Gender in Management: An International Journal

Work-family conflict and female employees’ turnover intentions

Mamoona Rasheed, Salman Iqbal, Faisal Mustafa,
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Mamoona Rasheed, Salman Iqbal, Faisal Mustafa, (2018) "Work-family conflict and female
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Work-family
Work-family conflict and female conflict
employees’ turnover intentions
Mamoona Rasheed, Salman Iqbal and Faisal Mustafa
FOMS, University of Central Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

Received 18 September 2017

Abstract Revised 8 December 2017
Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the influences of informal organisational and family support 5 April 2018
11 July 2018
on work-family conflict (WFC) and its subsequent impact on turnover intentions among female employees. 3 October 2018
Design/methodology/approach – To evaluate the WFC among female individuals, data were collected Accepted 11 October 2018
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through a questionnaire distributed among female employees in the service sector in Lahore, Pakistan, by
using convenience-sampling technique. The collected data were analysed through a well-known statistical
technique, SEM, using AMOS software.
Findings – The findings suggest that supports (informal organizational and family) have no impact to
resolving the issues of WFC arising because of female members of the family working. Also, it was found that
WFC is positively linked to employee turnover intentions.
Practical implications – By addressing WFC issues, this research has key implication for WFC
practically. This study has essential implications for organization, so it can reduce the WFC by creating a
supportive environment to create balance amongst work and family life. Specifically, managers need to be
aware of the impact that social support and WFC have on turnover intention.
Originality/value – This study provides the model of WFC that helps in future research. The research also
improves past studies’ methodology by testing the direct and mediation impacts between the constructs
specifically in female employees. This study is a valuable addition to the existing body of literature.
Keywords Structural equation modelling, Work–family conflict, Employees’ turnover intentions,
Family social supports, Female employees, Informal organizational support
Paper type Research paper

Introduction
Over the past few decades, there have been several changes in global social and economic
systems due to increased competition among organisations; hence, the structure of the
workforce has changed dramatically. For instance, increases in the demands on individual
work performance, job competition and overtime burden (Ward, 2007). On the other hand,
due to organisational mergers, reforming and staff layoffs employee job security is rigorous
(Ma et al., 2008). Although family and work are essential roles in an individual’s life, these
pressures affect their personal and professional lives. When the work responsibilities
influence family demands, employees may face problems that lead to work–family conflict
(WFC) (Lambert et al., 2016). WFC may arise at the point when an individual (female) needs
to accomplish several roles including employee, spouse, daughter-in-law and mother
(Hussain, 2008). Each role enforces demands, requiring time, energy and commitment (Noor
and Maad, 2008). At work, the role of stress from work and life are reciprocally incompatible
and the contribution to one side makes the contribution to another side more difficult (ten
Brummelhuis and Bakker, 2012). Therefore, WFC identifies as a type of inter-role conflict
that incorporates two sorts of loads, for example, settlement with one role that makes it
harder to complete the demand with another (Greenhaus and Powell, 2006). It could be Gender in Management: An
International Journal
argued that both work and family roles demand the individual’s time, involvement, © Emerald Publishing Limited
1754-2413
commitment and behaviour that can create conflict with the other role (Lambert et al., 2016). DOI 10.1108/GM-09-2017-0112
 GM Now, in Asia, particularly in the subcontinent, women support men through entering the
workforce to meet economic and social needs.
The increasing trend of dual-earners includes men and women demanding to share
responsibilities that may affect the family life (Ward, 2007). Particularly for women, it is
difficult to balance the work burdens due to family responsibilities (Faiz, 2015). Moreover, as
female employees may face more problems both at work and family, increased demands at
work may influence the responsibilities of the family (Lambert et al., 2017). Therefore,
turnover rates among female employees is higher at work, and organisations are facing
replacement costs. The cost of replacing an employee is equivalent to the annual salary of an
employee (Altman, 2017). The replacement cost also includes indirect costs like loss of social
networks, expertise, personnel shortages, reduced services and overworked remaining staff.
This study will focus on WFC and turnover intention.
The existing literature on work and the family mostly emphasises the formal workplace
supports such as work–family policies, flexible working hours and childcare centres on how
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work may help reduced WFC (Kossek et al., 2011). Nevertheless, researchers have concentrated
on informal organisational support that includes supervisors and co-workers sympathetic to
WFC (Aminah and Zoharah, 2012). Owing to the dearth of knowledge, this study focuses on
social support and its association with WFC. Social support, known as social interaction,
contributes people to actually support and have feelings of attachments to an individual or
union that is seemed as loving and caring (Lambert et al., 2017). Social support plays an
essential role while exploring the interaction between family and work (Erickson et al., 2010). It
also includes emotional and practical support received from family and spouse (Matsui et al.,
1995). This study focused on social exchange theory (SET) to explain the linkages between
WFC and social support (ten Brummelhuis and Bakker, 2012). SET defines that individuals
enter into connections with others to maximise their benefits and reduce costs (Blau, 1964;
Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985). The previous studies on these constructs have been conducted
on female employees in various countries, such as Turkey, Hong Kong, Japan and China (Ren,
2010).
However, the links between these constructs like organisational and family support,
WFC and employee turnover intention are still unexplored in the Asian context, especially in
Pakistan (Faiz, 2015). In Pakistan, there are few studies on WFC issues (Faiz, 2015), and
thus, it is essential to further investigate this concern in a way that Pakistan’s cultural force
influences WFC in female employees. This study examines the significance of support in
terms of reducing WFC in Pakistan owing to a culturally dynamic society. Consequently, the
study addresses the effects of support and WFC on employee turnover intention. It also adds
value to the literature of the context of an Asian country.
The main aim of this study is to investigate the impact of informal organisational and
family support on female employees’ WFC. This paper also aims to investigate how WFC
subsequently affects turnover intention. Therefore, this paper reviews the literature and also
carries out empirical research with the objective of investigating the support’s influence on
the individual’s WFC and turnover intention in Pakistan’s service sectors. Using a
quantitative research method, this study conducted a survey comprising a pretested
questionnaire with the results being tabulated. Finally, this study provides practical
implications for management based on the results.

