Little research attention has been given to the linkage between work–family conflict and career commitment. Likewise, although, theoretical arguments about the moderator effects of mentoring on the relationship between work–family conflict and career attitudes have been made in the literature, no research has investigated this assumption. This study examines the relationship between work-to-family conflict and career commitment and tested the moderating effects of gender and mentoring support in the relationship. Data were obtained from 286 employees in government establishments located in Abuja, Nigeria using a questionnaire. Results indicate that work–family conflict and career commitment have a significant negative relationship. Mentoring influenced the strength of the relationship. The negative relationship became very weak and nonsignificant for employees with high levels of mentoring support, whereas it was significantly stronger for employees with low levels of mentoring support. Contrary to hypothesis, gender was not a moderator. Practical implications of findings and future research directions are discussed.
AikenL. S.WestS. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
2.
AllenT. D.EbyL. T.PoteetM.LimaL.LentzE. (2004). Outcomes associated with mentoring protégés: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 127–136.
3.
AryeeS.TanK. (1992). Antecedents and outcomes of career commitment. Journal of Vocational Behaviour, 39, 331–343.
4.
BanduraA. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognition theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
5.
BlauG. (1985). The measurement and prediction of career commitment. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 58, 277–288.
6.
BurdenD. S.GooginsB. (1987). Balancing work and homelife study. Boston, MA: Boston University School of Social Work.
7.
CarmeliA. (2003). The relationship between emotional intelligence and work attitudes, behaviour and outcomes: An examination among senior managers. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 18, 788–813.
8.
CarsonK. D.BedeianA. G. (1994). Career commitment: Construction of a measure and examination of its psychometric properties. Journal of Vocational Behaviour, 44, 237–262.
9.
ChernissC. (1991). Career commitment in human service professionals: A biographical study. Human Relations, 44, 419–437.
10.
ChinchillaN.LeonC.TorresE.CanelaM. A. (2006). Career inhibitors and career enablers for executive women(Working paper no. 632). Barcelona, Spain: International Center of Work and Family.
11.
CinamonR. G.WeiselA.TzukK. (2007). Work-family conflict within the family. Journal of Career Development, 34, 79–100.
12.
CohenJ.CohenP. (1983). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioural sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
13.
CrouterA. C.BumpusM. F. (2001). Linking parents' work stress to children’s and adolescents' psychological adjustment. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 10, 156–159.
14.
DixonM. A.SagasM. (2007). The Relationship between organizational support, work-family conflict, and the job-life satisfaction of university coaches. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 78, 236–247.
15.
ErdwinsC. J.BuffardiL. C.CasperW. J.O’BrienA. S. (2001). The relationship of the women’s role strain to social support, role satisfaction, and self-efficacy. Family Relations, 50, 230–239.
16.
FroneM. R.YardleyJ. K.MarkelK. S. (1997). Developing and testing an integrative model of work-family interface. Journal of Vocational Behaviour, 50, 145–167.
17.
GalinskyE.BondJ.KimS.BackonL.BrownfieldE.SakaiK. (2005). Overwork in America: When the way we work becomes too much. New York, NY: Families and Work Institute.
18.
GreenhausJ.BeutellN. (1985). Sources of conflict between work and family roles. Academy of Management Review, 10, 76–88.
19.
HuntD. M.MichaelC. (1983). Mentorship: A career training and development tool. Academy of Management Review, 8, 475–485.
20.
JansenN. W. H.KantI. J.AmelsvoortL. G. P.KristensenT. S.SwaenG. M. H.NijhuisF. J. N. (2006). Work-family conflict as a risk factor for sickness absence. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 63, 488–494.
21.
KramK. E. (1985). Mentoring at work: Developmental relationships in organizational life. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman and Co.
LachmanR.AranyaN. (1986). Job attitudes and turnover intentions among professionals in different work settings. Organisation Studies, 3, 279–293.
24.
LeeK.CarswellJ. J.AllenN. (2000). A meta-analytic review of occupational commitment: Relations with person-and work-related variables. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85, 799–811.
25.
MartinsL. L.EddlestonK. A.VeigaJ. F. (2002). Moderators of the relationship between work-family conflict and career satisfaction. Academy of Management Journal, 45, 399–409.
26.
MeijersF. (2002). Career learning in a changing world: The role of emotions. International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling, 24, 149–167.
27.
NetemeyerR. G.BolesJ. S.McMurrianR. (1996). Development and validation of work-family conflict and family-work conflict scales. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81, 400–410.
28.
NielsonT. R.CarlsonD. S.LankauM. J. (2001). The supportive mentor as a means for reducing work-family conflict. Journal of Vocational Behaviour, 59, 364–381.
29.
OkurameD. E.BalogunS. K. (2005). Role of informal mentoring in the career success of first-line bank managers: A Nigerian case study. Career Development International, 10, 512–521.
30.
OkurameD. E. (2002). Influence of psychosocial factors and the mediatory role of informal mentoring on career outcomes of first-line bank managers in Nigeria(Unpublished doctoral thesis). Department of Psychology, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
31.
OkurameD. E. (2007). Perceived mentoring functions: Does mentor’s gender matter?Women in Management Review, 22, 418–427.
32.
OkurameD. E. (2008a). Mentoring in the Nigerian academia: Experiences and challenges. International Journal of Evidence Based Mentoring and Coaching, 6, 45–56.
33.
OkurameD. E. (2008b). Mentoring and preferences: A diagnostic survey for equal mentoring opportunity. Equal Opportunities International, 27, 519–536.
34.
OkurameD. E. (2009). Mentoring and organizational constraints as predictors of attitudes to work in the Nigerian public health sector. Journal of Health and Human Services Administration, 32, 342–371.
35.
PopoolaS. O.OluwoleD. A. (2007). Career commitment among records management personnel in a state civil service in Nigeria. Records Management Journal, 17, 107–116.
36.
RamaswamiA.DreherG. F. (2007). The benefits associated with workplace mentoring relationships. In AllenT. D.EbyL. T. (Eds.), Blackwell handbook of mentoring. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
37.
SchultzJ. B.ChungY. L.HendersonC. G. (1989). Work/family concerns of university faculty. In GoldsmithE. (Ed.), Work and family: Theory, research and applications (pp. 249–264). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
38.
TenbrunselA.BrettJ.MaozE.StrohL.ReillyA. (1995). Dynamic and static work-family relationships. Organisational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes, 63, 233–246.
39.
WanbergC. R.WelshE. T.HezlettS. A. (2003). Mentoring research: A review and dynamic process model. Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management, 22, 39–124.
40.
WinslowS. E. (2003). Work-family conflict in dual-earner couples: The effect of joint working time and family life stage. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Atlanta Hilton Hotel, Atlanta. Retrieved July 5, 2009, fromhttp://www.allacademic.com/meta/p107720_index.html
