The mediating role of work-family conflict on role overload and job stress linkage

Purpose The present study first explored the different dimensions of work-family conflict and job stress. It then evaluated the mediating role of time and strain-based work-family conflict on the relationship between role overload and psychological stress and role overload and physiological stress. Design/methodology/approach The study utilized a quantitative data collection approach through a questionnaire design. With the aid of the questionnaire, 308 samples were collected from the project-level staff of ten construction organizations in Sri Lanka. The collected data were analyzed using a structural equation modeling approach to address the research hypotheses. Findings Results supported the mediating role of work-family conflict on the relationship between role overload and job stress. Specifically, the time and strain-based work-family conflict combined partially mediated the effect of role overload on psychological stress. While strain-based work-family conflict fully mediated the effect of role overload on physiological stress. Hence, the organizations that seek employee well-being should focus on developing a conducive working environment with a focus on a reasonable workload for everyone. Besides, the management should give special consideration to working hours as it affects both the employees' stress levels and family life. Originality/value This study added the mediating role of time and strain-based work-family conflict to the previous empirical research on the relationship between role overload and job stress dimensions. Besides, this study discusses the different dimensions of work-family conflict and job stress, which is a less explored area in the construction literature.