The Effect of Job Satisfaction and Family Satisfaction on Work-Family Conflict ( WFC ) and Family-Work Conflict ( FWC ) among Married Female Nurses in Shiraz-Iran

The present study highlights the significance of job satisfaction as one of the most important work factors on W-FC and F-WC. This paper also examines the effects of one of the essential family factor which is family satisfaction on W-FC and F-WC. The respondents for this study consist of 198 married female nurses working in public hospitals in Shiraz-Iran. The findings revealed that married female nurses with high level of job satisfaction tend to report low level of W-FC. Unlike previous studies, the finding also indicates that there is no significant relationship between the respondents’ job satisfaction and F-WC, which may be explained by the specific cultural context in Iran. This study also established that high level of family satisfaction is associated with low level of W-FC and F-WC. Implications are discussed and recommendations are made regarding future researches in this area.


Introduction
For centuries, it was the men who worked to make money and women remained at home to raise the children and fulfilled the household duties.Since World War II, there have been dramatic changes in the family and the workforce, including an increase in the number of women working in the paid labor force and more dual career couples (Abbott et al., 2005).
Participation of women in the workforce unavoidably resulted in remarkable changes in the families (Davidson & Burke, 2004).According to Livingston and Judge (2008), increasing number of families in which both husband and wife work likely creates even more important conflicts between work and family.Based on Pleck (1977) and Rexroat and Shehan (1987), women who are employed have higher combined pressures from work and family, and this may lead them to experience conflict between work and family demands.
In Iran participation of women in the workplace has increased over the years.Statistical Bureau of Iran, (2004) reported that 79.5% of Iranians women were employed in 2004, as compared to statistics from 1956 to 1986 which showed that about 9% of women in Iran were employed (Moayedi, 1994).Although women are working out of the home in Iran today, the structure of traditional way of thoughts about domestic works does not change much (Rastegarkhaled, 2004).Iranian women are solely responsible for domestic tasks, and they have to bear pressures from both domestic home and work responsibilities (Karimi & Nouri, 2009).Rastegarkhaled (2004) also noted that in recent decades Iranian women who already have a traditional role as housewives have to assume additional responsibilities as an employee out of the home.
Nurses, like other female employees are faced with the demands of work and home responsibilities as their main daily tasks.According to Ministry of Health, nurses in Iran are mainly women.As of 2009, it was reported that 79.5% of Iranian nurses are female (ISNA, 2009).Female nurses that work in a critical situation in hospitals encounter higher conflict in their lives due to long hours of work per week, working overtime, high workloads, time pressures, death and life situation of the patients, and stressful and demanding responsibilities (Adibhajbagheri et al., 2004).Yildirim and Aycan, (2008) also mentioned that nursing is a female-dominated profession practiced under demanding work conditions.Thus, examining work-family conflict in the nursing context is important for both its theoretical and practical implications.
Working outside and inside the house has formed two of the most central domains in women's life, each containing its own duties and demands.According to Pleck (1977), work and family are two fundamental and interdependent systems for dual-career live that inconsistency in any one system may consequently influence the other one as well.These bidirectional influences of work and family can lead to two types of conflict, namely, work-family conflict (W-FC), family-work conflict (F-WC).
The current study noted the role of family satisfaction and job satisfaction in two main areas of individuals' lives, work and family domains.Individual's perception refers to extent of satisfaction with family life (Ahmad, 2005) or/and how much individual like or dislike their job (Spector, 1997) and these two are very important aspects of every individual's lives.According to Hanson (1995), all parts of the system are interconnected, therefore changes in anyone system will change all parts of system.On this background, it seems quite logical that the change of feeling in one part (work or family) of the system, will impose influence throughout other parts of system.Hence, the present study aimed to consider relationships between job satisfaction and family satisfaction factors with W-FC and F-WC among married female nurses in shiraz-Iran as one of the developing country with specific culture.

