Coping with work-family conflict: The reciprocal and additive contributions of personal coping and organizational family-friendly support

The aim of this study was to test three alternative models - additive, interactive, and reciprocal - of the relationship between personal coping strategies and formal organizational family-friendly supports in mitigating work-family conflict (WFC). Altogether 474 employees in Israel having a partner and children and representing diverse professions and organizations were surveyed. The additive model, that is, personal coping and organizational supports together, were associated with decreased WFC, received support. However, the reciprocal model was also supported, as WFC decreased when individuals perceived the investments between their efforts in personal coping strategies and the organization's efforts in organizational supports as equal. The interactive model, namely personal coping and organizational supports compensate each other in decreasing conflict, received marginal support. Nevertheless, in each model personal coping strategies proved a better approach to mitigating WFC than formal family-friendly supports. The findings suggest that the role of organizational support is important in decreasing WFC when employees lack the personal coping strategies required or when they perceive the organization's efforts to be unfair in relation to their own coping efforts.