Work-family bidirectional conflicts and their impact on working mothers’ job satisfaction in Bangladesh

In recent decades, the employment rates of married women have risen markedly on a global scale. Bangladesh, a South Asian country with a burgeoning economy and a population of 164 million, has witnessed a rise in women’s engagement in the labour market over the years. The majority of women in Bangladesh get married before or after they start their working lives. The struggle of these working mothers to balance their work and family lives becomes increasingly complicated, consequently diminishing their job satisfaction. The primary assumption made throughout this study is that time and stress are the leading predictors of work-family conflicts in both directions, i.e., from family-to-work and work-to-family, which influence the level of job satisfaction among working mothers. The analysis is predicated on a sample of 307 full-time employed mothers with at least one child under the age of 8. Findings indicate that both time-based and strain-based family-to-work conflict (FWC_TB and FWC_SB) and strain-based work-to-family conflict (WFC_SB) have a significant and adverse impact on the job satisfaction of working mothers in Bangladesh. Conversely, our study demonstrates no substantial effect of time-based work-to-family conflicts (WFC_TB) on the job satisfaction of working mothers. Thus, the current research simultaneously supports and contradicts the prevailing literature on work-to-family conflict (WFC) and family-to-work conflict (FWC). The present study advances the existing literature by addressing the lacuna in our nuanced understanding of how time-based and strain-based WFC and FWC affect the level of job satisfaction for working mothers, particularly in the context of developing countries. This study recommends that organisations and management adopt strategies and conduct counselling for working mothers to integrate their family and work time, reduce family and work-related strains and consequently, enhance their job satisfaction level.