Different strategies for managing the work/non-work interface: A test for unique pathways to work outcomes

Scientific evidence linking employers' efforts to help workers to manage the work/non-work interface to actual outcomes at work remains scarce. In this study of 200 women employed in a Canadian school district, a research model was devised to explain how two strategies for managing the interface may affect stress symptoms, absenteeism and turnover intention. Several features distinguish this model from earlier models of the work/non-work interface. That is, two directions of work/non-work conflict, a mediator between the strategies and work outcomes, are specified, each strategy is set to relate directly to only one direction of conflict, and each direction is set to relate directly to stress symptoms and either absenteeism or turnover intention. LISREL analysis supported the superiority of the research model to a general model incorporating more common conceptualizations of the work/non-work interface.