affect my health.2. At the end of the day, my job leaves me stressed-out.3. Problems associated with work have kept me awake at night.4. I feel fidgety or nervous because of my job.

Job satisfaction (1 Strongly Disagree to 5 StronglyAgree)

Netemeyer et al. (1996) and Babinand Bole (1998)

1. All in all, I am satisfied with my present line of work.2. I feel a great sense of personal satisfaction from my line of

work.3. I am happy that I took this job.

Turnover intention (1 Strongly Disagree to 5 StronglyAgree)

Netemeyer et al. (1996)

1. I often think about quitting my present job.2. I intend to quit my present job.3. During the next 12 months, I intend to search for an

alternative role (another job, full-time student, etc.) to my

present job.4. I have searched for a new job.


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