Over the past two years, there have been changes in the demographic profile of the workforce in Saudi Arabia. According to the Brookings Institution, there has been an increase from 20 to 33% of women entering the labor market (Ng, 2021). With the majority of women in the workforce maintaining household and family responsibilities (Jackson et al., 2016), there is a possibility that they experience work-family conflict (Ahmad, 2008). Work-family conflict is defined as difficulties in fulfilling the requirements of both family roles and work roles (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985). Work-family conflict is twofold: work to family conflict (WFC), where work demands interfere with family responsibilities, and family to work conflict (FWC), where family demands interfere with performance at work (Voydanoff, 2005). The change in the male-female demographics raised the question as to the situation within the changing Saudi workplace.

There is extensive literature on the consequences of WFC and FWC. High levels of WFC have been associated with high levels of depression and anxiety (Frone, 2000; Grzywacz & Bass, 2003), higher stress (Parasuraman & Simmers, 2001), mood disorders and substance abuse (Frone, 2000), unhealthy food consumption (Allen & Armstrong, 2006), marital dissatisfaction (Judge et al., 2006; Matthews et al., 1996), family dissatisfaction (Bedeian et al., 1988), the intention to leave one’s job (Greenhaus et al., 2001; Kelloway et al., 1999), and lower job satisfaction (E. E. Kossek & Ozeki, 1998). High levels of FWC have been related to absenteeism, job dissatisfaction, tardiness, and poor performance (Frone, 2003).

Furthermore, more organizations are expecting employees to attain unrealistically high standards of performance, requiring workers to not only complete assigned work at a high level but also take initiative, go beyond their assignments, and attain nearly impossible goals (Bakker & Schaufeli, 2008; Janssen & Yperen, 2004). This is significant as high work expectations have been associated with increased work-family conflict (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985).

Researchers have suggested the need to better understand how various personality traits impact work-family conflict and the paths through which they operate (Byron, 2005; Ebye et al., 2005). One of the personality traits that has received substantial attention in this regard is perfectionism (Deuling & Burns, 2017). Further, in dealing with work-related stress, coping strategies play a crucial role (Rodríguez et al., 2019; Shin et al., 2014; Cronin-Stubbs & Brophy, 1985) and various coping strategies have been employed specifically with respect to work-family conflict (Mäkelä & Suutari, 2011; Somech & Drach-Zahavy, 2007). Positive automatic thoughts are also linked to stress-reduction (Boyraz & Lightsey, 2012). Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the relationships between perfectionism and the two components of work-family conflict, WFC and FWC, and to unravel the paths of coping strategies and positive automatic thoughts through which these relationships might operate.

Perfectionism and work family conflict

Perfectionism refers to the tendency to strive towards high standards of performance (Lo & Abbott, 2013; Slaney et al., 2001), but many understand it as the tendency to assume unrealistically high standards (Frost et al., 1990) characterized by excessive critical and biased evaluations of oneself and others (Hewitt & Flett, 1991). Hewitt and Flett (1993) found perfectionism to be positively related to depression in the presence of work stressors. Socially prescribed perfectionists, that is, those who believe others hold unrealistic expectations for them, were found to be vulnerable to job stress (Flett et al., 1995). And in a sample of women executives, high perfectionism was related to job stress and burnout (Fry, 1995). Coping styles have been linked to both perfectionism and work-family conflict and may therefore act as mediator in the association between the two variables.

Perfectionism can be categorized as adaptive and maladaptive (Deuling & Burns, 2017). Others label adaptive perfectionism as positive or standard perfectionism, and maladaptive perfectionism as negative or discrepancy perfectionism. Adaptive perfectionists tend to strive for perfection in realistically attainable goals, whereas maladaptive perfectionists tend to pursue unrealistic goals and are dissatisfied and self-critical when they cannot achieve them (Frost et al., 1990). Maladaptive perfectionism traits include hypersensitivity to mistakes, self-doubt, and susceptibility to perceived demands of others (socially prescribed perfectionism) (Frost et al., 1990). In this regard, high family expectations have been related to increased family conflict (Holahan & Gilbert, 1979; Pleck et al., 1980).

