Correlates and Predictors of Work-Family Conflict: A Study of Iranian Operating Room Personnel

The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship between work-family conflict and its antecedent variables. The research's dependent variables included work interference with family (WIF) and family interference with work (FIW). Independent variables were categorized into three groups including work-related (hours spent at work, role conflict, role ambiguity, perceived supervisor support, and working shifts), family-related (hours spent with family, marital status, spousal employment, number of children, and age of youngest child), and demographic (gender, age, tenure, and education) variables. The survey questionnaire, consisting of 38 questions, was administered to 333 operating room technicians of 10 Iranian hospitals to examine the correlations between these variables and also to investigate how much of the variance in work-family conflict can be explained by these variables. The results of correlation and regression analyses reveal that among work-related variables role conflict is positively associated with WIF. Supervisor support and working shift are also weekly related to WIF. None of the family-related variables were correlated with FIW. Among the demographic variables only gender was correlated with FIW but in the opposite direction from what was hypothesized, so that men experienced more FIW than women. The empirical evidence of the work-family conflict phenomenon in a different cultural setting might be of interest to researchers and practitioners.