Work Family Conflict in the IT Work Force

Transcription

1 Work Family Conflict in the IT Work Force Peter L.T. HOONAKKER*, Pascale CARAYON*^ and Jen S. SCHOEPKE^ * Center for Quality and Productivity Improvement ^ Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI, USA Abstract There is substantial evidence for a shortage of skilled IT workers in the United States. The reasons for the shortage are that there are not enough personnel entering the IT work force and a high turnover. The literature shows that there are two important pathways to turnover in the IT work force: 1) turnover is mediated through job satisfaction; 2) turnover is mediated through burnout. However, there is a third factor that plays a role in high turnover: work family balance. In this paper we focus on work family balance as a predictor of turnover. Keywords Turnover, Model, Work Family Balance, Information technology work force 1. Introduction From 2000 to 2010, overall, the occupation of computer specialists is projected to grow 68.6 percent, and the occupation of computer and information systems managers is projected to grow 48% (Hecker, 2001). Although demand dropped considerably in recent years (5% alone in 2001, ITAA 2002), there is still a lack of qualified workers, referred to as the gap in IT workers (ITAA, 2002). A large subset of this problem is the under representation of women and minorities in the IT workforce. Under representation is caused by insufficient women and minorities entering the IT workforce as well as too many of them leaving the IT workforce. The literature shows that there are two important pathways to turnover in the IT work force. The studies conducted by Igbaria (1992a, 1992b) show that job characteristics, in particular role model factors, influence quality of working life, e.g., job satisfaction and organizational involvement, which in turn predicts turnover. Moore (2000) shows that the classical stress/burnout pathway also plays a role in turnover of IT workers. Job characteristics, such as high job demands, low job control and low social support, affect health outcomes, more specifically burnout. This pathway shows gender differences. The results of Moore s study show that women seem to be more susceptible to this pathway. However, another factor associated with quality of working life and turnover is work family conflict (WFC). Family matters that spill over into working life (FW) and working life factors that spill over into family life (WF) can add to the psychological demands placed upon workers and therefore affect their well-being, stress and depression (Googins, 1991), physical ailments (Frone et al, 1997), life satisfaction (Higgins et al, 1992) and

2 turnover (Greenhaus et al, 1997; Netemeyer et al, 1996) This is particularly true for women (Grant-Vallone & Donaldson, 2001). We present results of a study on retention and turnover in the IT work force and the role of work family conflict in the turnover process for men and women. 2. Method The data analyzed in this paper is captured from the database of the project on Paths to Retention and Turnover in the IT Workforce: Understanding the Relationships between Gender, Minority Status, Job and Organizational Factors. Participating companies were obtained via solicitation in the project. The tool used is a 139-item web-based questionnaire (Carayon et al, 2005). The sample consists of five companies, varying in size. The sample size is 508, with 274 (46%) women and 324 (54%) men. The questionnaire consists of 6 sets of variables: (1) demographic variables: age, education and organizational tenure; (2) job characteristics; (3) organizational characteristics; (4) quality of working life; (5) work family balance and (6) turnover intention. All scales used have been proven to be reliable and valid (for a full description of the scales used, see Carayon et al, 2005). Eight items were used to create two scale measures: family life spill over into work (4 items) and work spills over into family life (4 items). Turnover intention was measured using a single item: How likely is it that you will actively look for a new job next year? on a seven point scale ranging from 1: not at all likely-2-3: somewhat likely-4-5: quite likely 6- to 7:extremely likely (mean = 2.87, sd = 1.83). 3. Results 3.1 Work family spillover and family work spillover Table 1 Family life spills over into work by gender (men (M), women (W)) Strongly disagree (SD) Disagree (D) Neither agree nor disagree Agree (A) Strongly Agree (SA) M W M W M W M W M W Family matters reduce the time I can devote to 11% 17% 29% 33% 24% 19% 30% 22% 6% 9% my job* Family obligations reduce the time I need 10% 13% 25% 26% 23% 17% 33% 30% 9% 14% to relax or be by myself Family worries or problems distract me 12% 17% 36% 36% 24% 21% 26% 23% 2% 3% from my work Family activities stop me from getting the sleep I need to do my job well 16% 21% 44% 40% 25% 21% 12% 15% 3% 3% * Differences between men and women are statistically significant at p < 0.05

