Cross-Cultural Differences on Work-to-Family Conflict and Role Satisfaction: A Taiwanese-British Comparison

The aim of this research was to explore relations between work and family demands and resources, work-to-family conflict (WFC), and work and family outcomes in a cross-cultural comparative context involving Taiwanese and British employees. Two-hundred and sixty-four Taiwanese employees and 137 British employees were surveyed using structured questionnaires. For both Taiwanese and British employees, work and family demands were positively related to WFC, whereas work resources were negatively related to WFC. Furthermore, WFC was negatively related to family satisfaction. More importantly, we found that nation moderated relationships between work resources and WFC, WFC and work, and family satisfaction. Specifically, work resources had a stronger protective effect for Taiwanese than British in reducing WFC, whereas WFC had a stronger detrimental effect on role satisfaction for British than Taiwanese. It is recommended that both culture-general and culture-specific effects should be taken into consideration in designing future WFC research and family friendly managerial practices

Locus of Control and Well-Being at Work: How Generalizable are Western Findings?

Managers from 24 geopolitical entities provided data on work locus of control, job satisfaction, psychological strain, physical strain, and individualism/collectivism. The hypothesis that the salutary effects of perceived control on well-being are universal was supported because relations of work locus of control with well-being at work were similar in almost all the sampled areas. Furthermore, the individualism/collectivism level of each sample did not moderate the magnitude of correlations of work locus of control with measures of well-being. Findings indicate that control beliefs contribute to well-being universally, but we suggest that how control is manifested can still differ