Multi-National Work-Family Research Project

(Project 3535)

Work-family conflict is a serious problem for Canadians as well as for those in many nations around the world (Korabik, Lero, &.Whitehead, 2008). This is especially true for parents and those with eldercare responsibilities (e.g., Duxbury & Higgins, 2001). Because it has a number of harmful effects on the health and well-being of individuals and their families (Frone, 2002), it is detrimental to productivity and service provision and to the bottom line of organizations (Duxbury & Higgins, 2001; Greenhaus & Parasuraman, 1999).

Clearly a better understanding of the individual, organizational, and socio-cultural variables; workplace policies; and mechanisms of support that can ease work-family conflict is needed to guide the formulation of public policies and organizational practices aimed at reducing these negative outcomes.

For more information about work-family integration see the Handbook of Work-Family Integration

http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/bookdescription.cws_home/713896/description#description

Countries That Participated

This website tells the story and shares the results of Project 3535, a multi-national work-family research project which was a collaborative effort spanning 10 countries.

These countries are:

Australia
Canada
China
India

Indonesia
Israel
Spain

Taiwan
Turkey
United States

In addition, some supplementary data was collected by associated researchers. This consisted of focus group data in the Ukraine and survey data in China.

Research Objectives

to achieve a comprehensive understanding of W-F conflict, its antecedents, and its outcomes,
to test and extend current theory on the W-F interface in an international context, and
to provide guidance to individuals, organizations, and policy makers regarding how to best alleviate the negative consequences of W-F conflict.

This investigation has advanced the theory about the work-family (W-F) interface by illuminating how cultural, social, and public policy contexts affect the way workplaces respond to working parents, and how work and family demands and supports are experienced by individual workers. It has permitted an examination of the universality of and boundary conditions for Frone, Yardley, and Markle's (1997) theory, and has practical and policy implications. In addition to the opportunity to learn about the effects of alternative approaches to the alleviation of W-F conflict, this cross-cultural examination of workplace and government policies can provide critical learning points for policy makers and corporate executives who must increasingly be aware of the need to find culturally appropriate ways to diminish the harmful effects of high levels of W-F conflict.

We anticipate that the results of our research will contribute to further discussion among academics, business leaders, and government representatives about the kinds of changes that are required to improve the health and well-being of workers and their families, sustain high levels of productivity in a changing workforce, and enhance competitiveness in a global economy.