3 Table 1 shows that there is considerable family life spill over into work. Men (36%= agree or completely agree) tend to agree more often (χ 2, p<0.05) with the statement family life reduces the time I can devote to my job than women (31%). Table 2 shows that there is also considerable work spillover into family life. More men (13%) than women (4%) agree that their jobs involve a lot of travel away from home. Table 2 Work spills over into family life by gender (men (M) and women (W)) SD D NN A SA M W M W M W M W M W My job reduces the amount of time I can spend with the family 8% 12% 25% 22% 36% 20% 36% 34% 13% 12% Problems at work make me irritable at home 11% 10% 29% 30% 25% 20% 28% 32% 7% 8% My job involves a lot of travel away from home* 49% 64% 25% 24% 13% 8% 9% 2% 4% 2% My job takes so much energy I don t feel up to doing things that need attention at home 16% 15% 32% 29% 21% 20% 23% 2% 8% 7% * Differences between men and women are statistically significant at p < Consequences of WFC for career opportunities Table 3 shows the results of the questions we asked about possible consequences of WFC. Table 3 Consequences of work family conflict Have you ever turned down any of these things because of family obligations? Men Women..an assignment 19% 14%..a promotion** 5% 12%..relocation** 21% 12% ** Differences between men and women are statistically significant at p < 0.01 The results show that women (12%) more often have passed up or turned down a promotion than men. Men have more often passed up or turned down a relocation. 3.3 The relation between work family conflict, quality of working life (QWL) and turnover In an earlier paper, we focused on the relation between job and organizational characteristics, QWL and turnover intention. The results show that the effects of job and organizational characteristics on turnover intention are mediated by QWL (Hoonakker et al, 2004). More precisely, there are two important pathways from job and organizational characteristics to turnover. The first pathway is mediated through job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is the best predictor of turnover. The second pathway goes from job and organizational characteristics through burnout to turnover intention. This pathway is also partially mediated by job satisfaction. Organizational commitment does not play a role in these relationships. In the earlier model, we did not take work/family balance into account, because we were primarily interested in the relation between job and organizational

4 characteristics, QWL and burnout. In this paper, we first tested whether the pathways from work spills over into family life and family life spills over into work are the same as the pathways for job and organizational characteristics. Figure 1 shows the results. wf1 wf2 wf3 wf4 fw1 fw2 fw FW WF ex EEX -.06 (ns) -.04 (ns) ex2 ex3 ex4 ex5 ex JS js1 js2 js3 js4 js5 TI 1.0 ti χ Df 160 GFI 0.91 AGFI 0.88 CFI 0.92 RMR 0.06 RMSEA 0.07 fw4.13 (ns) Figure 1 The relation between WFC, quality of working life and turnover intention The results show that the pathway from WFC to turnover intention is also mediated through quality of working life. There is no direct (significant) relation between WFC and turnover intention. The main pathway goes from WF to emotional exhaustion (β=.83), through job satisfaction (β=.68) to turnover intention (β=.58). Note that FW does not play an important role in this model. Note also that the model contains 4 confirmatory factor analyses. The results of these factor analyses show that most items fit well, with the exception of WF. The third item does not fit the model well. Non-significant χ 2, and Goodness of Fit Indices in the 0.90 s, accompanied by parsimonious fit indices in the 0.50 s are not unexpected (Mulaik et al, 1989). 3.4 The relation between work family conflict, job and organizational characteristics and quality of working life and turnover In our earlier study, we developed a core model to explain gender differences in the most important pathways between job and organizational characteristics, QWL and turnover intention (TI) (Hoonakker, 2004). We identified five job and organizational characteristics (IT job demands (JD); challenge (CH); supervisory support (SS); career opportunities (CO) and rewards (RE)) and two quality of working life variables (burnout (EEX) and job satisfaction (JS)) that play a central role. The most important pathway between job and organizational characteristics and turnover intention is the pathway from demands to both emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction to turnover intention. In this study, we added WFC to this core model. Figure 2 shows the results. The results show that WF plays a central role in the model. WF is correlated with most of the other job and organizational characteristics (IT job demands (r=.46); supervisory support (r=-.29); corporate integration (r=-.23); and rewards (r=-.24)). WF is not significantly correlated with age or tenure. Note

