Exploring the Antecedents and Outcomes of Work-Study Conflict and Work-Study Facilitation in Working University Students: An Australian Perspective

Abstract

Australian university students face significant financial challenges and many are engaging in employment to support themselves. The interaction between the roles of both student and worker were explored within a cross-sectional study of 331 working university students. Antecedents and outcomes of both work-study conflict and work-study facilitation were researched from the resource scarcity and resource expansion perspective of role theory. The study aimed to build on existing literature by considering the role of personality as an antecedent to these constructs, recognizing work-study conflict and work-study facilitation as bidirectional constructs and considering the impact of these on multiple outcome domains from the same sample. Results indicated that job characteristics played a greater role than personality in predicting work-study conflict and work-study facilitation, with high levels of job demands and work hours predicting more work-study conflict. In contrast, a greater level of job control and job-study congruence predicted higher levels of work-study facilitation. High levels of work-study conflict were found to significantly predict reduced academic, health and work outcomes. High levels of work-study facilitation were found to have a far more positive impact on these outcomes. Implications of these findings, along with suggestions for future research, are also discussed.