Share:


The mediating effect of work-life balance on the relationship between work culture and employee well-being

    Asta Stankevičienė Affiliation
    ; Virginijus Tamaševičius Affiliation
    ; Danuta Diskienė Affiliation
    ; Žygimantas Grakauskas Affiliation
    ; Liana Rudinskaja Affiliation

Abstract

This article tends to fill the existing knowledge gap in understanding if work-life balance (WLB) can not only make a direct impact on employee well-being, but also play a mediating role between work culture and well-being. The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating effect of WLB on the relationship between the structural dimensions of work culture – temporal flexibility, supportive supervision and operational flexibility – and employee well-being. The data were collected on the basis of a survey of employees employed by business and public sector organisations in Lithuania. The research revealed that all the components of work culture were important factors in defining employee well-being, had a strong direct impact on well-being and affected WLB. The results demonstrated that a direct effect of work culture on well-being was much stronger than the one moderated by an indirect effect of WLB. The findings also suggest that family-friendly culture can help employees to reach a better WLB, which, in its turn, assists employees in feeling higher satisfaction with general well-being at work. The current study expands the role of WLB as a mediator in organisational settings and its findings may be important for practitioners who seek to improve the performance of their organisation by enhancing the well-being of employees.

Keyword : well-being, work culture, temporal flexibility, supportive supervision, operational flexibility, work-life balance, mediator analysis

How to Cite
Stankevičienė, A., Tamaševičius, V., Diskienė, D., Grakauskas, Žygimantas, & Rudinskaja, L. (2021). The mediating effect of work-life balance on the relationship between work culture and employee well-being. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 22(4), 988-1007. https://doi.org/10.3846/jbem.2021.14729
Published in Issue
Jun 18, 2021
Abstract Views
6269
PDF Downloads
4146
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

Abendroth, A. K., & Den Dulk, L. (2011). Support for the work-life balance in Europe: The impact of state, workplace and family support on work-life balance satisfaction. Work, Employment and Society, 25(2), 234–256. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017011398892

Ahmad, A., & Omar, Z. (2010). Perceived family-supportive work culture, affective commitment and turnover intention of employees. Journal of American Science, 6(12), 839–846.

Akkermans, J., Schaufeli, W. B., Brenninkmeijer, V., & Blonk, R. W. B. (2013) The role of career competencies in the job demands-resources model. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 83(3), 356–366. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2013.06.011

Bailyn, L. (1997). The impact of corporate culture on work-family integration. In S. Parasuraman & J. H. Greenhaus (Eds.), Integrating work and family: Challenges and choices for a changing world (pp. 209–219). Quorum Books.

Beauregard, T. A. (2011). Direct and indirect links between organizational work–home culture and employee well‐being. British Journal of Management, 22(2), 218–237. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8551.2010.00723.x

Bell, S. A., Rajendran D., & Theiler, S. (2012). Job stress, wellbeing, work-life balance and work-life conflict among Australian academics. Electronic Journal of Applied Psychology, 8(1), 25–37. https://doi.org/10.7790/ejap.v8i1.320

Bentley, T. A., Teo, S. T. T., McLeod, L., Tan, F., Bosua, R., & Gloet, M. (2016). The role of organisational support in teleworker wellbeing: A socio-technical systems approach. Applied Ergonomics, 52, 207–215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2015.07.019

Boxall, P., & Macky, K. (2014). High-involvement work processes, work intensification and employee wellbeing. Work, Employment and Society, 28(6), 963–984. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017013512714

Caesens, G., Stinglhamber, F., Demoulin, S., & De Wilde, M. (2017). Perceived organizational support and employees’ well-being: The mediating role of organizational dehumanization. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 26(4), 527–540. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359432X.2017.1319817

Carnevale, J., & Hatak, I. (2020). Employee adjustment and well-being in the era of COVID-19: Implications for human resource management. Journal of Business Research, 116, 183–187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.05.037

Chawla, N., MacGowan, R. L., Gabriel, A. S., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2020). Unplugging or staying connected? Examining the nature, antecedents, and consequences of profiles of daily recovery experiences. Journal of Applied Psychology, 105(1), 19–39. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000423

Clark, S. C. (2001). Work cultures and work/family balance. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 58(3), 348–365. https://doi.org/10.1006/jvbe.2000.1759

Clarke, S., & Holdsworth, L. (2017). Flexibility in the workplace: Implications of flexible work arrangements for individuals, teams and organizations. Alliance Manchester Business School. University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9SS. https://www.acas.org.uk/flexibility-in-the-workplace

Cooper, M. P. (2008). Wellness can be a powerful business management strategy, but it takes intelligent planning and execution. Employee Benefit Plan Review, 63(5), 10–11.