Theoretical background and hypothesis formulation

SET is defined as the exchange of activities, tangible and intangible, rewarding and costly
(Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985). The exchange happens when an individual participates in the
comportment of somebody; then they hope to get something in return. The individuals are
 involved in exchange behaviour to offer each other something valuable and unbiased. SET Work-family
states that individuals enter into relations with others to maximise their benefits and reduce conflict
costs (ten Brummelhuis and Bakker, 2012).
This exchange is constructed on the norms of reciprocity. According to Korsgaard et al.
(2010), there are two practices of reciprocity. The first step is to respond, which is the
conviction that somebody will return some support and/or favour as they feel the need to
pay back. The second counterpart is expected reciprocity which means if an individual helps
someone, they ought to receive some favour in return. Colquitt et al. (2013) and Korsgaard
et al. (2010) argued that employees will act in accordance with SET. SET is relevant to an
employee’s view of their supervisor’s and their co-worker’s support, as, if employees
perceive that an organisation is compassionate to them, they in return need to be loyal to the
organisation and work hard for it the same as with family support (Korsgaard et al., 2010).
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Informal organisational support and WFC

Social support at work may include co-worker and supervisor support that creates a helpful
work environment in organisations (Armstrong et al., 2015). Supervisor support is known as
one’s supervisor caring about the well-being of an individual and helps to resolve the WFC
(Hammer et al., 2009). A supervisor’s support within the organisation is important as the
supervisor is concerned with the employee’s work and influences the work-related outcomes
such as WFC (Ng and Sorenson, 2008). Supervisor support may reduce WFC and is valuable
for those who spend more time on work and participate in job-allied projects (Subhash et al.,
2016).
Furthermore, co-worker support is very important at work and influences the employee’s
work–life balance by helping them in work and trying to resolve their family issues (Cook
and Minnotte, 2008). Therefore, the co-worker is also known as the opinion of an individual
about other employees at work (Liao et al., 2004). The co-worker allows staff to discuss the
issues with them and ties them with work commitment (Raabe and Beehr, 2003). These
types of support help to reduce the factors that contribute to work strain (Lambert et al.,
2017). If employees favour their colleagues by helping them complete work, due to this,
others can fulfil family demands. Supportive co-workers and supervisors help the employees
to balance work and family by reducing WFC (Subhash et al., 2016; Hammer et al., 2007).
However, the supervisors are more concerned with career and advancement and less
committed with employees and their work role (Coffey et al., 2009; Batt and Valcour, 2003).
Owing to this, sometimes it may not help to create balance between work and life. Somehow,
while providing the support, co-workers expect more support in returns according to SET
(Colquitt et al., 2013); hence, it creates problems and employees face more conflict due to
exchange relationship (reciprocity) between coworkers. Because of this, coworker support
does not help to reduce WFC (Lambert et al., 2017):

H1. Informal organisational support is negatively associated with WFC.

