Work–Nonwork Balance: Impact on Subjective Health and Life Satisfaction of People Across 47 Nations

Abstract

Using theories of role-balance and conservation of resources (COR), we take a cross-cultural view of an employee’s engagement in the work-nonwork domains of living. Employing the World Value Survey (WVS) with a sample of 21,270 married employees from 53 nations, we find cross- cultural variations in the relationship between employees’ degree of work-nonwork domain engagement and their subjective health and life satisfaction. To explore the impact of the national focus on motivation for economic productivity and innovation, we used a country’s global competitiveness index (GCI), predicting that a nation’s GCI would moderate the relationship between the degree of work-nonwork domain engagement and both subjective health and life satisfaction. Overall, the results support our predictions that high work-nonwork domain engagement (or congruence between work and nonwork roles) would enhance individuals’ subjective health and life satisfaction more strongly in high GCI nations than in low GCI nations. Theoretical and methodological contributions are discussed, along with implications for future research on national culture concerning work and its impact on employed persons.