Career involvement and family involvement as moderators of relationships between work–family conflict and withdrawal from a profession.

TLDR

Work‑family conflict has been linked to career withdrawal, yet its effects on public accounting professionals have not been fully examined. This study investigates how work‑to‑family and family‑to‑work conflict relate to withdrawal intentions and behavior among public accountants. The authors surveyed 199 married or long‑term partnered AICPA members with at least one child, comprising 135 men and 64 women. Work‑to‑family conflict was positively associated with withdrawal intentions and behavior, especially for those with low career involvement, whereas family‑to‑work conflict showed no such relationship.

Abstract

This study extended prior analyses by J. H. Greenhaus, K. M. Collins, R. Singh, and S. Parasuraman (1997) by examining relationships between 2 directions of work-family conflict (work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict) and withdrawal from public accounting. The sample consisted of 199 members of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (135 men and 64 women) who were married or in a long-term relationship and who had 1 or more children. It was found that work-to-family conflict (but not family-to-work conflict) was positively related to withdrawal intentions. In addition, relationships of work-to-family conflict with withdrawal intentions and withdrawal behavior were stronger for individuals who were relatively uninvolved in their careers than for those who were highly involved in their careers. The implications of the findings for future research are discussed.