Family social support and WFC

Social support from family is known as the informal network that provides individuals with
an expression of emotional involvement such as understanding, care, love and tangible
support (Lambert et al., 2017). Family support is a major source of sustenance in which
family associates have a chance to offer both supports (emotional and instrumental) to the
working member (Beehr et al., 2003). Emotional support includes sympathy, appreciation
and willingness to hear, affirmative affection, guidance and concern for the well-being of the
 GM companion. In addition, instrumental support includes substantial support from the spouse
and family in the household task (Beehr et al., 2003). Support from a spouse and other family
members is found to shield the impact of WFC (Nissly et al., 2005). In social support, the
spouse is the dominant person who can provide more help in reducing problems and stress.
Cinnamon and Rich (2002) studied that lack of support provided by the spouse in managing
household and work lead to WFC.
In dual-earning couples, the spouse plays an important role to help each other by
providing emotional support and help in a household task to reduce the stress. The spouse
may also provide support by counsel and understanding the spouse and help them to deal
with the difficult situation that may reduce the WFC. Therefore the family social support
has negative relationship with WFC (Nissly et al., 2005). Moral support from family helps to
reduce the WFC. Family social support is an essential role to reduce the WFC (Harris and
Kacmar, 2006; Perrewe and Carlson, 2002). Supports from spouse helps to reduce the WFC in
dual-career couples (Greenhaus and Powell’s, 2003).
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In addition, parents of young children, especially mothers, have more family

responsibilities (Lu et al., 2006). However, it involves unexpected burdens such as caring for
sick children that may lead to WFC (Ahmad, 2008). When employees are involved in a
family domain and experience more inferences at work, it creates WFC. According to
Carnicer et al. (2004) employees who have the presence of children in the household were at
high responsibilities of the family that has positively link to WFC:

H2. Family social support is negatively associated with WFC.

WFC and turnover intentions

Turnover intention relates to employees who mentally quit but physically stay in the
organisation. Turnover intentions are also known as the potential of employees to leave the
organisation to fulfil their interest and demands of family (Tuzun, 2007). Turnover
negatively influences workplace particularly in the aspect of the economy because the firms
need to advertise for the positions and need money for training and the recruitment process
(West, 2007). It shows that labour turnover increases the cost of the organisation (Sagie et al.,
2002).
WFC is directly related to the turnover intentions. Allen et al. (2000) proposed that when
work strains interfere with family responsibilities then an individual considers discovering
another job and decides to leave the institute to adjust their WFC. Lambert et al. (2016)
emphasized that WFC increases stress that leads to turnover intentions, because continuing
and uncertain conflicts as work interfere with their personal activities (Lambert et al., 2016).
It is seen by employees that one resolution to this issue would be moving themselves to
other organisation that may facilitate them to create better balance amongst job and family
life (Lambert et al., 2016). Employees who faced more WFC described high intention to quit
(Long et al., 2016; Pasewark and Viator, 2006). Therefore, WFC has a positive relationship
with turnover intentions (Barnes et al., 2007):

H3. WFC is positively associated with turnover intentions.

Social issues in Pakistan

Several researchers suggest that social support reduces the WFCs of female employees
because social support motivates employees in collective culture (Sidani and Al Hakim,
2012). In Pakistan’s context, social issues are discussed and researched; however, little is
 known about the social issues faced by female employees (Faiz, 2015). The societal issues in Work-family
Pakistan persist as tradition. One reason behind this could be that the social values are conflict
inherited from Hindu society. Muslims and Hindus have lived together for many years, and
hence, in many cases, it is difficult for women to work and fulfil the household
responsibilities and, consequently, they leave work for their families (Faiz, 2015). In Asian
societies, female workers may face several constraints because of joint family systems and
religious esteem predominating. This may act as a barrier for women to continue their
professional careers (Yaghi and Yaghi, 2014). In addition, female workers are confronted
with problems at work, for example, working late hours, maternity leave, lead behaviour
and unequal wages and opportunities (Siddiqui, 2013; Yaghi and Aljaidi, 2014). Because of
these factors, women have not been allowed to have the right to do anything without the
permission of males (Ali et al., 2011).
In Pakistan, as discussed earlier, the concept of dual-earner is in its infancy. Hence, men
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are the breadwinners of the family, whereas women take care of household chores (Faiz,
2015). However, dynamic economic conditions and lifestyles demand dual-earners. Thus, the
concept of dual-earners may force women to balance work and family responsibilities (Munn
and Chaudhuri, 2016).
In the Asian subcontinent, Indian women support men in financial matters; however, the
household responsibilities are still taken care of by the women. Owing to the conflicts
between work and family responsibilities, some women either quit their jobs or intend to
quit (Mani, 2013) because they have to fulfil multiple roles as mother or wife or both (Reddy
et al., 2010). Similar situations apply to UAE working women, where the social norms make
it difficult for women to continue their jobs at higher positions because of conflicts between
work and family demands (Yaghi and Yaghi, 2016). In Pakistan’s society, women are
symbolised as caretakers of their family (Samih, 2009). In Pakistani culture, it is a common
perception in society that a woman’s primary responsibility is to look after the family
(Hussain, 2008). To fulfil their family requirements females do not continue professional
careers and quit their jobs (Faiz, 2015). In concise, women in Asian societies are beholden to
serve the family that may leads to their turnover intention. This is also true in countries like
Bangladesh, Malaysia and China (Ahmad and Jahan, 2018; Long et al., 2016; Ren, 2010).

