This looked at the impact of work-life balance on project performance with job burnout as a mediator and organisational support as a moderator.
230 surveys were returned from people within multiple telecommunication companies (within Pakistan).
It’s noted that work-life balance shouldn’t be confused with spending equal time on and off work, but rather the appropriate level of scheduling where the individual remains satisfied with their on and off roles.
Results:
A negative relationship was found between work-life balance and project performance of the professionals, such that as work-life conflict increased there was a decrease in project performance.
Job burnout played the main negative role affecting project performance.
Burnout had a similar effect as stress as in other studies. Excessive stress results in burnout and this can “significantly impact all aspects of an organizations’ team’s productivity and performance” (p13).
Organisational support (via managers etc) had a positive relationship with emotional support and project performance (e.g. as support increased, performance increased). Organisational support also “played a full mediating effect between work–life balance and project performance” (p13).
For practical implications, the authors argue that “Managing the work–life balance is going to be considered as one of the key managerial skills these days” (p13). Also said was that project-based organisations ensuring that people have ample time to be with their families “should be one of the basic considerations” (p14).
Thus, developing managers’ skills in work-life considerations in project design and conditions should be seen as critical.
Authors: Muhammad Irfan, Raja Abubakar Khalid, Syyed Sami Ul Haq Kaka Khel, Ahsen Maqsoom, Imran Khan Sherani, 2021, Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management
Study link: https://doi.org/10.1108/ECAM-04-2021-0316
Link to the LinkedIn article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/impact-worklife-balance-role-organizational-support-job-hutchinson
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