Job Satisfaction and W-FC and F-WC
Researchers have successfully demonstrated relationships between W-FC and F-WC and job satisfaction.For instance, the study by Martins et al. (2002) on 976 managers indicated that work-family conflict has contributed a negative significant influence on job satisfaction.Moreover, Namasivayam and Mount (2004) examined the relationship between job satisfaction and W-FC and F-WC among employee of seven hotels in Hispanic.They used the measure of single-item global measure.Results of the study demonstrated that when work roles interfere with family roles and family interference with work roles, the individual's job satisfaction is lower.
Moreover, according to research findings by Karimi (2008) work-to-family interference has significant and negative effects on job satisfaction among 387 Iranian male and female employees.The results showed that, high levels of work family interference are associated with low job satisfaction.In the study by Michael et al. (2004) on employed workers at two time periods to assess relationships between W-FC, F-WC, well-being, and job and family satisfaction, along with the role of social support from work colleagues and family members.The results showed that job satisfaction of employed workers was significantly related to work-family conflict at the two time periods.But, the research did not find significant relationship between job satisfaction and family-work conflict at two time periods.Ngah et al. (2009) conducted a study on the mediating effect of work-family conflict on the relationship between locus of control and job satisfaction among 159 single mother employees.The results revealed that work-family conflict is significantly related to job satisfaction.Single mothers with lower work-family conflict experienced higher job satisfaction.This finding suggests that when single mother employees believe that they can control the events that happen in their lives, they tend to be more satisfied with their jobs and experience less conflict between work and family responsibilities.
Another research by Boles et al. (2001) reported that both work interference with family and family interference with work were significantly related to job satisfaction in general.Results showed that increased levels of work-family conflict and family-work conflict were negatively related to employee job satisfaction.The results also suggested that work interference with family is a possible predictor of job satisfaction.Moreover, the research study by Aryee et al. (1999) demonstrated that family-work conflict was negatively related to job satisfaction among Chinese employed parents in dual-earner families.Another study by Howard et al. (2004) investigates the relationship between W-FC with employee job satisfaction among police officers in a large south-eastern state in the USA.Results indicate that, when an employee is experiencing conflict between work and family, satisfaction with the job in general and the actual work itself suffer the greatest declines.Cohen and Liani (2009) examined work-family conflict among female employees in Israeli hospitals.The result of this study found a strong significant relationship between work attitudes, particularly job satisfaction, and W-FC.The results also show that higher level of job satisfaction is associated with lower levels of W-FC.This study suggested that an effective way to reduce the W-FC is to create positive attitudes among employees regarding their job and work setting.
The study by Ahmad (1996) examined the consequences of work-family conflict through path analytic associations of work-family conflict, job satisfaction, family satisfaction and life satisfaction.Data were obtained from 120 married female secretaries in the state of Selangor, Malaysia.Work-family conflict was shown to significantly lead to lower job satisfaction as well as family satisfaction.The results of this study imply that work-family conflict is an important concern for individuals and organizations alike because of its negative consequences leading to reduce job satisfaction as well as family satisfaction and hence will reduce life satisfaction.
According to previous studies, it appears that job satisfaction play a crucial role in W-FC and F-WC among working women.However, based on Karimi (2008) most of these studies were conducted in Western countries and only a few in a Middle Eastern countries, such as Iran (e.g.Karimi, 2008).In addition, the outcomes of the investigations in developed countries are not necessarily applicable to the developing countries due to the influence of cultural beliefs (Aryee, 1992;Grzywacz et al., 2007).Therefore, this research was conducted to examine the relationships between job satisfaction with W-FC and F-WC among married female nurses in shiraz-Iran as one of the developing country with specific culture.

