33 NTU Management Review Vol. 31 No. 3 Dec. 2021 Sex and Gender Role Orientation on the Work-Family Interface: Testing Three-Way Interactions Luo Lu, Department of Business Administration, National Taiwan University Ting-Ting Chang, Department of Industrial Management, Lunghwa University of Science and Technology Shu-Fan Kao, Department of Applied Psychology, Hsuan Chuang University 1. Purpose/Objective The linkage between individuals’ sex and the work and family interface is a familiar question for work and family scholars. However, systematic reviews revealed that findings of sex differences are very inconsistent. The inconsistency may be partly caused by the “biopsychological equivalence fallacy” (Korabik, McElwain, and Chappell, 2008). That is, work and family researchers often assume that biological men would identify and comply with the socially prescribed male role of “breadwinners” whereas biological women with the female role of “homemakers”. The operational equivalence of sex with gender masks the within-sex variations in role-enacting emanating from varied gender self-identities. Researchers have thus called for the reconfiguration of “sex” as a multi-facet construct encompassing biological, psychological, and sociological aspects of role prescriptions (Rajadhyaksha and Velgach, 2015). Our study contributes to the literature by suggesting that it is the intersection of biological sex and psychological gender diversity (masculinity and femininity traits) that makes a difference in the individuals’ perceptions of role demands and their experiences of work and family conflict. The experience of work and family conflict depends on both the individual’s role enacting and the contextual factors. Studies have shown that within-sex variations are as critical as those between the sexes, which explains differences among individuals’ experiences of work and family conflict (Cinamon and Rich, 2002; Somech and DrachZahavy, 2007; Greenhaus and Parasuraman, 1999). With social changes, we are undergoing a shift from the traditional sex role stereotypes to gender equality and workfamily balance, which means that the traditional stereotype of "men are breadwinners; women are homemakers" is losing its grip on people’s gender attitudes. Gender roles are malleable to some extent, especially during profound social changes in gender attitudes.
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