Work-family interface predicting needs satisfaction: The benefits for senior management

Abstract

Work-family conflict and enrichment were used to predict the needs satisfaction of autonomy, competence and relatedness on a sample of 418 New Zealand managers. Work-family and family work conflict was negatively related to autonomy, while family-work conflict was also negatively related to competence and relatedness. Work-family enrichment was positively related to autonomy, while family-work enrichment was positively related to competence and relatedness. In addition, the findings suggest senior managers will have the freedom and skills from their position to better leverage the work-family interface. Results from interaction effects found senior managers reporting higher satisfaction of needs than junior managers at all levels of the work family interface. Overall, findings support the work-family interface influencing three needs satisfaction.