Gender in Management: An International Journal

Purpose – Although women continue to enter managerial and professional jobs in increasing numbers, they continue to be underrepresented at more senior levels of management. Several factors have been found to account for this, an important one being women's responsibilities for home and family functioning, often resulting in work-family conflict (WFC). The purpose of this paper is to examine correlates and consequences of WFC among a sample of managerial and professional women working in Istanbul, Turkey.

Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from 143 women, most working in the public sector, using anonymously completed questionnaires. About half were married and about half had children. WFC, both work interfering with family and family interfering with work (time-, strain- and behaviour-based) were measured by a scale developed and validated by Carlson et al., in a US study.

Findings – The respondents indicated relatively low levels of WFC. Levels of work interfering with family and family interfering with work were significantly and positively correlated. Hierarchical regression analyses, controlling for both personal demographic and work situation characteristics, showed that WFC generally predicted both work and psychological well-being outcomes, work interfering with family being a consistently stronger predictor of these than was family interfering with work.

Research limitations/implications – Data collected at one point in time make it difficult to examine causality. In addition, most respondents worked in the public sector, raising the issue of generalizability to women managers and professionals in the private sector.

Practical implications – Practical implications are offered for individuals, families and workplaces to address work-family issues.

Originality/value – This is one of the few studies of WFC among women managers and professionals in Turkey.