Work-family conflict and professional commitment: proactive effect of transformational leadership

Abstract

The study aims to empirically test the moderation effect of transformational leadership characteristic on the relationship between work-family conflict and professional commitment among school teachers. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 752 teachers currently working in private schools from selected districts in Tamil Nadu, India. Purposive sampling technique is used, and data were collected using a questionnaire. The moderating effect of transformational leadership behavior is examined using hierarchical regression analysis. Grounded with the conservation of resource theory (COR) and transformational leadership theory, the results supported the negative impact of work-family conflict on the professional commitment of teachers. Further, the moderation effect of transformational leadership found to reverse the negative relationship between work-family conflict and professional commitment. Thus, the transformational leadership behavior of leaders (head/principal) was found to foster the professional commitment of teachers. This study is focused only on the dimensions of transformational characteristics on the relationship between work-family conflict and professional commitment of teachers. Also, it would be constructive to examine other mediating or moderating impacts of variables such as peer support, job satisfaction, which can also have a significant impact. Further, the outcome variable related to the perspective of students can also be researched.

Keywords

• COR theory
• moderation
• transformational leadership
• work-family conflict