| Keywords |
Commuting time; Work?family conflict (WFC); Work?life balance; Living environment factor; Korean; Working Conditions Survey (KWCS) |
| Abstract |
This study examined the impact of commuting time for wage workers, as a living environmental factor, on work?family conflict (WFC) using data from the 7th Korean Working Conditions Survey. Logistic regression analysis revealed that longer commuting times were significantly associated with a higher likelihood of belonging to the high WFC group. The association was particularly pronounced among workers with commuting times exceeding 90 minutes and was stronger in women than in men. These findings indicate that commuting functions not merely as a daily work-related activity but as a living environmental stressor that depletes personal time and energy resources, thereby intensifying WFC. Even after adjusting for sociodemographic and occupational variables, commuting time remained an independent predictor of WFC. The results expand existing models of work?life balance by empirically demonstrating, in a Korean workforce sample, that commuting as a physical and contextual factor influences the distribution of psychological and familial resources. Consequently, improving commuting environments should be considered a vital component of policies aimed at enhancing wage workers’ quality of life. |