The Impacts of Work and Non-Work Social Support On Work Stress and Work-Family Conflict Among Low-Wage and Low-Skilled Mexican Workers

Purpose: Many workers in developing countries, such as Mexico, are employed by multinational corporations because of cheaper labor costs. In Mexico, women's labor force participation rate has increased from 32% in 1995 to 38% (ILO, 2009). The economic need for additional family income has been perceived by some as a threat to family stability and as a source of stress in Mexico where traditional gender-role expectations are for women to stay home and care for their families. Many low-wage Mexican workers are in low-skilled jobs characterized by inflexibility and low job control that create strain for them in negotiating work and family roles. The research on balancing work and family has been conducted primarily on white collar workers in developed countries (e.g., U.S., and Western Europe) with little to no research on low-income workers and in developing countries. The present study examines the relationships between work stress, social support, and work-family conflict among low-wage workerss with low-skilled jobs in Mexico.

Method: This study is based on the first wave data collected in 2009 from the three-wave longitudinal study of workers in the garment industry in Mexico and utilized mixed methods to analyze the data. One hundred and sixty eight Mexican workers completed the questionnaires and 33 workers participated in semi-structured interviews. Mexican respondents were predominantly women (89.9%), single (56.5%) and middle-school educated (50.0%). The mean age was 28.58 years. Most respondents were line workers (98.8%. The average tenure of the respondents was 3.69 years. Reported by Human Resources, the mean daily wage of respondents was MX$75.63 pesos (equivalent to US$ 5.90).

Results: A strong convergence between the quantitative and qualitative analyses indicates that work stress was significantly related to work-family conflict: The multiple regression coefficients of three work stress components, role conflict (B = .302, p =, 0.000), role overload(B = .312, p = .000), and role ambiguity(B = .160, p = .038), were significant correlates of work-family conflict. Qualitative analysis of the interviews indicate that the workers experienced high work demand, performed complicated tasks and received unclear instructions from superiors, which contributed to high levels of conflicts in negotiating their work and family roles. Surprisingly, both data showed that social support received in both work and non-work domains did not weaken the positive relationship between work stress and work-family conflict. Further, relationships with spouse, family and friends strengthen the positive association between role conflict and work-family conflict.

Conclusions and Implications: The findings of the study demonstrate a strong relationship between work stress and work-family balance among low-income workers in Mexico, similar to the relationship found among white collar workers in developed countries. The unexpected role of the social relationships in heightening the conflict could be explained in the strong gendered roles common in Mexico that place more family responsibilities on the predominantly female workforce in the garment industry. The study highlights the importance of culturally adaptive family-friendly policy and supervision as well as work climate in the organizations that employs low-wage and low-skilled workers in host countries.