Work-family conflict as antecedent to workplace deviance: a study among bankers

Abstract

Hinged on the Job Demand-Resource model and Source Attribution Theory, this study assessed the relationship between work-family conflict (family-towork and work-to-family conflicts) and workplace deviant behaviours (organizational and interpersonal deviance) among bank employees in Ghana. The quantitative two-wave longitudinal design was used, and data collected from 301 respondents. Unique self-generated codes were used to match the responses from each respondent in both times. Work-to-family conflict predicted interpersonal deviant behaviour in both Time 1 and Time 2, and organizational deviant behaviour in Time 2 but not in Time 1. Also, family-to-work conflict predicted interpersonal deviant behaviour in both Time 1 and Time 2 and also predicted organizational deviant behaviour in Time 1 only. This is one of the few empirical studies assessing the relationship between work-family conflict and workplace deviance, and in particular, among bankers. Assessing such relationships in this study over time has shown that variations in nature of the hypothesized relationships could be a result of extraneous variables (dynamic employee behaviour or environmental changes) not anticipated. Banks must pay particular attention to the job demands imposed on employees and again take interest in the out-of-job experiences of staff that could affect their job performance and involvement in deviant behaviours.

Keywords: Work-family conflict; workplace deviance; bankers; Ghana; antecedents