Work-family conflict, organisational commitment and turnover intention in Chinese preschool teachers: a comparison of mediation models

ABSTRACT Work-family conflict is prevalent in preschool teachers, which has increased the risk of turnover intention. However, the effect of work-family conflict on turnover intention may be different between beginning preschool teachers and experienced preschool teachers. The present study examined the mediating role of organisational commitment in the relationship between work-family conflict and turnover intention with a sample of 726 beginning preschool teachers and 603 experienced preschool teachers coming from China. Results indicated that (1) Chinese beginning preschool teachers’ organisational commitment played a partial mediating role in the relationship between work-family conflict and turnover intention; (2) organisational commitment fully mediated the relationship between work-family conflict and turnover intention among Chinese experienced preschool teachers. These findings have important implications for devising interventions separately to reduce the turnover intention of beginning and experienced preschool teachers.