Conceptual model
The conceptual model is designed on the basis of theoretical background. Figure 1 shows
the relationship between informal organisational al and family support, WFC and turnover
intentions.

Methodology
To attain the aims of the study, structured questionnaires were used to collect primary data
from female employees, especially those working in the private banking sector of the

Social Support

Informal Outcome
organisational
H1

al support
Work family H3
Turnover intentions
conflict
H2
Family social
Figure 1.
support Conceptual model
 GM metropolitan city of Lahore, Pakistan, by using a cross-sectional survey method. The reason
behind choosing the private sector for this study is due to the changes in lifestyles observed
in this sector, and the concept of dual-earners becoming more popular. Women working in
banks, both private and public, are facing WFCs; however, the WFC is higher in private
banks, leading to higher turnover intention (Kaur, 2014). It is found that women face WFC in
private banks due to extended working hours, late sitting and working on weekends (Yaghi
and Aljaidi, 2014), that all contribute to WFC. The sample was selected through a
convenience sampling technique – a type of non-probability sampling.
The respondents in this study were married female employees, as the pilot study deemed
that married women had WFC. The pilot study was undertaken by married and unmarried
females and it helped in selecting the sample for this study. The pilot study was used as a
pre-test on a small scale to conduct a major study (Polit, Beck and Hungler, 2001). According
to Calitz (2009), a pilot study helps researchers determine the ideal environment and group
which are suitable for the research sample. For the data analysis, 250 questionnaires were
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randomly distributed among married female employees in the banking sector. However,
there were only 165 responses from married female employees, representing a 66 per cent
response rate. This response rate was encouraging, as Baruch (1999) recommended that 55.6
per cent response rate is acceptable in academic studies for journal publication. These
respondents’ data have been used for further analysis. The instrument that has been used
for the measurement scale of this study is the five-point Likert scale (Likert, 1932). For data
analysis, SPSS and AMOS software was used. This study adapted the survey instruments
from previous studies to collect data that is shown in Table I.
The reliability test has calculated to examine the integrity of the scale. In this study, the
value of Cronbach’s alpha exists in between 0.62 to 0.85, which are greater than the
threshold value of 0.6 (Nunally and Ira, 1994).

Results
Exploratory factor analysis
Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to access the validity and reliability on the
bases of items collected from previous studies (Table I). EFA was used to extend
the association between various sub-factors and variables. It also helps in finding the
components with which different factors and sub-factors will load and measure how they
are relying on them. This study has used principal component analysis (PCA) with varimax
rotation to factor analyse for 39 items using SPSS version 21. The principle factor analysis is
used when we need to determine the minimum number of the factor and describe the
maximum portion of the variance. Examination of the matrix exposed the existence of many
coefficients of 0.4 and above. With the help of Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO), the test

Concepts Cronbach’s alpha Dimensions Source Items

Work–family conflict 1  0.6 Adams et al. (1996) 8

Informal organisational al support 1  0.6 Supervisor support Bond et al. (1998) 6
Coworker support Ducharme and 5
Martin (2000)
Family social support 1  0.6 Emotional King et al. (1995) 7
sustenance
Instrumental 5
Table I. assistance
Measures Turnover intentions 1  0.6 Olusegun (2013) 6
 adequacy of the sample can be measured. Kaiser value over 0.5 is acceptable for the factor Work-family
analysis (Kaiser, 1970). As shown in Table II, KMO value is 0.718, whereas Bartlett’s test conflict
p < 0.05 that means factor analysis is acceptable. The eigenvalue for factor analysis must be
higher than 1.0 (Hair et al., 2005). As in this study, EFA extracted four components with the
excellent factor loading that is greater than 0.5, so the name of these factors is the same as
proposed by this research. These four components explain 36.225 per cent of the variance in
eigenvalue. An examination of the scree plot showed a clear break after the fourth
component. Both the scree plot and varimax rotation method show the four components that
are used for further investigation. The first component is WFC, the second component is
family social support, the third component is informal organisational support and the fourth
one is employees’ turnover intention.

