A Systematic Review of the Antecedents and Consequences of Work and Family Conflict as a Two-Dimensional Construct

The issue of work-family conflict has received much attention in today's organizations, because it affects the organizational success and the personal life of employees. Studies in this field emphasize its two-dimensionality: work family conflict (WFC) and family- work conflict (FWC). Therefore, the research seeks to identify the affecting factors and consequences of both of the conflicts.

This interpretive research has used the systematic literature review (SLR) method to answer the main research question. Its information sources include related articles that have been published in international scientific databases from 1992 to 2023 and entered the systematic review process based on acceptance criteria. Finally, after evaluating their quality based on Q and H indexes of publications, 91 articles were analyzed using coding method.

The identified antecedents of work-family conflict were classified into four categories: nature of job, time-related antecedents of the job, job requirements and work conditions, and social pressure of the job, which lead to two categories of consequences: weakening of the family role and Weakening the quality of family life. The antecedents affecting family-work conflict are also classified into three categories: family status of employees, role-oriented family antecedents, and family social pressure. The consequences of these antecedents include: psychological job consequences, behavior-oriented job consequences, and performance-oriented job consequences.

The findings of this research can help managers and organizations to better understand the antecedents and consequences related to both areas of the conflict so that they can effectively take steps to solve the problems of the working and family life of employees. Additionally, the findings of this study, by integratingng the findings of previous studies, have helped to improve the richness of existing knowledge in this field.