Therefore, perfectionism motivates the first two hypotheses for our study:

Hypothesis 1

Standard and discrepancy perfectionism will be related to (a) work to family conflict and to (b) family to work conflict.

Coping strategies and positive automatic thoughts as mediators

Coping strategies

Lazarus and Folkman (1984) emphasized the importance of coping strategies in dealing with stress, and various coping strategies have been employed with respect to work-family conflict (Mäkelä & Suutari, 2011; Somech & Drach-Zahavy, 2007). Evidence has shown that workers’ inability to appropriately cope with job stress was related to negative outcomes such as burnout, a lower sense of personal accomplishment, and involuntary and voluntary job turnover (Goodman & Boss, 2002).

Palupi and Findyartini (2019) distinguished between positive and negative coping and Lazarus (1999) differentiated between problem-focused and emotion-focused coping. Problem-focused coping, also called active coping, is aimed at modifying the stressor by changing the situation. Examples include controlling the problem and coming up with alternative solutions (Recuero & Segovia, 2021). Emotion-focused coping strategies are also called evasive or palliative coping and are aimed at regulating one’s emotional response to the stressor. Examples include avoidance, distancing, and seeking support (Garcia-Arroyo & Osca, 2017).

Frequent use of emotion-focused coping and infrequent use of problem-focused coping predicted burnout in pediatric workers (Rodríguez et al., 2019). In a meta-analysis of studies, Shin et al. (2014) concluded that problem-focused coping was negatively correlated with burnout and emotion-focused coping was positively correlated with burnout. However, some emotion-focused coping, such as seeking emotional support, reinterpretation, acceptance, and spiritual belief, were found to yield positive benefits as well (Shin et al., 2014). The invoking of religious beliefs was also associated with less depression (Koenig, 1995). Seeking social support was related to reduced burnout (Cronin-Stubbs & Brophy, 1985). Acceptance was also found to be associated with reduced burnout (Shin et al., 2014).

Coping styles are linked to perfectionism as well. Standard perfectionism has been associated with problem-focused coping, and discrepancy perfectionism was negatively correlated with problem-focused coping and positively correlated with emotion-focused coping (Larijani & Besharat, 2010). Stoeber and Jansse (2011) reported that discrepancy perfectionism was related to infrequent use of active coping and acceptance.

As coping mechanisms have been linked to both perfectionism and work-family conflict, coping strategies may mediate the association between the two constructs.

Hypothesis 2

Active coping will mediate the relationship between standard and discrepancy perfectionism and (a) work to family conflict and (b) family to work conflict.

Hypothesis 3

Focus on the positive will mediate the relationship between standard and discrepancy perfectionism and (a) work to family conflict and (b) family to work conflict.

Hypothesis 4

Seeking support will mediate the relationship between standard and discrepancy perfectionism and (a) work to family conflict and (b) family to work conflict.

Hypothesis 5

Evasive coping will mediate the relationship between standard and discrepancy perfectionism and (a) work to family conflict and (b) family to work conflict.

Positive automatic thoughts

Positive automatic thoughts refer to positive declarative statements about oneself, for example the statement ‘I am proud of my accomplishments’ (Ingram & Wisnicki, 1988). It has been found that positive automatic thoughts were related to higher levels of happiness and also buffered against stress (Lightsey, 1994). Positive changes in maladaptive perfectionism were correlated with decreased negative automatic thoughts and positive changes in depression, anxiety, and stress in a therapeutic intervention among students (Radhu et al., 2012).

Positive thinking has been found to facilitate improved balance of work and family roles (Rotondo & Kincaid, 2008). Positive automatic thoughts, also known as positive thinking, have been linked to both perfectionism (Kiamarsi & Taherifard, 2020) and work-family conflict (Molineux et al., 2013) and may act as a mediator in the relationship between the two.

Hypothesis 6

Positive automatic thoughts will mediate the relationship between standard and discrepancy perfectionism and (a) work to family conflict and (b) family to work conflict.