Measurement model
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After conducting EFA, measurement model has been conducted as suggested in the literature
(Suhr, 2006). The measurement model uses the CFA to confirm the factor structure between
observed variables (Hoyle, 2000) by mean of the AMOS software. CFA is used to identify the
goodness-of-fit model. The model fit was retrieved using ten measures from three perspectives.
First, all fit perspective ( x 2/df, GFI, RMSEA), comparative fit model perspectives are (CFI, NFI)
and lastly, the parsimonious model perspective (PGFL and PNFI). As shown in Table III, the
value of x 2/df is less than 3.00 that showed good model fit (Bagozzi and Yi., 1988); meanwhile,
the value of GFI, CFI and NFI are equal to 0.8, which is marginally accepted according to Ryu
et al. (2003). The value of RMSEA is less than 0.08 as shown by (Hu and Bentler, 1999). Hence,
the model of this study is the good fit for the data set.

Hypothesis testing
The validity of the proposed model and statistical significance of all structural parameter
values are investigated. To find the standardized path model, the p-value shows significant

KMO 0.718
Bartlett’s test 1,986.671 Table II.
df 741 KMO and Bartlett’s
Sig 0.000 test

Fit index Scores Recommended value

Measures of absolute fit
x2/df 1.463** <2, 3 or 5*
GFI 0.80* > 0.90 or 0.8*
RMSEA 0.053** <0.08**
Incremental fit measures
CFI 0.805* >0.90*
NFI 0.57* >0.08**
Parsimonious fit measures
PGFI 0.696  0.70* 0.07-0.09**
PNFI 0.533** 0.06-0.09** Table III.
Goodness-of-fit
Notes: **Strongly acceptable; *marginally acceptable indices
 GM acceptance value if p < 0.05; it means the hypothesis is accepted. Similarly, if p > 0.05, the
result is insignificant and the hypothesis is rejected (see Table IV). Figure 2 shows the path
coefficient between the variables, and the dotted lines indicate that there is no relationship
between the variables, while the straight line shows there is a relationship.

Alternative model
Although the conceptual model shows to be a good fit for this dataset, the alternative model
is used to find direct associations between the dependent and independent variables. It
indicates that, for the SEM model, there are possibilities of alternative models that may have
a better model fit. During the past two decades, the idea of the alternative structural model
has been accepted and many researchers in the social sciences have published articles using
the option of the alternative model (Butts et al., 2013; Iqbal et al., 2015; Öge et al., 2018). The
alternative model shows the new direct path between the theoretical models to find better
possibilities of model fit (Öge et al., 2018). The alternative model is designed by using two
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additional H4 and H5 as shown in Figure 3.

In the existing literature, Barak et al. (2001) conducted an analysis on turnover and
concluded that social support, including support from co-workers, supervisors and family,
has a negative relationship with turnover intention. Lambert et al. (2017) found that social
support is an indicator of turnover intention. Some research suggested that social support
affected those turnover intentions through other variables like job satisfaction (Brough and
Frame, 2004). Jang (2015) conducted research into married female nurses and found that

Hypothesis Path Path coefficient SE Critical ratio p-Value Remarks

H1 IOS ! WFC 0.191 0.318 0.600 0.548 Not supported

H2 FSS ! WFC 0.108 0.159 0.680 0.496 Not supported
H3 WFC ! TI 0.433 0.153 2.826 0.005** Supported
Table IV.
Hypotheses testing Notes: **Strongly acceptable; *marginally acceptable

Informal –0
.19
organisational 1
al support
0.433
Work family
Turnover intentions
conflict
Family social
support
Figure 2.
Structural model with Note: Doted line shows that there is no association between
results
variables

Informal
H4
organisational
al support H1

Work family H3
Turnover intentions
H2 conflict
Figure 3. Family social
Alternative model support
H5
 social support such as support from the informal organisation was important for the Work-family
organisation to control turnover intention. Similarly, support from family also has a conflict
significantly negative impact on turnover intention. If female employees are receiving no
support from their family members, it becomes difficult for them to perform their
obligations to work, and to cope with this situation, most employees leave their jobs or
careers (Allen et al., 2000). Karatepe (2009) revealed that family support increases family
satisfaction, and the results showed that both informal organisational and family social
support have negative relationships with turnover intention. A study investigated that
social support from co-workers and supervisors has a negative relationship with turnover
intention (Lambert et al., 2017). Houkes et al. (2003), suggested that support from family,
friends and relatives has a negative association with turnover intention. As per the above
discussion, this study formulates the couple of hypotheses as shown in Figure 3:

H4. Informal organisational al support is negatively associated with turnover intentions.

