WORK-FAMILY CONFLICT AMONG MARRIED ACADEMIC MOTHERS: A STUDY ON MALAYSIAN UNIVERSITIES

The participation of women in the global workforce translates to social, knowledge and economic gains yet, women especially mothers are experiencing work-family conflict particularly once they get married and have children. Cultural and social norms have changed over the years in many countries allowing more women to enter the labour force and organizations are amending their human resource policies and work culture to meet the needs of working mothers. However, literature has indicated that there are organizational related factors--work overload and perceived organizational support--and family related factors--spousal support and caring for children-- that may contribute to married academic mothers' workfamily conflict in Malaysia. As such, a study using a sample of 300 married academic mothers working in public and private universities in the Klang Valley, Malaysia was conducted to study if organizational factors and family related factors have significant effects on married academic mothers' work-family conflict. The data collected from this study was analysed using structural equation model. The findings of the study revealed that work overload, perceived organizational support and spousal support had significant relationships with married academic mothers' work-family conflict. Implication of the study are presented highlighting important policies that may address work-family conflict.