Family satisfaction and W-FC and F-WC
W-FC and F-WC has also been related to family satisfaction.Family satisfaction refers to "extent to which an individual is satisfied with family life" (Ahmad, 2005, p. 27).A few studies have reported that lower level of family satisfaction have related to higher levels of W-FC and F-WC.Michael et al. (2004) conducted a study on employed workers at two time periods to assess relationships between work-family conflict, family-work conflict, well-being, and job and family satisfaction, along with the role of social support from work colleagues and family members.The results showed that, the relationship between work-family conflict and family-work conflict with well-being and satisfaction may be time-dependent.Family satisfaction influenced W-FC at the first time of period while, family satisfaction influenced F-WC at the both times of period.According to research findings by Ahmad (1996) among 120 married female secretaries in the state of Selangor, Malaysia, work-family conflict was shown to significantly lead to lower family satisfaction.The results of this study imply that W-FC reduced job satisfaction as well as family satisfaction and hence will reduce life satisfaction.Likewise, study by Aryee et al. (1999) examined the relationship between role stressors, interrole conflict, and well-being and the moderating influences of spousal support and coping behaviors among 243 Hong Kong Chinese employed parents in dual-earner families.The results revealed that both work-family conflict and family-work conflict were negatively related to family satisfaction.In contrast, study by Karatepe and Baddar (2006) was inconsistent with the finding of others and revealed that work-family conflict was not related to family satisfaction among frontline employees in international five-star chain hotels in Jordan.While, Karatepe and Baddar found that employees who are unable to resolve a number of problems associated with the conflict between family and work domains report lower satisfaction with their family life.
Family researchers have rarely studied family satisfaction in great depth and W-FC and F-WC issues.One reason for little attention of researcher may be that "family life" is not easily bounded.Unlike the domains of standard of living, housing or education, evaluation of one's marriage or family life is more difficult, since there are no general norms in these domains for objective comparison Campbell et al. (1976).Thus, the current study investigated on, family satisfaction as an independent variable to assess its influence on W-FC and F-WC as the dependent variables.

Methodology
The main objective of this study is to determine the relationship between job satisfaction and family satisfaction with W-FC and F-WC, among married female nurses in Shiraz-Iran.The population of the study consists of N = 647 married female nurses in13 public hospitals in Shiraz.There were four criteria established for the selection of the population of this research; firstly, married female nurses who work for public hospital; secondly, the married woman nurses who live together with their husbands; thirdly, nurses who have a minimum of 6 months job experience and have at least one child.
The method of data collection used was self-administered questionnaire and the study is correlation in nature.
Respondents in this study were chosen randomly among name list of the total number of eligible nurses from each 13 public hospitals in Shiraz.Determining of suitable sample size is very important since a large number of samples may waste time, resources and money, while samples are too small may lead to incorrect results.The accessible populations as sample size identified was n = 323 married female nurses that they were selected based on almost half amount of sample in each hospital.Approximately 198 (61.30%) questionnaires were returned.
All instruments were originally in English language.Since, the current study was among Iranian nurses, and their official language is Persian, it was necessary for the questionnaires to be translated into Persian language.Accordingly, before the actual pilot study, the questionnaire was given to Persian expert to ensure that the translation done was accurate and conveys the same meanings as found in the original English instruments.Then the Persian translated questionnaire was again translated to original language.The translation and back translation were conducted by separate translators.Then, the questionnaires in the Persian language were distributed to 30 nurses who fulfill the study criteria.The main objective of this exercise was to identify ambiguities in meaning, misunderstanding of terms, or other inadequacies in the questionnaire.Another objective of the pilot study was to test for the reliability of the instruments.The Cronbach's Alpha for most of the measures was more than 0.70.

Work-Family Conflict and Family-Work Conflict
Work-family conflict (W-FC) and Family-work conflict (F-WC) Scale developed by Netemeyer et al. (1996) which consisted of 10 items was used to measure W-FC and F-WC.Responses were obtained using a seven point Likert type scale where 1=strongly disagree to 7=strongly agree.A sample item from this scale is "The amount of time that my job takes up makes it difficult to fulfill family responsibilities".The scale scores range from 7 to 35 with high score indicating a high level of perceived W-FC and F-WC.The published reliability estimates for this scale have been found to range from .88 to .89.The Cronbach's Alpha estimate in the present study for W-FC scale is .88and for F-WC is .95.

