Semester of Graduation
Spring 2026
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
Department
Coles College of Business
Committee Chair/First Advisor
Graham Lowman
Second Advisor
Joshua Palmer
Third Advisor
Katina Sawyer
Abstract
Career-oriented individuals who regularly provide care for children must navigate the demands of family and work domains simultaneously, which can lead to increased challenges balancing these responsibilities. Social identity theory, role theory, and boundary theory were integrated to conceptualize the proposed model and hypotheses. The study examined the family identity salience of full-time employed caregivers of at least one minor child and the role of family-to-work conflict and subjective career success on employee and life outcomes. Segmentation behavior was tested as a contextual moderator. Participants were recruited through Prolific, and surveys were completed by 371 participants across three time-lagged waves. Descriptive analyses and structural equation modeling were conducted in R. Results indicated the expected relationships between strain-based and behavior-based family-to-work conflict, subjective career satisfaction, affective commitment, and voluntary turnover intentions. Partial mediation occurred for family identity salience and subjective career success through strain-based and behavior-based family-to-work conflict. Partial mediation was also detected for family-to-work conflict and affective commitment explained by subjective career satisfaction. Both strain-based and behavior-based family-to-work conflict and affective commitment were significant whereas subjective life satisfaction was not. Segmentation behavior moderated the relationship between strain-based family-to-work conflict and subjective career satisfaction, but not for the other two dimensions. This finding indicates that the relationship between strain-based family-to-work conflict and subjective career satisfaction varies due to segmentation behavior. This research provides theoretical and methodological contributions, along with a future research agenda.
Included in
Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons, Industrial and Organizational Psychology Commons
Comments
KSU Graduate College Doctoral Completion StipendÂ