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H5. Family social support is negatively associated with turnover intentions.

Hypothesis testing of alternative model

The result shows that only H3 and H5 are accepted at the level of p < 0.05, and the rest of
hypotheses are rejected by this examination that p > 0.05 as shown in Table V and Figure 4.
The dotted lines show that there is no relationship between the variables in Figure 4.

Comparison model
The comparison of the structural model with the alternative structural model is shown in
Table VI. As mentioned above, the results of the structural model are supported, and the
alternative model is supported more and is a better fit for the data; it is accepted as the final
solution or discussion. The goodness-of-fit model has been improved such as x 2/df, GFI,
CFI, and RMESA, as well as NFI, AGFI and PGFI, remain the same in the alternative model.

Hypothesis Path Path coefficient SE Critical ratio p-Value Remarks

H1 IOS ! WFC 0.045 0.131 0.343 0.638 Not supported

H2 FSS ! WFC 0.090 0.241 0.375 0.667 Not supported
H3 WFC ! TI 0.472 0.164 2.886 0.007** Supported
H4 IOS ! TI 0.321 0.313 1.026 0.262 Not supported
H5 FSS ! TI 0.394 0.179 2.198 0.027** Supported
Table V.
Notes: IOS = Informal organisational support; FSS = Family social support; WFC = Work–family conflict; Alternative model
TI = Turnover intention hypotheses

Informal
organisational –0.
321
al support
Work family 0.472
Turnover intentions
.09 conflict Figure 4.
–0
Family social Alternative structural
support model with results
 GM Discussion
The purpose of this study is to investigate the association between informal organisational
and family support and the individual WFC among female employees. Hence, the study
discusses the results of the alternative structural model. The results indicate that there is no
relationship between informal organisational support and WFC at ( b = 0.045, p > 0.05).
This result is different from that of previous studies, and H1 is rejected. According to Hsiao
and Mor Barak (2013) and Hammer et al. (2008), supervisor support has no influence on
reducing WFC. Supervisors are more concerned with employee productivity and less
committed to employee work-role (Coffey et al., 2009; Batt and Valcour, 2003). Another
reason is that high power-distance may create a communication gap between employees and
their supervisors; therefore, employees may not be willing to be open about how their job is
affecting their family life. According to Lambert et al. (2017), the co-worker’s support is not
related to WFC. When co-workers provide support to other co-workers and they expect more
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support in return, it has no effect on reducing WFC (Colquitt et al., 2013). Co-workers might
not discuss family issues at work; they may feel uncomfortable to discuss sensitive issues
with co-workers (Lambert et al., 2017).
Moreover, family social support has no relationship with WFC ( b = 0.09, p > 0.05), so
H2 is rejected. This is in line with previous studies that indicate that family social support
decreases WFC (Perrewe and Carlson, 2002). However, Selvarajan et al. (2013) suggested that
spousal support is negatively associated with WFC. According to Ahmad (2008), several
family-related factors are involved that may contribute to WFC. The findings of this study
shows that unpredictable demands, for instance, the care for sick child and family
interference with work, may contribute to higher levels of conflict between work and family,
because a mother with an ill child cannot stop thinking about her child even at the workplace.
This finding is consistent with Lee and Hong (2005), who indicated that support from family
is not related to conflict between work and family. As Pakistan is a collectivist, masculine
and high power-distance culture (Hofstede, 2013), their culture and values are different from
Western countries (Ramesh and Gelfand, 2010). In Pakistani society, women are more
inclined to fulfil the demands of family before anything else, because they are always taught
that family is their first priority (Hussain, 2008). As discussed earlier, the duties of Pakistani
women towards their families are to attend to their family by being a good daughter, sister,
dutiful wife, daughter-in-law and mother (Hussain, 2008). If they are working and cooking at
the same time, it disturbs the family balance. After work in organisations, no matter how
tired they are, they have to look to their family matters (Faiz, 2015). These involvements
create problems between family and work even if they received support from families.
Similarly, WFC has a positive relationship with turnover intention at ( b = 0.472, p < 0.05).
It shows that H3 is accepted. The findings are similar to previous studies showing that WFC is
positively associated with turnover intention (Long et al., 2016; Pasewark and Viator, 2006;

