Work-Family Bidirectional Conflicts & Their Impact on Working Mothers’ Job Satisfaction

Abstract Married women’s employment rates have significantly increased in recent decades, especially for mothers of small children. Mothers’ increased labour market participation has worsened the conflicts between their jobs and family obligations, negatively impacting their employment results. The primary assumption made throughout this study is that time and stress are the leading predictors of work-family conflicts in both directions, e.g., from family to work and work to family. The analysis is predicated on a sample of 307 full-time employed mothers with at least one child under the age of 8. Findings indicate that both time-based and strain-based family-work conflict (FWC) and strain-based work-family conflict (WFC) significantly adversely impact working mothers' job satisfaction in Bangladesh. Conversely, our study demonstrated no substantial effect of time-based work-family conflicts on mothers’ job satisfaction. Thus, the current research simultaneously supports and contradicts the prevailing literature on work-family conflict (WFC) and family-work conflict (FWC). This study recommends that organisations and management adopt strategies that promote a gender-neutral workplace, enabling working mothers to strive and realise their full potential. The current study further stresses that addressing the ubiquities of gendered norms and structural barriers is imperative to delving into WFC & FWC for maximising mothers’ labour market outcomes.