Work-family conflict and organizational citizenship behaviors

While recent studies have demonstrated several negative effects of work-family conflict for correctional employees, none have examined the impact of work-family conflict on the organizational citizenship behaviors of correctional personnel. To help fill this gap in the research, this study examined the relationship between four types of work-family conflict and organizational citizenship behaviors for 160 correctional staff of a private Midwestern maximum security prison for juveniles adjudicated as adults. Based on the job demands model of person-environment fit theory, strain-based conflict, time-based conflict, behavior-based conflict, and family-on-work conflict were predicted to relate negatively with employee organizational citizenship behaviors. Results supported only two of the four predictions. While both strain-based conflict and family-on-work conflict were negatively associated with organizational citizenship behaviors, time-based conflict and behavior-based conflict had non-significant relationships. Discussion focuses on the comparative levels of strain produced by the different types of work-family conflict and ways that correctional agencies can minimize work-on-family conflict strain to enhance the organizational citizenship behaviors of their personnel.