Exploring the relationship between entrepreneurial failure and conflict between work and family from the conservation of resources perspective
International Journal of Conflict Management
ISSN: 1044-4068
Article publication date: 8 May 2020
Issue publication date: 4 June 2020
Abstract
Purpose
Conflict between work and family is a significant issue for entrepreneurs. The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of entrepreneurial failure on both family–work conflict (FWC) and work–family conflict (WFC) and the moderating role of perceived control of time and organizational slack based on conservation of resources (COR) theory.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a questionnaire to explore the relationship between entrepreneurial failure, FWC/WFC, perceived control of time and organizational slack. Data were collected from the Chinese context in 2018 and as a result received 318 valid questionnaires, obtaining a response rate of 63.6 per cent.
Findings
The study finds that entrepreneurial failure has a significant relationship with FWC but a nonsignificant relationship with WFC and that perceived control of time and organizational slack moderate the relationship between entrepreneurial failure and FWC/WFC.
Originality/value
This study aligns the field of family–work (work–family) conflict and entrepreneurial failure. It addresses a research gap in the conflict literature by introducing one form of resource loss: entrepreneurial failure as a source of conflict between work and family based on COR theory and the work–home resources model. The study also enriches the literature on the social cost of entrepreneurial failure by exploring the crossover effect of entrepreneurial failure on conflicts in the family domain. Furthermore, the study advances the understanding of managing conflict between work and family after entrepreneurial failure.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors thank guest editors Renhuai Liu, Richard Posthuma, Steven Si, Dean Tjosvold and Song Lin for their provocative comments and thoughtful guidance and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback. They benefited considerably from the special issue workshop held in Shanghai, China. The research is supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (71972126, 71772117, 71902112) and Innovation Program of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (2019-01-07-00-09-E00078).
Citation
Yu, X., Meng, X., Cao, G. and Jia, Y. (2020), "Exploring the relationship between entrepreneurial failure and conflict between work and family from the conservation of resources perspective", International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. 31 No. 3, pp. 417-440. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCMA-09-2019-0157
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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