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2008). Facilitating optimal motivation and psychological well-being across life’s domains. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie canadienne, 49(1), 14–23. https://doi.org/10.1037/0708-5591.49.3.262

Diener, E., Suh, E. M., Lucas, R. E., & Smith, H. L. (1999). Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125(2), 276–302. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.125.2.276

Dodge, R., Daly, A. P., Huyton, J., & Sanders, L. D. (2012). The challenge of defining wellbeing. International Journal of Wellbeing, 2(3), 222–235. https://doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v2i3.4

Emre, O., & De Spiegeleare, S. (2019). The role of work–life balance and autonomy in the relationship between commuting, employee commitment and well-being. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2019.1583270

Evans, A., Carney, J., & Wilkinson, M. (2013). Work–life balance for men: Counseling implications. Journal of Counselling & Development, 91(4), 436–441. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556-6676.2013.00115.x

Eurofound. (2012). Working time and WLB in a life course perspective. Eurofound, Dublin. https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/sites/default/files/ef_publication/field_ef_document/ef1273en

Field, A. P. (2018). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics (5th ed.). SAGE Publications. https://www.amazon.com/Discovering-Statistics-Using-IBM-SPSS/dp/1526436566

George, G., Howard-Grenville, J., Joshi, A., & Tihanyi, L. (2016). understanding and tackling societal grand challenges through management research. Academy of Management Journal, 59(6), 1880– 1895. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2016.4007

Goodman, F., Disabato, D., Kashdan, T. B., & Kauffman, S. B. (2018). Measuring well-being: A comparison of subjective well-being and PERMA. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 13(4), 321–332. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2017.1388434

Grisslich, P., Proske, A., & Körndle, H. (2012). Beyond work and life – what role does time for oneself play in work-life-balance? Zeitschrift für Gesundheitspsychologie, 20(4), 166–177. https://doi.org/10.1026/0943-8149/a000076

Guest, D. E. (2017). Human resource management and employee well‐being: Towards a new analytic framework. Human Resource Management Journal, 27(1), 22–38. https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12139

Hayes, A. F. (2018). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach (2nd ed.). In Methodology in the Social Sciences series. Guilford Press. https://www.afhayes.com/introduction-to-mediation-moderation-and-conditional-process-analysis.html

ter Hoeven, C. L., & van Zoonen, W. (2015). Flexible work designs and employee well‐being: Examining the effects of resources and demands. New Technology, Work and Employment, 30(3), 237–255. https://doi.org/10.1111/ntwe.12052

Hayman, J. (2010). Flexible work schedules and employee well-being. New Zealand Journal of Employment Relations, 35(2), 76–87. http://www.nzjournal.org/NZJER35(2).pdf

Henrich, G., & Herschbach, P. (2000). Questions on Life Satisfaction (FLZM): A short questionnaire for assessing subjective quality of life. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 16(3), 150–159. https://doi.org/10.1027//1015-5759.16.3.150

He, H., & Harris L. 2020. The impact of Covid-19 pandemic on corporate social responsibility and marketing philosophy. Journal of Business Research, 116, 176–182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.05.030

Humayon, A. A., Raza, S., Kaleem, N., Murtaza, G., Hussain, M. S., & Abbas, Z. (2018). Impact of supervision, working condition and university policy on work-life balance of university employees. European Online Journal of Natural and Social Sciences, 7(1), 193–201. https://european-science.com/eojnss/article/view/5253

Ismail, M., Baki, N. U., & Omar, Z. (2018). The influence of organizational culture and organizational justice on group cohesion as perceived by merger and acquisition employees. Organizations & Markets in Emerging Economies, 9(2), 233–250. https://doi.org/10.15388/omee.2018.10.00012