Figure 1 displays our conceptual model of WFC, perfectionism, and coping strategies. Both forms of perfectionism are predicted to have both direct influence and indirect influence, through coping strategies and positive automatic thoughts, on work to family conflict. Figure 2 portrays the conceptual model of FWC. Again, the two aspects of perfectionism are predicted to have both direct and indirect influence on family to work conflict through coping strategies and positive automatic thoughts.

Fig. 1
figure 1

Conceptual model of perfectionism, coping strategies, and work to family conflict

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Fig. 2
figure 2

Conceptual model of perfectionism, coping strategies, and family to work conflict

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Methods

Participants and data Collection

A total sample of 1041 participants agreed to take part in this study. They were invited to participate via social media. The questionnaire participants responded to was prepared as an online survey administered using Google Forms. A link to the questionnaire was sent to potential respondents via WhatsApp, Facebook, emails, text messages, and Telegram in order to reach as many and diverse group people as possible in Saudi Arabia. Participation was voluntary and participants gave informant consent before participation. They were also informed that they could withdraw from the study without consequence. Permission to conduct this research was obtained from King Abdulaziz University.

Measures

The questionnaire included demographic questions and four scales: The Work-Family Conflict Scale (WAFCS) (Haslam et al., 2014), the Situational Version of the Brief COPE questionnaire (Monzani et al., 2015), the Short Form of the Revised Almost Perfect Scale (Rice et al., 2014), and the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire-Positive (ATQ-P) (Ingram & Wisnicki, 1988).

The work-family conflict scale (WAFCS) (Haslam et al., 2014)

This is a short instrument designed to measure work-family conflicts. The scale has two related subscales: the work to family conflict subscale and the family to work conflict subscale. The items are rated on a 7-point Likert scale with agreement ranging between 1 (very strongly disagree) and 7 (very strongly agree). The scores are summed for a total score for each subscale of 7–35 for WFC and FWC, respectively. Higher scores indicate greater conflict. In this study, the scale exhibited adequate internal consistency reliability with Cronbach’s alpha of 0.79 for WFC and 0.83 for FWC.

The situational version of the brief COPE (Monzani et al., 2015)

This measure consisted of 28 items designed to measure coping responses in specific situations. Items in the scale are scored on a 4-point Likert scale ranging between 1 (I haven’t been doing this at all) and 4 (I have been doing this a lot). The scale has 14 subscales, each assessing a specific coping strategy a respondent employs when dealing with a stressful situation. Those 14 subscales are planning, humor, acceptance, self-distraction, active coping, denial, substance use, use of emotional support, use of instrumental support, behavioral disengagement, venting, positive reframing, religion, and self-blame. However, 4 of the 14 subscales were not used in this study because of poor internal consistency reliability. Following Knoll et al. (2005), 4 constructs of coping were ultimately used: active coping (active coping and planning), focus on positive (acceptance, positive reframing), support coping (instrumental support, emotional support, and religion), and evasive coping (self-blame, denial, and venting). In this study, active coping exhibited a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.98, focus on positive had a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.71, support coping had a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.76, and evasive coping showed a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.75.

The short form of the revised almost perfect scale (Rice et al., 2014)

This is a self-report instrument with 8 items and consists of 2 subscales, the standard subscale with 4 items that evaluate high performance standards, and the discrepancy subscale also with 4 items that evaluate self-criticism and negative self-evaluation of performance. The scale is scored on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). The scale exhibited good internal consistency reliability, with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.86 for standard perfectionism and 0.87 for discrepancy perfectionism (Rice et al., 2014). In this study, the standard subscale exhibited a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.81 and discrepancy had a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.70.

The automatic thoughts questionnaire-positive (Ingram & Wisnicki, 1988)

This scale consisted of 30 items designed to measure positive thoughts. Each item in the scale is scored on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (all the time). The ATQ-P had excellent internal consistency reliability with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.94 (Ingram & Wisnicki, 1988). In this study, the scale also demonstrated a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.94.

