Determining the dimensionality and gender invariance of the MACE work-to-family enrichment scale using bifactor and approximate invariance tests

Copyright: © 2021. The Authors. Licensee: AOSIS. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License. Introduction Over the past few decades, work–family research has been dominated by the conflict perspective (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985) according to which the fulfilment of multiple work and family roles leads to experiences of conflict and stress and their concomitant detrimental effects (Eby, Casper, Lockwood, Bordeaux, & Brinley, 2005). The conflict perspective has also been the focus of most work–family studies conducted in Africa (Dubihlela & Dhurup, 2013; Koekemoer, Mostert, & Rothmann, 2010; Mostert, 2011; Opie & Henn, 2013). However, because of the growing attention given to positive psychology, international work–family researchers have come to realise that resources may be generated when multiple roles are occupied, resulting in positive outcomes for employees, organisations and families (Greenhaus & Powell, 2006; Voydanoff, 2002). As a result, international scholars, organisations and human resource practitioners increasingly focus on the positive aspects of the work–family interface. Nevertheless, the number of studies emphasising this positive interaction between work and family within the South African context is limited (De Klerk, Nel, Hill, & Koekemoer, 2013; Jaga, Bagraim, & Williams, 2013).