Work-life balance crafting behaviors: an empirical study
| Published date | 04 June 2018 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-05-2016-0112 |
| Date | 04 June 2018 |
| Pages | 786-804 |
| Author | Luz Nario Gravador,Mendiola Teng-Calleja |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Global HRM |
Work-life balance crafting
behaviors: an empirical study
Luz Nario Gravador and Mendiola Teng-Calleja
Department of Psychology, Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City, The Philippines
Abstract
Purpose –The 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/approach –The study utilized a quantitative approach. In total, 314 employees
participatedin the online survey. Structuralequation modeling was usedto test the hypothesized relationships
among the variables.
Findings –Results 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/implications –The 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 implications –The results suggest the importance of organization support in employees’
mastery of significant crafting behaviors through offering socialization, productivity, and time management
employee programs.
Originality/value –The 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.
Keywords Quantitative, Work-life balance (WLB), Proactive behaviours, Self-concordance,
Subjective well-being
Paper type Research paper
Goals influence our everyday behavior (Cantor and Blanton, 1996). Individuals experience
satisfaction that eventually translates to enhanced well-being, when they use capabilities to
achieve identified goals (Sheldonand Elliot, 1999). At a time wherework-life balance (WLB) is
a primary occupational health concern for organizations (Group Risk Development, 2012),
achieving WLB becomes an area where employees need to exercise goal-oriented behaviors
(Sturges, 2012).WLB is defined as “an individual’s subjectiveappraisal of the accord between
his/her work and non-work activities and life”(Brough et al., 2014; p. 5). Perceived balance
between workand non-work interests is relatedwith one’s well-being (Fisher, 2002;Greenhaus
et al., 2003). Thus, asposited in Sheldon and Elliot’s (1999) self-concordancemodel, achieving
goals including those pertaining to having WLB results in positive well-being.
Challenges in achieving WLB have been explored in previous studies but little is known
about individual employee efforts to attain WLB as well as its possible association with
well-being (McDowall and Lindsay, 2014; Sturges, 2012; Eby et al., 2005). Most research on
WLB examined organizational policies and practices that facilitate WLB (e.g. Thomas and
Ganster, 1995), but few studies look at self-regulatory behaviors that employees use to attain
WLB (Eby et al., 2005). Recent studies have explored WLB proactive behaviors used by
employees from certain occupational settings (e.g. Haddon and Hede, 2009; McDowall and
Lindsay, 2014; Sturges, 2012). However, these studies neither conducted an empirical
validation of these behaviors identified from qualitative studies nor tested models that
linked these goal-oriented behaviors to outcomes such as well-being. Eby et al. (2005),
Personnel Review
Vol. 47 No. 4, 2018
pp. 786-804
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0048-3486
DOI 10.1108/PR-05-2016-0112
Received 12 May 2016
Revised 18 November 2016
2June2017
3 September 2017
Accepted 12 October 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0048-3486.htm
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PR
47,4
in a recent content analysis and review of the literature on this topic, pointed out the
importance of developing and validating models that relate work and family/life domains.
A recent study that endeavored to use this approach only focused on leisure crafting
behaviors (Petrou and Bakker, 2016) and not on the wide array of behaviors that encompass
goal-directed WLB crafting activities. To address gaps in current literature, this research:
identified individual employee’s strategies to manage WLB and labeled these as proactive
WLB crafting behaviors; empirically tested these WLB crafting behaviors by examining
which behaviors significantly affect WLB; and validated a model that demonstrated the
relationship between the identified WLB crafting behaviors, WLB, and subjective
well-being (SWB). Identifying these individual strategies and validating which of these
positively impact WLB and well-being may orient employees on possible WLB crafting
behaviors that they can adopt based on their specific conditions. Findings may also guide
organizational efforts that seek to enable employee WLB crafting behaviors that
are empirically validated to lead to desirable outcomes (i.e. WLB and well-being).
The self-concordance model (Sheldon and Elliot, 1999) was used as the framework for
determining the impact of the goal-directed WLB crafting behaviors.
Self-concordance model
Sheldon and Elliot (1999) proposed the self-concordance model to explain the process
through which goals relate to well-being. The self-concordance model builds from and
complements the self-determination theory (SDT) (Deci and Ryan, 1985), suggesting that
individuals are not just responding to situational or domain-specific forces. Instead, they are
proactive in striving for life improvement and self-expansion because they are driven by
intrinsic and identified personal goals (Sheldon and Elliot, 1999), such as WLB. The model
proposes that self-concordant goal pursuit promotes sustained effort over time, which will
then increase the probability that the goals will be attained, and later lead to positive
changes in well-being (Sheldon and Elliot, 1999).
Some studies suggest that an individual’s effort in the goal pursuit process was
positively associated with goal progress (Smith et al., 2007; Vasalampi et al., 2009; Sheldon
and Elliot, 1998). The goal pursuit can be assumed to have activated proactive behavior,
such as exerting effort, to bring about change (Sheldon and Elliot, 1998). In this study, WLB
crafting behaviors are assumed to capture individual efforts to attain WLB as a goal.
It is critical to identify and empirically validate what work-life crafting behaviors are
relevant in achieving the goal of having WLB which is assumed to enable SWB.
The succeeding section discusses literature that supports the assumed relationship between
the goal of achieving WLB and WLB crafting behaviors.
WLB and WLB crafting behaviors
Achieving a balance between different life domains is increasingly becoming a priority for
many people (Schein, 1996). People seek full and meaningful experiences in the various
aspects of their lives (Marks et al., 2001; Marks and MacDermid, 1996). Once their career has
been established, achieving a balance between work and life out of work becomes one of
their career goals (Sturges, 2008). Organizations saw the importance of WLB and started
introducing WLB initiatives. However, there appeared to be discrepancies on what the
employees need and what policies were currently available (Hechanova, 2005).
Thus, employees themselves exert effort to find solutions and engage in goal-oriented
behaviors seeking to achieve WLB.
Using Wrzesniewski and Dutton’s (2001) job-crafting typology as the framework, a
qualitative study explored the different techniques young professionals in the UK use to
manage their WLB (Sturges, 2012). Job crafting normally involves changing job aspects to
change their job boundaries in order to gain control over their work and identity in the
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behaviors
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