Data Analysis

All data analyses were conducted in RStudio (Ihaka & Gentleman, 1996). Prior to analysis, a data attention check and cross-check were performed in order to verify the correct tabulation of data. Inspection of extreme outliers was also done before conducting further analysis. The descriptive statistics were computed first, then anova tests, and then bivariate correlations. The mediation analyses were conducted using a set of structural equation models using the ‘lavaan’ statistical software package (Rosseel, 2011). Different fit indices were employed to assess model fit, including chi-square, RMSEA, SRMR, CFI, and TLI (Hu & Bentler, 1999). The final models were plotted using the ‘lavaanPlot’ package (Lishinski, 2020). The indirect effects were estimated using bootstrapping methods.

Results

The summary of the characteristics of the sample is displayed in Table 1. In the total sample of 1,041 participants, about 55.6% were males, 33.9% were aged between 19 and 35 years, 34.8% were between 36 and 44 years old, and 31.3% were between 45 and 60. Around 64.7% were married, 65.9% were Saudi citizens, and more than half (62.6%) had at least a university degree. Around 44.8% had up to 2 children, 46.9% had 3 to 5 children, and 8.3% had between 6 and 8 children. Around half worked in the government sector, 70.5% worked full time, and with regard to monthly income, 28.4% earned more than 17,000 SR and 14.2% earned less than 5000 SR.

Table 1 Sample (n = 1,041) characteristics and anova tests
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The figures on the p-value columns reveal significant and non-significant differences for the demographic or variable indicated. For example, for gender, there was a non-significant result for WFC (p = 0.258), but a significant difference for FWC (p < 0.05) was obtained. Males reported more family to work conflicts than females, younger workers reported more work to family and family to work conflicts, and widowed individuals reported more family to work conflicts. Foreigners had more family to work conflicts, those with less than high school education reported more work to family and family to work conflicts, and those with 3 to 5 children had more work to family and family to work conflicts. Those working in the private sector reported more work to family and family to work conflicts. Full time workers reported more work to family conflicts, but those working part time reported more family to work conflicts. Finally, those earning more than 17,000 SR had more work to family conflicts compared to their counterparts but those earning less than 5000 SR had more family to work conflicts compared to their counterparts.

Table 2 Means, SDs, Cronbach’s alphas, and bivariate correlations between study variables
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Standard perfectionism was positively correlated with the focusing on positive coping strategy, support-seeking coping, active coping, positive automatic thoughts, and work to family conflicts, and was negatively correlated with the evasive coping strategy and family to work conflict. Discrepancy perfectionism was negatively correlated with focus on positive thinking, support coping, active coping, and negative automatic thoughts, and was positively correlated with evasive coping styles, and with work to family conflict and family to work conflict. Work to family conflict was negatively correlated with active coping and positive automatic thoughts, and was positively correlated with an evasive coping strategy. Family to work conflicts were negatively correlated with focus on positive thinking coping, support-seeking coping, active coping, and positive automatic thoughts, and positively correlated with evasive coping styles.

Hypotheses testing

To test the hypotheses, a set of structural equation models were analyzed. In the first model, direct effects of standard and discrepancy perfectionism on work to family conflicts as well as indirect effects through active coping, focus on positive thinking coping, evasive coping, support-seeking coping, and positive automatic thoughts were estimated. This model indicated moderate fit indices. To improve model fit, insignificant paths were deleted and the remaining paths exhibited adequate model fit (χ2 = 290.41, p < 0.001; RMSEA = 0.08; SRMR = 0.05; CFI = 0.91; TLI = 0.90). The deleted paths corresponded to Hypotheses 3a and 4a and were not supported. In this model, standard and discrepancy perfectionism positively predicted work to family conflicts (β = 0.32, p < 00.01 and β = 0.24, p < 0.001, respectively). Thus, Hypothesis 1a was supported. Model 1 is portrayed in Fig. 3, the numbers on the plot represent the paths between the independent variables, mediation variables, and dependent (direct effects). In terms of mediation, active coping, evasive coping, and positive automatic thoughts mediated the relationship between standard and discrepancy perfectionism and work to family conflict. Hypotheses 2a, 5a, and 6a were supported. Indirect effects using bootstrapping methods are displayed in Table 4.

