Work-family Conflict and Employee Loyalty: Exploring the Moderating Effects of Positive Thinking Coping

Abstract

This paper extends the job-related outcomes predicted by work-family and family-work conflict by exploring employee loyalty. Employee loyalty is defined as active behaviours, whether through voice or actions, that express pride and support in the organisation. Despite the importance of employee loyalty, it is a seldom explored outcome in the work-family field. With a sample of 203 New Zealand Government department workers, conflict of both types (work-family and family-work) was found to be negatively associated with employee loyalty. Furthermore, positive thinking coping was explored as a moderator of these negative relationships. Positive thinking coping was found to have significant moderating effects, with respondents with low levels of positive thinking having lower levels of employee loyalty than those with higher positive thinking when both types of conflict increased. The implications for future outcome related studies of work-family conflict are discussed