Job Satisfaction
Job satisfaction was assessed by Overall Job Satisfaction Measure which is part of the Michigan organizational questionnaire developed by Cammann et al. (1983).This measure has 3 items that indicate employees' satisfaction with job.A sample item from this scale is "All in all I am satisfied with my job".Responses were made on a 7 point scale ranging from 1= strongly disagree to 7= strongly agree.The scale scores range for 3 to 21, with high score indicates that the respondents are very satisfied with their job while low score reflected lower level of job satisfaction.Item 2 (in general, I don't like my job) was reverse scored.This scale describes an employee's subjective response to working in his or her job organization.The authors report internal consistency reliability for this scale with Cronbach's Alpha of .77.The reliability Cronbach's Alpha estimate in the current study for this scale is .72.

Family Satisfaction
Family satisfaction was measured by Kansas Family Satisfaction Scale (SFLS) (Schumm et al., 1986).This instrument has 4 items.Only 3 items was used to measure Family satisfaction.A sample item from this scale is "How satisfied are you with your family life".Responses were made on a 7 point scale from 1= extremely dissatisfied to 7= extremely satisfied.The scale scores range for 3 to 21, with high score means higher level of family satisfaction while low score reflects lower level of family satisfaction.The published reliability Cronbach's Alpha of this scale was reported from .79 to .83.The reliability Cronbach's Alpha estimate in the present study for this scale is .74.

Results of the Study
Table 1 presents descriptive data, which includes mean, standard deviations, minimum and maximum scores and categories of scores for all variables of the study.The respondents' age ranged from 23 years old to 59 (mean=36.50, standard deviation=7.15).Most of the participants (56.1%) are below 36.50 years old.More than half of the respondents (56.1%) have been married for less than 11.68 years.Number of children of respondents was between one to five children and 51.5% of respondents have one child.Moreover, more than half of the respondents (56.6%) have less than 12.49 years job experience.
The first question examines the relationship between job satisfaction and W-FC and F-WC.The results demonstrated that there was a significant negative relationship between the respondents' job satisfaction with W-FC (r = -.142,p.05).It means that respondents who have high level of job satisfaction are associated with low level of W-FC.However, the results also showed that there was no significant relationship between the respondents' job satisfaction and F-WC (r = -.056,p> .05).
The second question examined the extent of relationships between family satisfaction and W-FC and F-WC.The finding from Pearson Correlation analyses showed a significant negative relationship between the respondents' family satisfaction and W-FC (r = -.149,p.05) and F-WC (r = -.167,p .05).The findings indicate that higher level of family satisfaction is associated with lower level of W-FC and F-WC.

