When families overload careers: the critical role of family-interferes-with-work and boundary management

Purpose While there has been growing interest in how personal and work-related factors shape employees’ careers, we know little about how family demands affect career intentions. Drawing from role theory and boundary theory, we examine the indirect effect of family-role overload on career intentions via family-interferes-with-work (FIW), as well as the conditional indirect effect of boundary management on these relationships. Design/methodology/approach Utilizing two waves of panel data that were collected in the third and fourth waves of the pandemic in Canada ( n = 433), we conducted a structural equation model to test our hypotheses. Findings Our analysis reveals that FIW mediates the relationship between family-role overload and (1) career change intention and (2) job turnover intention. The results also indicate that the effect of family-role overload on career intentions via FIW strengthens for employees with a low ability to enact preferred boundaries. Originality/value This research shows the indirect effect of family-role overload on career intentions via FIW. This research also highlights how boundary management can buffer the effects of family-role overload on career intentions.