Understanding the role of family communication in managing challenges of working from home among female academics during COVID-19 Pandemic

• Main Authors: A.Manaf, Aini Maznina, Tengku Mohd Azzman, Tengku Siti Aisha
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English; English; English
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: H Social Sciences (General)
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/94869/1/PRESENTER%20-%20Assoc.%20Prof.%20Dr.%20Aini%20Maznina%20A.%20Manaf.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/94869/2/PROGRAM%20AND%20ABSTRACT%20BOOK%20CORENA21.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/94869/3/CORENA%202021%20Presentation%20AINI%20MAZNINA%20.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/94869/
• Institution: Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia

The contagious nature of coronavirus pandemic has forced many countries to instruct their employees to work from home (WFH), a quick measure to curb the infection, and in turn, flatten the curve of the virus spread. In education field, while some employees may perceive WFH as opportunities for better performance, it poses challenges to married female academics in balancing the time between family and work responsibilities. Difficulties in managing high demand of work expectations and ineffective family communication while WFH may deteriorate family relationships, hence causing family conflict and divorce. Guided by the theory of resilience and relational load (TRRL), this research is aimed at investigating challenges that female academics faced when working from home and understanding their family communication pattern in managing work-life conflict of WFH. Using semi-structured interviews with female academics who had WFH experiences, this study discovered that despite WFH is already in practice for more than a year, many working women are still struggling to manage work challenges and family life concurrently.