Fig. 3
figure 3

SEM paths predicting WFC. Note The numbers on the arrows represent the direct relationships (paths) between the variables; ***p < 0.001, **p < 0.01

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In the second model, direct effects of standard and discrepancy perfectionism on family to work conflicts as well as indirect effects through active coping, focus on positive thinking coping, evasive coping, support-seeking coping, and positive automatic thoughts were estimated. The second model also indicated moderate fit indices, see Table 3. To improve model fit, paths that were not significant were deleted and the remaining paths exhibited good model fit (χ2 = 203.57, p < 0.001; RMSEA = 0.06; SRMR = 0.04; CFI = 0.93; TLI = 0.92). The deleted paths corresponded to Hypotheses 2b and 3b. In this model only discrepancy perfectionism positively predicted family to work conflicts (β = 0.40, p < 00.01). Thus, Hypothesis 1b was partially supported. Model 2 is portrayed in Fig. 4, the numbers in the plot represent the paths between the independent variables, the mediating variables and the dependent variable (direct effects). In this model, seeking support, evasive coping, and positive automatic thoughts mediated the relationship between standard and discrepancy perfectionism and family to work conflict. Hypotheses 4b, 5b, and 6b were therefore supported.

Fig. 4
figure 4

SEM paths predicting FWC. Note the numbers on the path represent the direct relationships (paths) between the variables; ***p < 0.001, **p < 0.01

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Table 3 Fit indices
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Table 4 Indirect effects estimates and 95% confidence intervals
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Discussion

This study investigated the relationship between perfectionism and work-family conflict and the mediating roles of coping strategies and positive automatic thoughts in a sample of Saudi workers. First, differences in work to family and family to work conflicts were found based on the demographic profiles of the employees (gender, age, education, marital status, number of children, working sector, working status, and income). This corroborates previous studies that reported demographic differences in work-family conflicts (Anafarta & Kuruüzüm, 2012; Dartey-Baah, 2015; Duxbury & Higgins, 1991; Eagle et al., 1998).

The main findings revealed a positive relationship between both aspects of perfectionism and work to family conflict but no association was observed with family to work conflict. It seems that setting a high standard of performance is deleterious for work to family balance but does not interfere with family to work balance. A positive relationship was found between discrepancy perfectionism and family to work conflict. This corroborates previous findings that maladaptive perfectionism predicts increases in work-family conflicts (Akanbi, 2016; Caliskan et al., 2014; Mitchelson, 2009). Some coping strategies emerged as important mediators of these relationships. Active coping and evasive coping mediated the relationship between both standard and discrepancy perfectionism and work to family conflict, and support-seeking and evasive coping mediated the relationship between both standard and discrepancy perfectionism and family to work conflict. Positive automatic thoughts also mediated the relationship between both aspects of perfectionism and both WFC and FWC.

Some researchers have argued that perfectionism can never be adaptive (Blatt, 1995; Pacht, 1984), claiming perfectionism entails persistent negative self-evaluations and experiences of conditional self-acceptance rather than the pursuit of high standards. This would not apply in the context of this study since standard perfectionism was positively correlated with active coping, focus on the positive supportive coping, and positive automatic thoughts, whereas discrepancy perfectionism was negatively correlated with these constructs. As such, this study joins previous studies to indicate differential aspects of perfectionism (Caliskan et al., 2014; Chang et al., 2004; Stoeber & Rennert, 2008).

