Abstract

The main aim of this research is to contribute to the body of literature revolving around work-life balance (WLB) and its causal relationship with desired workplace outcomes. Particularly, the interest was directed towards investigating the linkage between WLB practices and workplace attitudes of job satisfaction and organizational commitment along with the mediation effect of work-life conflict. The research also sought to differentiate between formal and informal WLB practices in order to examine the more influential of the two.

This research was applied to the context of private hospitals in Jordan targeting medical-staff. With 450 questionnaires randomly distributed to medical-staff working in private hospitals in Jordan, 363 responses were obtained and analyzed yielding a response rate of 81 percent. Fitness-of-measure tests (reliability and validity) were first carried out to assess the suitability and generalizability of the obtained sample. Subsequently, data was analyzed and the research hypotheses were tested for possibility of rejection.

Results revealed the rejection of all hypotheses implying a statistically significant relationship between WLB practices and workplace attitudes of job satisfaction and organizational commitment with the former being more affected by the relationship than the latter. The findings also confirmed the mediation effect of work-life conflict. Furthermore, informal WLB practices were found to be superior to formal practices in terms of attaining desirable organizational outcomes. Finally, the research disclosed the fact that physicians—of all the segments under study—had the most conflict between work and life responsibilities.

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