What if people’s private life constrained their career decisions? Examining the relationship between home-to-career interference and career satisfaction

Abstract

Purpose

Previous research suggests that employees often make family-related career decisions (Greenhaus and Powell, 2012). The authors extend this idea and explore the concept of “home-to-career interference,” defined as the extent to which people perceive that their private life has constrained their career decisions to date. The authors expect that home-to-career interference has a negative impact on employees’ later career satisfaction via career goal self-efficacy and perceived organizational career support. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors collected quantitative data at three points in time, each six months apart in a Belgian telecommunications organization. Using the full information maximum likelihood path analysis approach, the authors performed analyses on a sample of dual-earner employees.

Findings

The results showed that employees’ home-to-career interference related negatively to their career goal self-efficacy and perceived organizational career support, which were, in turn, positively related to their career satisfaction.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the work-family literature by introducing the concept of home-to-career interference, by clarifying the mechanisms through which home-to-career interference relates to career satisfaction and by testing these relationships using a three-wave longitudinal design.

Citation

Schooreel, T., Shockley, K.M. and Verbruggen, M. (2017), "What if people’s private life constrained their career decisions? Examining the relationship between home-to-career interference and career satisfaction", Career Development International, Vol. 22 No. 2, pp. 124-141. https://doi.org/10.1108/CDI-03-2016-0037