Work–Life Conflict and Job Satisfaction: The Moderating Role of Gender and Household Income in Western Europe

Although many potential moderators of the work–life conflict and job satisfaction relationship are well-studied, previous research has often overlooked the potential influence of different income groups on this dynamic. Our aim in this paper is to test this moderation effect within the context of We...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social Sciences
Main Authors: Vladimir Mentus, Jovana Zafirović
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023
Subjects:
H
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci12120678
https://doaj.org/article/6577cb29db6f44129acea5e52bfa80c1
Description
Summary:Although many potential moderators of the work–life conflict and job satisfaction relationship are well-studied, previous research has often overlooked the potential influence of different income groups on this dynamic. Our aim in this paper is to test this moderation effect within the context of Western Europe. Additionally, we carry out the analysis for men and women separately, as this dynamic may be strongly influenced by gender. Using data from the tenth round of the European Social Survey for twelve countries (Belgium, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and Switzerland), we found a significant positive moderating effect of household income on the relationship between work–life conflict and job satisfaction for women, while for men the moderation effect is not significant. Our results thus suggest that for women, higher household income may serve as a buffer, alleviating the detrimental impact of individual work–life conflict on job satisfaction.