Abstract
Working students often face challenges in balancing their responsibilities between workplace and school. While the primary focus and goal of students are to complete the school program and earn a degree, they are still required to accomplish the objectives of their daily job tasks. However, when demands between both focuses become unbalanced, work-school conflict (WSC) arises. Thus, this study aims to develop a WSC instrument for graduate students and analyze it using qualitative and quantitative data. A two-phase exploratory sequential mixed methods design was employed. In the qualitative phase, semi-structured interviews were conducted online with 19 working graduate students, selected through purposive sampling, and were analyzed using conventional content analysis. The findings revealed three key components found in the development of a 13-item questionnaire: time-based conflict, strain-based conflict, and behavior-based conflict. Content validity was assessed using the content validity index (CVI) from five experts. In the quantitative phase, the questionnaire was refined based on experts’ feedback and tested for reliability with 32 working students. The data were then collected from 160 working students for construct validity testing. The results showed that the instrument achieved I-CVI scores above .60; the S-CVI/UA was .62, and
S-CVI/AVE was .86, and both indicated acceptable validity. Cronbach's alpha values for internal consistency were .89 for time-based conflict, .89 for strain-based conflict, and .86 for behavior-based conflict, respectively. The measurement model presented the acceptable construct validity: Chi-square (1, N=160)=1.831, p=.176, RMSEA=.072, SRMR=.015, CFI=.996, TLI=.989. Most participants were master's students (69.38%). Overall, students reported a medium WSC level (M=2.682, SD=2.613), with strain-based conflict being particularly prominent. Therefore, enhancing self-regulation skills and providing faculty support systems could help mitigate WSC for working students.
Author Information
Siripreeya Chaiboonma, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
Kanit Sriklaub, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
Siwachoat Srisuttiyakorn, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
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