Work family conflict and turnover intentions : exploring the moderating effects of work-family usefulness

The direct effects of work-family conflict on turnover intentions were explored with 203 New Zealand government employees. Further, work-family usefulness was used as a possible moderating of these direct effects. Direct links were found between the two types of conflict (work-family and family-work) and turnover intentions. Further, work-family usefulness held significant interaction effects for both conflict types. Employees whom perceive high levels of work-family usefulness have lower turnover intentions than employees with low work-family usefulness, and this is significantly lower when both work-family and family-work conflict increases. Consequently, conflict from the office and home encourages turnover intentions, but the perceived usefulness of work-family practices can reduce the negative effects of conflict. The implications for organisations and future research are discussed.