Entitlement: friend or foe of work-family conflict?

Abstract

Purpose

Guided by Hobfoll’s (1989) conservation of resources theory, we examined how psychological entitlement moderates the negative relationship between work-family conflict (WFC) and job satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a sample of 119 accountants from the Midwestern United States, we tested our hypotheses with hierarchical regression analysis.

Findings

Results indicate a strong, negative relationship between WFC and job satisfaction for employees low in psychological entitlement, but an insignificant relationship for entitled employees.

Practical implications

The results suggest that some entitlement may be beneficial to employees when coping with WFC. However, organizations should limit WFC in order to foster their least entitled employees’ job satisfaction.

Originality/value

This is the first study that investigates how psychological entitlement affects employees' reactions to WFC. Not only does it contribute to the growing body of research that examines how this individual difference affects workplace functioning, but it suggests there may be some benefits to entitlement, which largely has been disparaged.

Citation

Laird, M.D., Zboja, J.J., Harvey, P., Victoravich, L.M. and Narayan, A. (2021), "Entitlement: friend or foe of work-family conflict?", Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 36 No. 5, pp. 447-460. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMP-06-2020-0326