Effect of work-family conflict on employee creativity. evidence from University of Education, Winneba

Abstract

Creativity is an essential part of organizational innovation, which drives economic wealth. However, the emergence of the dual-career couple means that family support has been limited and the employee has to deal with the effect of time constraint, the strain associated with it, and the psychological effect of behaving differently at work and home. The research was undertaken to show the effect of “work-family conflict” on workers’ creativity with three specific objectives. To achieve this, the study used quantitative methods to collect data from respondents. The study identified a significant negative connection between work-family conflict and employee creativity. It was also found that the support of family members plays a positive role in employees' ability to balance work and family life demands and career progression. The responses received from respondents in the study revealed that indeed employees face a lot of challenges in the area of being creative at work because of work-family conflict issues. It is therefore recommended that the University should consider implementing more worklife balance friendly policies such as setting up daycare centers close to university buildings to enable employees to focus on the work at all times. The University community should also be restructured to accommodate flexible working hours that will assist employees to balance their work and family life. These policies will go a long way to facilitate the balance between work and life and consequently, help employees to bring their creative skills to bear.