How work design characteristics affect service employees’ work–family conflicts

Despite scholars acknowledging that the five core job characteristics (i.e. skill variety, task significance, task identity, autonomy, and feedback) significantly positively influence employees’ psychological states (i.e. job meaningfulness, job responsibility, and results knowledge), few researchers have empirically studied how these job characteristics and psychological states are related to job involvement and work–family conflict (WFC). Research data were collected by conducting a survey of service employees through a market survey website. A total of 714 valid questionnaires were eventually collected, and structural equation modeling analysis was applied to the data. The results confirmed that skill variety and job involvement have a positive direct influence on WFC, whereas task feedback significantly decreases WFC. Additional analysis suggested that the five core job characteristics indirectly influence WFC through perceived job meaningfulness, responsibility, knowledge of results, and job involvement. The managerial implications for service managers developing employee work design strategies are provided.