Resolving Work-Family Conflict In China: Humor Trumps Confidence In The Storm

Authors:

Abstract: While research demonstrates that humor plays a significant role in minimizing the tension around conflict, little is known about the role of humor in employees’ self-efficacy, and confidence in relieving the work-family conflict induced by crisis. Specifically, we build and test a moderating model of role of crisis self-efficacy and humorous coping in the relationship between perceived crisis severity and work-family conflict. Data were collected from Chinese employees that were navigating the unique challenges of the global health crisis. We found that perceived crisis severity amplified time-based, strain-based, and behavior-based work-family conflict. Additionally, higher levels of crisis self-efficacy related to higher levels of behavior-based work-family conflict while humorous coping moderated the relationship between perceived crisis severity and work-family conflict during crisis. The implications of our results are discussed.

Track: ORG

Keywords: Crisis, Work-family conflict, Crisis self-efficacy and Humor