Work Interruptions and Family Life: Time Pressure and Prolonging Working Hours as Pathways

A harmonious work-life interface is critical for promoting both employee well-being and organizational effectiveness. The existing literature provides valuable insights into how various employee-friendly policies and practices influence employees’ work-life balance and their work outcomes. However, how workplace dynamics influence the family domain of public employees remains largely underexplored within the field of public administration. This study contributes to filling the gap by examining the association between work interruptions and employees’ family lives and by exploring the pathways connecting work interruptions to family outcomes. Serial mediation analysis results indicate that interruptions at work are associated with work interference with family, directly and indirectly through time pressure and longer working hours across independent and sequential pathways. The article concludes with a discussion of its theoretical contributions and practical implications, as well as study limitations and suggestions for future research.