Goodness-of-fit
measures x 2 Test statistics/df GFI AGFI CFI NFI RMSEA PGFI

Recommended
values <3.00* >0.80* >0.80* >0.90* >0.80** <0.08** 0.06-0.09**
Structural model 1.463** 0.80* 0.77 = 0.8* 0.805* 0.6* 0.053** 0.70**
Alternative model 1.443** 0.805* 0.78 = 0.8* 0.82* 0.6* 0.055** 0.7**
Table VI.
Comparison model Notes: Recommended value: *Bagozzi and Yi (1988), Hu and Bentler (1999); **Ryu et al. (2003)
 Barnes et al., 2007). Long et al. (2016), on a manufacturing company situated in Malaysia, found Work-family
that WFC is significantly correlated with turnover intention. WFC is the main cause of turnover conflict
intention. If there is low conflict between work and family, then the turnover intention is also
low. Turnover intention is high if there is higher conflict between professional and personal life
(Noor and Maad, 2008). The results show that turnover intention among female employees is
high due to WFC. To balance their professional and personal life, they prefer their family over
their work and leave the organisation (Faiz, 2015). In Pakistani culture, it is a common
perception in society that the woman’s primary responsibility is to look after their family
(Hussain, 2008). Therefore, women quit jobs to fulfil family demands.
Therefore, the informal organisational support has no association with turnover intention
at ( b = 0.321, p > 0.05) and H4 is rejected. The recent studies show that informal
organisational support has a negative relationship with turnover intention (Barak et al., 2001;
Lambert et al., 2017). This result is supported by the previous study of Lee and Woo (2015)
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who indicated that informal organisational support has no relationship with turnover
intention. This support did not help to reduce the turnover intention among nurses. In
addition, family support is positively linked to turnover intention ( b = 0.394, p < 0.05).
Hence, H5 is rejected. This result is different from previous studies as family social support
helps to decrease turnover intention (Lambert et al., 2017; Karatepe, 2009). The result of this
study shows that even if the family supports their female employees then they are faced with
the intention to quit their jobs due to family demands and childcare because they can easily
quit their job to fulfil the family responsibility (Hussain, 2008). There are still some household
responsibilities placed on females and they have to fulfil the multiple roles of mother, wife
and daughter-in-law (Mani, 2013; Faiz, 2015) that are directly linked to turnover intention.
This study has practical and theoretical implications. Practically, modern organisations
should work towards establishing organisational cultures. Paternalistic leadership depicts the
leadership culture in Pakistan. The society has a young workforce with a high power-distance.
Benevolent leadership may reduce power-distance and improve employee relations. In due
course, this will reduce employee stress levels. This will help to improve working conditions
for females. Lastly, it motivates them to work more and increase the chances for female
employees to chase their professions. This research could help the public policymakers to
attract female workers to work and contribute towards the economic growth of the country, as
it would provide opportunities for females to grow professionally and socially.
The results of this study contribute to the theoretical development of alternative models
for justification of the associations between social support, WFC and turnover intention.
Little research in the past has examined the connection between these constructs and, more
particularly, less even less research into work has been undertaken in Pakistan. The
research also improves the methodology by testing the alternative model between the
constructs, specifically in female employees. Further, this study used the SEM technique on
a single sample and also used goodness-of-fit indices in SEM to support the model fit for
better results. However, this study is a valuable addition to the existing body of literature on
work and the family.

Future research and limitation

There are numerous limitations of this study: the sample size was small and all data were
collected from Lahore private banks, creating generalizability in findings. Secondly, the cross-
sectional research design used in this study due to time limitation. Thirdly, the limited number
of supports like informal organization and family social support is used to reduce the WFC.
Future research should focus on longitudinal research design and comparative study for
better insight. In the future, data should be collected from different sectors to get a better
 GM understanding of the issues of WFC among female employees. In this manner, future
research should focus on different approaches to determine the issues amongst work and
family. Moreover, future research may be necessary to understand the idea of paternalism,
in light of the fact that the idea of paternalism is duality amongst control and care. In
societies that have high power distance like Pakistan, paternalism is high. Paternalism
focuses on providing support to the family and may help in reducing the reasons that cause
the turnover (Abdullah and Iqbal, 2018).