Discussion and Implications
This study aims to determine the influence of job satisfaction and family satisfaction on W-FC and F-WC among married female nurses in public hospitals in Shiraz-Iran.The current research established that the respondents with higher level of job satisfaction experienced lower level of W-FC.The findings are in consistency with finding of past studies by Namasivayam and Mount (2004), Michael et al. (2004), Martins et al. (2002), Howard et al. (2004), Boles et al. (2001), Karimi (2008), Ngah et al. (2009) and Cohen and Liani (2009) which have successfully recognized that when work roles interfere with family roles, the individual's job satisfaction is lower.Considering the available evidence, it appears that job satisfaction as work factor, has consistently been shown to be the most significant antecedent of conflict in family domain.Based on this finding, it would be interesting to elucidate that change in attitudes in work, will influence family.
However, the finding indicates that there was no significant relationship between the respondents' job satisfaction and F-WC.This direction of relationship is consistent with finding of past study by Michael et al. (2004) illustrated no significant relationship between job satisfaction and F-WC at two time periods of assess in a longitudinal study in 23 large organizations in New Zealand.In contrast, Aryee et al. (1999) noted that F-WC was negatively related to job satisfaction and among a sample of Hong Kong Chinese employed parents in dual-earner families.Namasivayam and Mount (2004) also indicate that families to work conflict issues were related to a higher job satisfaction among employee of seven hotels in Hispanic.Likewise, Howard et al. (2004) demonstrated that conflict between family activities and work negatively affects satisfaction with work among police officers in the USA.Furthermore, finding by Boles et al. (2001) demonstrated that job satisfaction is significantly related to F-WC among parole officers in a large southeastern state in the USA.The results are opposite of many previous studies conducted in Western countries.The differences may be due to culture and reasons for engaging in certain job.In Iran, due to economic difficulties, having the job may be more important for women rather than satisfaction with the job.Therefore, job satisfaction may not have significant role in F-WC.
The Pearson Correlation analyses indicate that higher level of family satisfaction is associated with lower level of W-FC.This direction of relationship is consistent with finding of past studies by Ahmad (1996), Rice et al. (1992), Netemeyer et al. (1996), Aryee et al. (1999) and Michael et al. (2004) which implied that work-family conflict is an important concern for individuals and organizations alike because high work-family conflict leading to reduced family satisfaction.
The finding also indicates that nurses with higher level of family satisfaction experienced lower level of F-WC.This direction of relationship is consistent with finding of past studies by Aryee et al. (1999), Michael et al. (2004), Karatepe and Baddar (2006), which emphasized that employees who are unable to resolve a number of problems associated with the conflict between family and work domains report lower satisfaction with their family life.Considering the available evidence, despite there exists no general norms in evaluation of one's marriage or attitudes toward family life but family satisfaction as family factor, has mostly been shown to be the most significant antecedent of conflict in work domain.Based on these findings, it would be interesting to elucidate that change of feeling in one part of the system, will impose influence throughout other parts of system.Consequently, in order to reduce W-FC and F-WC, the issue of increasing family satisfaction must be addressed.
As previous studies have revealed, this study supports that greater job satisfaction is linked to decrease in level of W-FC.Thus, work support policies such as flexible work schedules, and instrumental support such as child care and elder care services, fringe benefits, and emotional support like free expression of personal problems to their supervisor or co-worker can be beneficial for increasing job satisfaction and consequently reducing the conflict between work and family domains.
According to the findings of this study, increasing family satisfaction can reduce W-FC and F-WC.Hence, family support policies such as adopting more egalitarian gender attitudes, sharing the housework chores and having flexibility in roles at home might allow working women to feel a sense of belonging and closeness to family member and also change some rigid rule in family domains such as traditional thinking (e.g.priority to do the family responsibilities only by women), consequently balancing their work and family system.

Conclusion and Recommendations for Future Study
In conclusion, considering the available evidences, it can be established that W-FC among married female nurses in this study are related with job satisfaction and family satisfaction.Surprisingly, F-WC is not related to the job satisfaction.However, it is related to family satisfaction.Largely, the findings were supported by relevant literature and also were consistent with the literature of previous researches in developed countries.
There are several recommendations and limitations that have been identified throughout this study that may direct future studies.Primarily, having a low response rate and relying on one city for data collection limit the generalizability of the findings.Also, findings cannot be attributed to nurses of private hospitals.Accordingly, the results are not generalizable to the entire nurse population in Shiraz.In addition, this study was conducted only on female nurses.Assessing the variables of the model across gender would contribute to the generalizability of the results.This study also needs to be replicated with a more heterogeneous population such as other ethnic groups, religions, occupational variations and different cultural values.More studies of this nature should be conducted especially among women in Middle Eastern countries.This study used a self-report measure for data collection.Hence, using combined methods of data collection may strengthen future researches.
Finally, this study also provides an important context for future research by using alternative measures to examine job satisfaction in terms of pattern of attitudes a person holds regarding various facets of the job such as coworkers, fringe benefits, job conditions, nature of the work itself, policies and procedures, pay, and supervision.

Table 1 .
Distribution and means and standard deviations of variables