More Money Than Him, More Conflict for Her: A Longitudinal Investigation of the Partner Pay Gap, Work–Family Conflict, and Well‐Being

ABSTRACT

Women's earnings have risen, yet work–family conflict (WFC) remains persistent, raising questions about how income differences within couples shape these experiences. We examine the partner pay gap—the difference in earnings between partners—as a household financial structure that conditions work‐family experiences and introduce a gendered relative resources framework to theorize why relative earnings carry different meanings for women and men. Analyzing longitudinal dyadic data from over 4000 German couples, we use a polynomial regression approach embedded within a longitudinal actor‐partner interdependence model. Results show that larger partner pay gaps are associated with higher WFC for women, but not for men. These gendered effects are stronger in more traditional normative contexts, including when women hold traditional gender role beliefs, are parents, or receive lower partner support. We further show that WFC operates as a chronic, accumulating stressor that mediates the relationship between the partner pay gap and women's long‐term well‐being. Post hoc analyses suggest a front‐loaded pattern, with women's WFC increasing most sharply at modest deviations from traditional earning arrangements and leveling off as pay gaps widen. We replicate our findings in a U.S. sample, supporting cross‐national generalizability. Together, these results highlight household earning arrangements as structural conditions that shape whether HRM systems can be effectively translated into reduced WFC, underscoring the importance of integrating household financial dynamics into HRM theory and practice.