Conclusion
In Pakistan, women in many situations, have to compromise. Women compromise to fulfil
family expectations. To survive in modern times women in Eastern societies are willing to
take steps to improve their financial and education standards. Although, in chasing a career,
several women are continuously striving to keep family bonds intact while staying within
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the cultural limits. Based on cultural differences, the results achieved are different from the
previous studies conducted in West.
In conclusion, this study presents a detailed analysis regarding to the role of WFC in
triggering turnover intention in female employees. Social support from family has a reinforcing
effect on employee turnover intention. The results reveal that informal organisational support
has no impact on turnover intention. Informal organisational and family support have no
association with WFC. This may occur due to the diverse nature of support and individual
requirements. Pakistani women have many household responsibilities, which is the main
reason behind WFC. This does not allow them to focus on their professional careers and self-
development. Looking at this from a cultural perspective, it is highly recommended to bring
balance between the personal and professional lives of female employees.

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Appendix. Work–family conflict and female employees’ turnover intentions

Measurement scale of this study is five point Likert scale “strongly disagree to strongly agree
Work–family conflict

 The demands of my work interfere with my home and family life.

 Things I want to do at home are not done because of the demands of my job.
 Sometime the amount of time my job takes up and it makes difficult to fulfil family
responsibilities.
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 Due to work related duties, I have changed my plans for family activities.
 On the job, I have so much work to do that it takes away from my personal interest.
 Work demands often make me irritable or shot tempered at home.
 Due to work pressure I often arrive at home late or in bad mood.
 I often complete work related tasks outside of my working hours.
Informal organization support

(1) Supervisor support:

 My supervisor is fair and does not show favouritism in responding to employees’
personal or family needs.
 My supervisor accommodates me when I have family take care, for example,
medical appointments, meeting with child’s teacher etc.
 My supervisor really cares about the effects that work demands have on my
personal and family life.
 My supervisor has expectations of my performance on the job that are realistic.
 My supervisor understands my personal or family related issues that affect my
work.
 I feel comfortable bringing up my personal or family issues with my supervisor.
(2) Colleague support:
 I feel appreciated by my coworker when I done my job carefully.
 My coworkers would fill my responsibility when I am absent.
 My coworkers are helpful in getting my job done on time.
 My coworkers always give useful advice on job related problems.
 During routine work problems, I always seek advice from my coworkers.

Family social support

(1) Emotional sustenance:

 When I succeed at work, my family members show that they are proud of me.
 Someone in my family always ask me about my work day activities.
 I feel better after discussing job related problems with a family member.
 When I have a tough day at work, family members try to cheer me up.
 When I’m frustrated by my work, someone in my family tries to understand.
 GM  Member of my family often provide a different way of looking at my work-related
problems.
 Members of my family want me to understand my job.
(2) Instrumental assistance:
 Members of my family cooperate me to complete household activities.
 If my job getting very demanding, someone in my family will take on extra
household responsibility.
 I can depend on members of my family to help me out when I’m running late for
work.
 Members of my family help me with routine household tasks.
 When I’m having a difficult week at my job, my family members try to do more of
the work around the house.
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Turnover intention
 I do not prefer to continue working for this organization due to work family conflict.
 I often feel stressed at work due to the hectic work schedule.
 Due to my hectic work schedule, I will probably look for a job outside of this organization
within the next 3 years.
 Continuation with my present employer will not fulfil my life expectation.
 As soon as I can find a better job, I will quit this organization.
 I am looking for new opportunities of work to manage my family related activities.

About the authors

Mamoona Rasheed is a Research Associate at the University of Central Punjab Lahore, Pakistan. She
has published her research work in international platforms, including conference proceedings and
journals.
Salman Iqbal has a PhD from Massey University, New Zealand. His research interests include
HRM, knowledge management and employees’ personal development using system dynamics
methodology. He has presented his research work in various international conferences, and some of
his research contributions are nominated/awarded as best papers. He has contributed to several
journals including impact factor journals and journals listed in ABDC list. He also contributed in
several edited books. Apart from his academic research, he has written magazine articles in human
resources, published by Human Resource Institute of New Zealand (HRINZ). Currently, Dr Salman
Iqbal is an Assistant Professor, Director Program MBA and Associate Editor of UCP Management
Review, at the University of Central Punjab Lahore, Pakistan. Salman Iqbal is the corresponding
author and can be contacted at: salman.iqbal@ucp.edu.pk
Faisal Mustafa is the Dean of FOMS at the University of Central Punjab Lahore, Pakistan.

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