5 that there is no direct relation between WF and job satisfaction (β=0.02) nor between WF and turnover intention (β =0.00). The relation between WF and turnover intention is completely mediated by first burnout and then by (lack of) job satisfaction (ns) χ Df 20 GFI 0.99 AGFI 0.96 CFI 0.99 RMR 0.03 RMSEA (ns) Figure 2 The model for job and organizational characteristics, WFC, QWL and turnover 4 Conclusion Previous research has shown that there are two important pathways between job and organizational characteristics, QWL and turnover intention in the IT work force. The studies by Igbaria et al (1992a, 1992b) show that job characteristics, in particular role model factors, influence quality of working life, e.g., job satisfaction and organizational involvement, which in turn predicts turnover. The study by Moore (2000) shows that the classical stress/burnout pathway also plays a role in turnover of IT workers. Job characteristics, such as high job demands, low job control and low social support, affect health outcomes, more specifically burnout. Our study confirmed both pathways. Furthermore, in our study we added work family conflict (WFC) to the previous models. Our results show that WFC does play an important role in the model. The strongest relations in our model are the relations between WF, emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction and turnover intention. The results of the study show the importance of the WFC concept, through the model we tested, but also in simple statistics. For example, 39% of the men and 36% of the

6 women agree (or completely agree) with the statement: My job reduces the amount of time I can spend with the family. Thirty-five percent of the men and 40% of the women in the sample agreed with the statement: Problems at work make me irritable at home. Although WFC is not directly related to job satisfaction or turnover intention, the relation is mediated through emotional exhaustion. The demands put on employees by WFC leads to emotional exhaustion, which in turn leads to less job satisfaction. Low job satisfaction is strongly related to turnover intention. These results are also confirmed by the relatively high percentages of men and women who have passed up an assignment, a promotion or a relocation because of work family matters. The model shows that WFC is negatively related to career opportunities. The model also shows that WFC is negatively related to supervisory support. Lack of supervisory support can increase work family conflict, but on the other hand supervisors that do support their employees when it comes to the conflicting demands between work and family can buffer the negative effects. 4 Acknowledgement Funding for this research is provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Information Technology Workforce Program (Project #EIA , PI: P. Carayon). 5 References Carayon, P., Schoepke, J., Hoonakker, P., Haims, M., & Brunette, M. Evaluating causes and consequences of turnover intention among IT users: The development of a questionnaire survey. Paper to be published in Behaviour and Information Technology, Frone, M. R., Yardley, J. K., & Markel, K. S. (1997). Developing and testing an integrative model of the work-family interface. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 50, Grant-Vallone, E. J., & Donaldson, S. I. (2001). Consequences of work-family conflict on employee wellbeing over time. Work & Stress, 15(3), Googins, B., & Burden, D. (1987). Vulnerability of working parents: balancing work and home roles. Social Work, Greenhaus, J. H., Collins, K. M., & Singh, R., & Parasuraman, S. (1997). Work and family influences on departure from public accounting. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 50, Hecker, D. E. (2001). Occupational Employment Projections to Monthly Labor Review, 124(11), Higgins, C. A., & Duxbury, L. E. (1992). Work-family conflict: A comparison of dual-career and traditional career men. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 13, Hoonakker, P., Carayon, P., Schoepke, J., & Marian, A. (2004). Job and Organizational Factors as Predictors of Turnover in the IT Work Force: Differences between Men and Women. Working With Computing Systems 2004 (H.M. Khalid, M.G. Helander & A.W. Yeo, eds.), pp Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia): Damai Sciences. Igbaria, M., & Greenhaus, J. (1992). Determinants of MIS Employees' Turnover Intentions: A Structural Equation Model. Communications of the ACM, 35(2). Igbaria, M., & Wormley, W. M. (1992). Organizational Experiences and Career Success of MIS Professionals and Managers: An Examination of Race Differences. MIS Quarterly, 16(4), 507 (523). ITAA. (2002). Bouncing back: Jobs, skills and the continuing demand for IT workers: Information Technology Association of America. Moore, J. E. (2000). One road to turnover: An examination of work exhaustion in technology professionals. MIS Quarterly, 24(1), 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),