The roles of work–family conflict and family–work conflict linking job satisfaction and turnover intention of academic staff

This paper examined how academic staffs’ extrinsic and intrinsic job satisfaction influenced their turnover intention. The role of the work–life balance was investigated in this relationship by distinguishing between work–family and family–work conflict. Data from 450 academics in Malaysian universities were collected and analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling. The results revealed that both extrinsic and intrinsic job satisfaction significantly affected academics’ work–family and family–work conflict, as well as their turnover intention. Work–family conflict partially mediated the effect of extrinsic and intrinsic job satisfaction on academics’ turnover intention. Conversely, family–work conflict had no significant mediating effect in this relationship. This study has contributed to the existing body of knowledge on academics’ work–life balance by validating the differing (mediating) impacts of work–family and family–work conflict along with the relationship between job satisfaction and turnover intention. The results have important implications for universities’ human resource management by providing valuable insights on potential work–life balance policies for academics to reduce their turnover. However, the study's limited scope, comprising only five private universities in Malaysia, may constrain the generalisation of the findings.