Flexibility, cohesion and family satisfaction: The impact of conflict between work and family

This study, including 658 nurses, tested the mediating effect of work-family conflict (WFC) and family-work conflict (FWC) in the relationship between family characteristics (i.e. cohesion and flexibility) and family satisfaction. Using the circumplex model of family systems by Olson and the conflict between work and family, regression analysis using PROCESS software revealed that both WFC and FWC were negatively related to family satisfaction. More interestingly, WFC was observed to mediate the relationship between family flexibility and family satisfaction, and FWC to mediate the relationship between family cohesion and family satisfaction. The theoretical and practical implications are also discussed. Practitioner points It is necessary to take into account the relationship between work and family characteristics (e.g. cohesion and flexibility) to explain family satisfaction, focusing on the particularities of WFC and FWC and family functioning, their strategies and fields of intervention. For organisations, particularly for human resource management, it is important to recognise the importance of the characteristics of a worker's family because these will be relevant to the relationship established between the work and family domains. For clinicians, particularly family therapists, this study contributes to a new understanding of the impact of family functioning in contexts external to the family, namely the professional context.