Work-family conflict in Asian cultural context: The case of India

Research on work and family issues has burgeoned over the last two decades as evidence of the negative outcomes of work-family conflict has become apparent. While empirical literature is replete with studies examining the effect of several work and family related factors on conflict, the effect of culture as a variable in the conflict model has not been sufficiently investigated.

In an effort to plug this gap in the literature, a large scale cross-cultural investigation of work-family conflict is being undertaken, led by Zeynap Aycan, Associate Professor, Koc University, Istanbul, Turkey and Editor of the International Journal of Cross-Cultural Management published by Sage. As a member of this multi-member team of researchers, I am responsible for data collection and analysis of results regarding work-family conflict within the Indian context. For more details on this study, please see, “A multi-level approach to cross-cultural work-family conflict research: A micro and macro perspective” by Karen Korabik, Donna S. Lero and Roya Ayman, International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, Vol. 3, No. 3, December 2003, 289-303. Papers and symposiums emerging from this study have been presented at Conferences of the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychologists (SIOP), International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP), International Association of Cross-Cultural Psychology (IACCP) since 2004.

The symposium presents findings of a ten-country cross-cultural assessment on work-family conflict. Results are grouped into three cultural contexts: Anglo-Saxon / European (Spain, Ukraine, Australia), Asian (Taiwan, Indonesia, India), and Middle-Eastern (Turkey, Israel). Data include analysis of the cultural context, work-family policies, and findings of the focus group discussions.