Work-life balance crafting behaviors: an empirical study

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to address gaps in the work-life balance (WLB) literature by identifying WLB crafting behaviors employed by individuals, empirically testing which of these behaviors significantly affect WLB, and examining the relationship between the identified WLB crafting behaviors, WLB, and subjective well-being (SWB).Design/methodology/approachThe study utilized a quantitative approach. In total, 314 employees participated in the online survey. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized relationships among the variables.FindingsResults show that protecting private time and working efficiently significantly relate with WLB and that WLB mediates the relationships between these two WLB crafting behaviors and SWB. Findings also suggest a significant direct relationship between behaviors that foster family relationships and SWB.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is correlational in nature. Future studies may make use of experimental designs or conduct a longitudinal study. Other variables can be examined in future research such as life circumstances (i.e. life cycle stage change, objective health status) or other constructs within the self-concordance model (i.e. goal concordance, need satisfaction fulfillment).Practical implicationsThe results suggest the importance of organization support in employees’ mastery of significant crafting behaviors through offering socialization, productivity, and time management employee programs.Originality/valueThe present research, unlike previous studies on employees’ proactive behaviors to attain WLB, empirically tested the identified behaviors and was able to identify the WLB crafting behaviors with significant relationships with WLB and SWB.