The Causal Effect of Type of Employment on Work-Family Conflict

Prior studies have identified people’s type of employment (i.e., self-employed versus employee) as a potentially significant factor impacting work-family conflict. However, they have failed to provide a clear picture of the subject and produced inconsistent findings. This study addresses these problems by examining the causal effect of type of employment on work-family conflict. Theoretically we investigate whether individual characteristics shape the choice of type of employment and consequently the level of conflict, or whether it is the type of employment itself that shapes the level of conflict? The study uses data from 2008 to 2020 from the PAIRFAM survey, which is a German longitudinal survey. The analysis examines the causal impact of type of employment on work-to-family and family-to-work conflict using two main statistical techniques: (1) a did matching technique that compares similar individuals in two different groups over time, and (2) a random effects technique that examines the relationship between differences within and between the respondents with changes in work-family conflict at different time points. The results show that type of employment affects family-to-work conflict but not work-to-family conflict. Specifically, both types of self-employed individuals (with employees and without employees) experience family-to-work conflict than employees do.