Jain, A., Giga, S., & Cooper, C. (2013). Stress, health and well-being: the mediating role of employee and organizational commitment. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 10(10), 4907–4924. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph10104907

Kalliath, P., Kalliath, T., & Chan, C. (2017). Work–family conflict, family satisfaction and employee well‐being: A comparative study of Australian and Indian social workers. Human Resource Management Journal, 27(3), 366–381. https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12143

Kim, H. K. (2014). Work-life balance and employees’ performance: The mediating role of affective commitment. Global Business and Management Research, 6(1), 37–51. https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Work-Life-Balance-and-Employees%27-Performance%3A-The-Kim/b2a0018b12b37416dd8418ef1342bbb34dde02a0

Matthews, R. A., Mills, M. J., Trout, R. C., & English, L. (2014). Family-supportive supervisor behaviors, work engagement, and subjective well-being: A contextually dependent mediated process. Journal of occupational health psychology, 19(2), 168–181. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0036012

McCarthy, G., Almeida, S., & Ahrens, J. (2011). Understanding employee well-being practices in Australian organizations. International Journal of Health, Wellness & Society, 1(1), 181–198. https://doi.org/10.18848/2156-8960/CGP/v01i01/41076

Meyer, J. P., & Maltin, E. R. (2010). Employee commitment and well-being: A critical review, theoretical framework and research agenda. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 77(2), 323–337. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2010.04.007

Mishra, S., & Kapoor, S. (2017). Non monetary employee welfare activities (strategic move towards changing dynamics of organisation). In Proceedings of International Conference on Strategies in Volatile and Uncertain Environment for Emerging Markets (pp. 179–189).

Moen, P., Kelly, E. L., Fan, W., Lee, S. R., Almeida, D., Kossek, E. E., & Buxton, O. M. (2016). Does a flexibility/support organizational initiative improve high-tech employees’ well-being? Evidence from the work, family, and health network. American Sociological Review, 81(1), 134–164. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122415622391

Munir, F., Nielsen, K., Garde, A. H., Albertsen, K., & Carneiro, I. G. (2012). Mediating the effects of work–life conflict between transformational leadership and health‐care workers’ job satisfaction and psychological wellbeing. Journal of Nursing Management, 20(4), 512–521. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2834.2011.01308.x

Nierenberg, B., Alexakis, G., Preziosi, R. C., & O’Neill, C. (2017). Workplace happiness: An empirical study on well-being and its relationship with organizational culture, leadership, and job satisfaction. International Leadership Journal, 9(3), 2–23. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cps_facarticles/1548/

Ni, C., & Wang, Y. (2015). The impact of perceived organizational support and core self-evaluation on employee’s psychological well-being. Journal of Human Resource and Sustainability Studies, 3(2), 73–81. https://doi.org/10.4236/jhrss.2015.32011

Nordenmark, M., Vinberg, S., & Strandh, M. (2012). Job control and demands, work-life balance and wellbeing among self-employed men and women in Europe. Vulnerable Groups & Inclusion, 3(1), 18896. https://doi.org/10.3402/vgi.v3i0.18896

Ollier-Malaterre, A., & Foucreault, A. (2017). Cross-national work-life research: Cultural and structural impacts for individuals and organizations. Journal of Management, 43(1), 111–136. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206316655873

Olesen, M. H., Thomsen, D. K., & O’Toole, M. S. (2015). Subjective well-being: Above neuroticism and extraversion, autonomy motivation matters. Personality and Individual Differences, 77, 45–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.12.033

Oosthuizen, R. M., Coetzee, M., & Munro, Z. (2016). Work-life balance, job satisfaction and turnover intention amongst information technology employees. Southern African Business Review, 20(1), 446–467. https://doi.org/10.25159/1998-8125/6059

Orsila, R., Luukkaala, T., Manka, M. L., & Nygard, C. H. (2011). A new approach to measuring workrelated well-being. International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics, 17(4), 341–359. https://doi.org/10.1080/10803548.2011.11076900