As hypothesized, coping strategies acted as paths through which perfectionism impacted work-family conflict. Active coping and support-seeking operated as negative mediators while evasive coping operated as a positive mediator. It is plausible that if workers with perfectionistic tendencies engage in problem-focused coping (active coping/seeking support) when confronted with work or family stressful situations, they may be less vulnerable to work-family conflicts. On the other hand, if workers with perfectionistic tendencies who are in the same stressful situations engage in emotion-focused coping (evasive coping), they may be more vulnerable to work-family conflicts. This is in line with previous research that reported that problem-focused coping acted as a stress buffer in stressful work-family situations (Matsui et al., 1995; Rantanen et al., 2011) whereas emotion-focused coping acted as a vulnerability factor in the same situations (Aryee et al., 1999; Rantanen et al., 2011). The findings of this study concerning support-seeking confirms the assertion that some emotion-focused coping can yield positive benefits (Shin et al., 2014). Those perfectionistic employees who used support-seeking strategies were less likely to experience family to work conflicts. Previous research has shown that seeking support reduced burnout of employees (Cronin-Stubbs & Brophy, 1985).

The findings of the role of automatic thoughts in the relationship between perfectionism and work-family relationships are plausible. It is well conceivable that for those perfectionistic employees who frequently engage in positive thinking, that strategy reduces work-family conflicts. This is in line with previous research that reported the role of positive thinking in maintaining a work-family balance (Rotondo & Kincaid, 2008). Molineux et al. (2013) also found that an intervention of positive thinking reduced work-family conflicts. Furthermore, Hains and Szyjakowski (1990) reported that a cognitive intervention of positive thinking resulted in increased self-esteem and decreased anger and anxiety. Similarly, Philpot and Bamburg (1996) found that rehearsing positive thinking and positive self-statements increased self-esteem and reduced depression Boyraz and Lightsey (2012) also reported in an interventional study that stressfulness was associated with increased meaning of life when positive thinking was frequently used. It seems that positive thinking, as suggested also by Positive Psychology (Peterson, 2006), yields positive and protective benefits for one’s well-being.

This study is not without limitations, however. First, as its design was cross-sectional, no mediation causal effects can be concluded. There is a debate in the literature that mediation analysis based on a cross-sectional study may lead to unexpected results and that the cross-sectional data are somehow questionable (Maxwell & Cole, 2007; Maxwell et al., 2011). However, cross-sectional data are still widely relied upon to conduct mediation analyses in the literature (MacKinnon & Fairchild, 2009). At any rate, future research should use longitudinal and experimental designs, including quasi-experiments and interventions that allow new insights to be gained. Second, the sample was determined using a convenience method. Future research should use random sampling methods. Third, the study relied on self-reported data, but this has been related to problems of common-method variance (Podsakoff et al., 2003); future research should also include objective measures, such as direct observation in a real world context. Fourth, the data collection was conducted online, which maximizes heterogeneity of the sample, however, we cannot know in which situations respondents were when they took the survey, which may have led to a context effect (Deuling & Burns, 2017). Finally, our study found more family to work conflict in males compared to females, which is inconsistent with the literature. This might be culture-specific and future research should investigate this issue in depth.

Conclusion

This study contributes to the literature by establishing a direct effect between perfectionism and work-family conflict, and indirect effects through coping strategies and positive automatic thoughts, in the context of Saudi Arabia. The results showed that workers who seek perfection will likely experience work-family conflicts. Active, support-seeking, evasive coping strategies and positive automatic thoughts can act as mediators in this relationship: perfectionistic workers who engage in these coping mechanisms should have reduced work-family conflict. On the other hand, perfectionists who engage in evasive coping would have increased work-family conflicts. Finally, positive automatic thoughts were shown to be an important mechanism by which perfectionistic workers can reduce work-family conflict.

Practical contributions

These findings provide important practical implications. For workplace organizations, it is important to plan programs to train employees in how to use effective coping styles and positive thinking when they encounter work-family conflict and stress. It would also behoove organizations to train workers how to separate work and family roles, a recommendation suggested as well by Sanz-Vergel et al. (2011). These findings are also relevant to practitioners. It is possible that employees who experience work-family conflict may seek help to enhance their well-being; therefore, psychologists and social workers may use the findings of this study to plan effective interventions. At the individual level, these findings may serve as a reference for employees themselves to take action to manage balance in their work and family life. Nonetheless, this may be difficult for employees to realize since some cultures may promote work life over family life (Kossek et al., 2010); thus, managers in the workplace and practitioners in general need to include culture-specific programs so employees learn to value both work and family life.