Job Demands and Emotional Labor as Antecedents of Female Preschool Teachers' Work-to-Family Conflict: The Moderating Role of Job Resources

Using the job demands-resources model and conservation of resources theory, this study examines job demands, job resources, and emotional labor as antecedents of work-to-family conflict. The study was conducted among 320 female preschool teachers in China over a 1-year period. Based on hierarchical regression, job demands (i.e., work overlord and interpersonal conflict) and surface acting led to an increase in work-to-family conflict over time. More importantly, supervisor work-family support as well as deep acting directly reduced work-to-family conflict over time, while meaning of work protected against increased work-to-family conflict in the presence of work overload and higher levels of surface acting. These findings contribute to prior literature and show how the unfavorable effects of job demands as well as emotional labor may be avoided in the family domain through enhancing supervisor work-family support and fostering meaning of work.