Does Organizational Commitment Buffer the Relation between Work-to-family Conflict and Emotional Exhaustion in Chinese Preschool Teachers?

Research Findings: Work-to-family conflict is prevalent in preschool teachers, which has increased their risk of emotional exhaustion. To help preschool teachers deal with work-to-family conflict and avoid emotional exhaustion, this study examined the relation between work-to-family conflict and emotional exhaustion and the buffering roles of three components of organizational commitment (i.e. affective commitment, normative commitment, and continuance commitment) with a sample of 495 beginning preschool teachers and 449 experienced preschool teachers coming from China. Results showed that (1) work-to-family conflict significantly and positively related to emotional exhaustion in both beginning and experienced preschool teachers; (2) continuance commitment buffered the relation between work-to-family conflict and emotional exhaustion in both beginning and experienced preschool teachers; (3) the buffering effect of affective commitment was only significant in experienced preschool teachers; (4) the buffering effect of normative commitment was not observed in both groups of teachers. Practice or Policy: These findings suggest education administrators to reduce preschool teachers' work-to-family conflict and improve their organizational commitment simultaneously, thereby alleviating their emotional exhaustion.