Family Responsibility Discrimination, Power Distance, and Emotional Exhaustion - When and Why Are There Gender Differences in Work-Life Conflict?

Sep 2, 2026

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As men increasingly assume family responsibilities while women continue to carry a disproportionate share of childcare and housework, organizations face an ethical challenge in creating supportive conditions for employee well-being and work-family balance. Drawing on conservation of resources theory, this multi-source study tests how perceived family responsibility discrimination relates to work-life conflict through emotional exhaustion. Gender and power distance are examined as moderators: male employees experience stronger draining effects when supervisors discriminate and power distance is high, while female employees show elevated conflict regardless of power distance.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResumes

FormatDOCX

Pages48

Reading Time17 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Research focus and ethical issue

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Family responsibility discrimination, power distance, and emotional exhaustion: When and why are there gender differences in work-life conflict? Cite: Trzebiatowski, T., Triana, M. (2020). Family responsibility discrimination, power distance, and emotional exhaustion: When and why are there gender differences in work-life conflict? Journal of Business Ethics, 162, 15–29. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-018-4000-5 Tiffany Trzebiatowski The University of Massachusetts-Amherst María del Carmen Triana The University of Wisconsin – Madison The final article may be found at the publisher web page: HYPERLINK "https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-018-4000-5" https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-018-4000-5 Authors’ Note: Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to María Triana, The Wisconsin School of Business, The University of Wisconsin – Madison, 975 University Avenue Madison, WI, 53706. Electronic mail should be sent to HYPERLINK "mailto:maria.triana@wisc.edu" maria.triana@wisc.edu. Family responsibility discrimination, power distance, and emotional exhaustion: When and why are there gender differences in work-life conflict? Abstract As men take on more family responsibilities over time, with women still shouldering considerably more childcare and housework, an important ethical matter facing organizations is that of providing a supportive environment to foster employee well-being and balance between work and family. Using conservation of resources theory, this multi-source study examines the association between perceived family responsibility discrimination and work-life conflict as mediated by emotional exhaustion. Employee gender and power distance values are tested as moderators of the perceived family responsibility discrimination to emotional exhaustion relationship. Results suggest that male employees who perceive family responsibility discrimination from their supervisor and hold high power distance values experience increased emotional exhaustion and work-life conflict. Female workers who perceive family responsibility discrimination from their supervisor experience increased emotional exhaustion and work-life conflict regardless of whether they have high or low power distance. Findings are consistent with theory-based predictions from conservation of resources theory: resources that are valued and not provided in the work context deplete emotional energies and ultimately trigger work-life conflict. Findings build on the work-life literature by introducing gender and power distance as factors that shape when employees feel the draining effects of family responsibility discrimination. Keywords: family responsibility discrimination; work-life conflict; power distance; gender; emotional exhaustion; conservation of resources The existence of dual-earning families (Bellavia and Frone, 2005) and the growing presence of men as caregivers and women as breadwinners (Bianchi and Milkie, 2010; Council of Economic Advisers, 2014; Perrone, Wright, and Jackson, 2009) suggest that men and women both experience work-life conflict (Rehel and Baxter, 2015). Work-life conflict, “a particular type of inter-role conflict in which pressures from the work role are incompatible with the pressures from the [life outside of work] role” (Thomas and Ganster, 1995, p. 7) is associated with higher turnover intentions and higher job dissatisfaction (Allen, 2001; Thompson, Beauvais, and Lyness, 1999). This may be particularly likely for employees who perceive negative career consequences associated with managing family responsibilities and for organizations that lack family-specific workplace support (Anderson, Coffey, and Byerly, 2002). Family responsibility discrimination reports have increased by 400% over the past decade (Calvert, 2010). This presents both practical and ethical issues for organizations, because discrimination is not only legally but also morally wrong (Demuijnck, 2009). Discrimina

FAQs

What ethical issue does the study address regarding work and family?

It examines how organizations can support employees’ well-being and balance between work and family when men and women experience family responsibility burdens differently.

How does emotional exhaustion explain the link between perceived family responsibility discrimination and work-life conflict?

The study uses conservation of resources theory to show that discrimination depletes valued resources, which triggers emotional exhaustion and then increases work-life conflict.

Do gender and power distance change the impact of perceived discrimination?

Yes. Male employees report increased emotional exhaustion and work-life conflict when supervisors discriminate and power distance is high, while female workers report increased conflict regardless of power distance.

Sep 2, 2026

Upload by Miles