Work-life conflict among young academics: antecedents and gender effects

ABSTRACT

Aligning work and private life is a significant challenge for young academics because of demanding working conditions (e.g. high workload, low job security). It is particularly strong for young female academics due to growing family responsibilities. Our study aims to identify the factors influencing the work-life conflict of young academics and to test whether their effects are different according to gender. Thereby we differentiate between a conflict that arises in the work domain (work-to-life conflict) and a conflict that has its origins in the private-life domain (life-to-work conflict). Our analysis of an online survey in Germany shows that career insecurity and lacking mentor support increases both types of conflicts. Excessive working hours and attempts to segment work and private life increase the work-to-life conflict, while children increase a life-to-work conflict. We find that young female academics experience the conflict-intensifying effects of long work hours and lack of mentor support more strongly than their male counterparts do.

KEYWORDS:

• Work-life conflict
• young academics
• gender
• academic career

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Isabelle Dorenkamp works as a research assistant at the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany. Her main research interests are in the field of human resource management in the higher education system; with a focus on work-life conflict, job satisfaction, professional commitment and intention to leave academia.

Stefan Süß holds the Chair of Business Administration, in particular Organization Studies and Human Resource Management at the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. Since January 2015 he is Vice President for Quality in Studies and Human Resource Management at the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. He has published several articles about organization, human resource management and (international) management and is a reviewer for international and national journals and conferences. His research interests are in the fields of empirical human resource and organizational research, organizational theories and higher education management.