Constituent factors of work-life balance: a study of Indian professionals

Abstract

Recent years have seen rapid changes in economic, technological, social and cultural newlinefacets faced by individuals in India and across the globe. These changes have newlinetransformed work and social domain of individuals adding complexities through newlinedimensions in their work-life interface. In response to these changes, the area of worklife newlineinterface generated considerable interest in academic, applied area and media. newlineSeveral research concepts like work-family conflict, work-family enrichment, workfamily newlinebalance and work-life balance were being proposed to capture the interface. In newlinespite of increased research interest, considerable gap was seen in the conceptualization newlineof the construct and operationalization of its measure. Culture-specific measure in the newlinecontext of India was also found missing. In this context, an attempt was made to newlineconceptualize work-life balance as a broad concept which takes into account newlineindividual s sense of balance (between work and life), relative to his or her newlineenvironment. newlineBased on this conceptualization the aim was to explore the factors measuring work-life newlineand work and life antecedents. The study also aimed to explore the relationship between newlinethe explored factors and study gender differences in the experience of work-life newlinebalance. On basis of the previous research, some hypotheses regarding the relationship newlinebetween work-life balance and work and life antecedents and work-life balance and newlinegender were generated and tested. The research design involved three broad stages newlinenamely item generation, scale development and assessment of the scale after data newlinecollection. The study relied on survey method for data collection and responses were newlineobtained by administering questionnaires to professional men and women. Respondents newlinewere identified initially through convenience and later through network of initial newlinecontacts. The analysis was done using statistical techniques such as factor analysis, newlinemultiple regression analysis, Z-test and ANOVA. newline