Padhi, P. (2017). Organisational culture and employee performance. International Journal of Research in IT and Management, 7(5), 77–81. http://euroasiapub.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/10IMMay-4884.pdf

Parker, P. D., Martin, A. J., Colmar, S., & Liem, G. A. (2012). Teachers’ workplace well-being: Exploring a process model of goal orientation, coping behaviour, engagement, and burnout. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28(4), 503–513. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2012.01.001

Pattusamy, M., & Jacob, J. (2016). Testing the mediation of work–family balance in the relationship between work–family conflict and job and family satisfaction. South African Journal of Psychology, 46(2), 218–231. https://doi.org/10.1177/0081246315608527

Poulose, S., & Sudarsan, N. (2017). Assessing the influence of work-life balance dimensions among nurses in the healthcare sector. Journal of Management Development, 36(3), 427–437. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-12-2015-0188

Qi, D., & Wu, Y. (2018). Does welfare stigma exist in China? Policy evaluation of the Minimum Living Security System on recipients’ psychological health and wellbeing. Social Science & Medicine, 205, 26–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.03.041

Rastogi, M., Rangnekar, S., & Rastogi, R. (2016). Flexibility as a predictor of work–family enrichment. Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, 17(1), 5–14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40171-015-0108-y

Robertson, I. T., & Cooper, C. L. (2010). Full engagement: The integration of employee engagement and psychological well-being. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 31(4), 324–336. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437731011043348

Ryff, C. D., & Keyes, C. L. M. (1995). The structure of psychological well-being revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(4), 719–727. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.69.4.719

Sakka, G., & Ahammad, M. F. (2020). Unpacking the relationship between employee brand ambassadorship and employee social media usage through employee wellbeing in workplace: A theoretical contribution. Journal of Business Research, 119, 354–363. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.03.038

Santos, J., Gonçalves, G., & Gomes, A. (2013). Organizational culture and subjective and work wellbeing. The case of employees of Portuguese universities. Journal of Spatial and Organizational Dynamics, 1(3), 153–161. https://ideas.repec.org/a/ris/jspord/0009.html

Sheikh, M. A., Ashiq, A., Mehar, M. R., Hasan, A., & Khalid, M. (2018). Impact of work and home demands on work life balance: Mediating role of work family conflicts. Pyrex Journal of Business and Finance Management Research, 4(5), 48–57. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327689374_Impact_of_Work_and_Home_Demands_on_Work_Life_Balance_Mediating_Role_of_Work_Family_Conflicts

Singh, R., Zhang, Y., Wan, M., & Fouad, N. A. (2018). Why do women engineers leave the engineering profession? The roles of work–family conflict, occupational commitment, and perceived organizational support. Human Resource Management, 57(4), 901–914. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21900

Skurak, H., Malinen, S., Näswall, K., & Kuntz, J. C. (2018). Employee wellbeing: The role of psychological detachment on the relationship between engagement and work–life conflict. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 42(1), 116–141. https://doi.org/10.1177/0143831X17750473

Smith, A., & Smith, H. (2017). A short questionnaire to measure wellbeing at work (Short-SWELL) and to examine the interaction between the employee and organisation. In Contemporary Ergonomics and Human Factors 2017 (pp. 200–205). Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors, Leicester. http://orca.cf.ac.uk/101213/

Taşdelen-Karçkay, A., & Bakalım, O. (2017). The mediating effect of work–life balance on the relationship between work–family conflict and life satisfaction. Australian Journal of Career Development, 26(1), 3–13. https://doi.org/10.1177/1038416216682954

Viot, C., & Benraiss-Noailles, L. (2019). The link between benevolence and well-being in the context of human-resource marketing. Journal of Business Ethics, 159(3), 883–896. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-018-3834-1

Zheng, C., Kashi, K., Fan, D., Molineux, J., & Ee, M. S. (2016). Impact of individual coping strategies and organisational work–life balance programmes on Australian employee well-being. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 27(5), 501–526. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2015.1020447

Zheng, X., Zhu, W., Zhao, H., & Zhang, C. (2015). Employee well‐being in organizations: Theoretical model, scale development, and cross‐cultural validation. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 36(5), 621–644. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.1990