Abstract
Work-life balance has an impact on individual performance, and work life balance is affected by a number of factors. Performance is affected by a number of factors which are divided into physical and psychological domains. Physical domains as workplace facilities, salary, or other tangible benefits to employees are often taken care of in organizations. However, the psychological aspect, which includes the family/ social life of the employee, are intangible in most of organizations. Occupational stress is hampering the work-life balance of employees, as is evident in the literature; however, its exact dimensions on public sector employees in Pakistan are yet not researched. For this purpose, Police organizations will be studied to know the impact of work-life balance on the performance of police in Baluchistan with a moderating effect of occupational stress.
Key Words
Work-Life Balance, Performance of Police, Occupational Stress
Introduction
The performance of an individual is of utmost importance for any organization for its growth and the growth of its employees. Being multi-dimensional conceptually, it has two domains, i.e, the behaviour and the outcome of that behaviour (Sonnentag & Frese, 2002). There are different ways and measures in which the performance can be measured. Performance has certain dimensions for measurement, which includes the outcomes, its stakeholders, and data analysis (Andersen, Boesen, & Pedersen, 2016). Every organization is expected to perform, and performance remains the central concept of management. Organizational performance is a central concept of management research and practices (B. George, Walker, & Monster, 2019).
The performance of any organization is dependent on multiple factors, as revealed by different researches conducted on the subject. The climate/ culture of an organization affects the performance of individuals, thereby the organization (Berberoglu, 2018). It is not necessary that organizations can control the climate and culture of the organizations by themselves. It often happens when the culture is controlled by the employees themselves rather than the managers (Rehman, Mohamed, & Ayoup, 2019). Looking after the employees in certain circumstances of distress by organizations also improves employee determination and leads to organizational performance. Performance of employees is also linked with the balance he/ she maintains between work and private life. Better balance between work and life enhances the overall organizational performance and employee engagement (Bhattacharya, Neelam, & Rajagopal, 2020).
Due to the changing social structure in today's world, work-life balance is a major concern faced by employees in most of organizations (Bhattacharya et al., 2020). Due to the increased demands of competitive work place and social fabric, work life balance has become distressed for the individuals. Workplaces are now more technological oriented, and society is also well connected with each other through social media networking. The issue of work-life balance is increasing due to the technological advancement rapidly and overlapping of time between family and work commitments (Navajas-Romero, Ariza-Montes, & Hernández-Perlines, 2020). Work-life balance, if not achieved, may affect individual performance. The managers would want an individual to remain available at the workplace, as does the family want him to form part of important events within the family.
Existing research on the work-life balance also says that it may put upon implications on family and work of an individual in particular and society in general (Azevedo, Shi, Medina, & Bagwell, 2020). Due to the fast pace of the workplace environment, creating a balance between work and family has become a challenge. It becomes too difficult for an individual to remain available at two places whenever there is an overlapping commitment in terms of physical appearance. As (AlHazemi & Ali, 2016) say that the "work-life balance is a state of equilibrium in which the demands of both person's job and family are met". It is when the individual is unable to meet the demands of both domains, i.e. work domain and family domain, he/ she is said to have gone imbalanced in work life.
Human beings are required to be mentally fit since all work; may it be official or personal, is done by mental involvement. Imbalances take place when one is not able to feel satisfied with being able to give appropriate time to any of the domains (De Zoysa & Sivalogathasan). The studies on work-life balance have been through development in significant terms during the past few years due to the importance being given to human resources and societal changes (Rodríguez-Sánchez, González-Torres, Montero-Navarro, & Gallego-Losada, 2020). The term started with a concept of work-family conflict wherein the individuals were not able to meet the state of balance, which led to quitting jobs or divorces in the marital life. Recently the concept has sought considerable attention in organizational policies in helping the employees to attain a balance between work and personal life, (Azevedo et al., 2020).
Competition in the market has put a lot of stress on the organizations to keep thinking and striving to sustain. Modern social make-up and corporate competition has put everyone in stress (Singh, 2018). Occupational stress, therefore, hampers the work-life balance of an individual and hence affects the organization's performance. Occupational stress is an important determinant in individual/ organizational performance (Ridzuan, Ismail, Zainol, & Ali, 2018). In any given circumstances, occupational stress inversely affects the performance of an organization. Occupational stress will always affect the performance of an employee and will reduce the organization's productivity (Dehghani, Bahariniya, & Servat, 2020). Due to the occupational stress and imbalance in work life, employees quit either of the ones. Job stress has often increased employee turnover in organizations (Zahra, Khan, Imran, Aman, & Ali, 2018).
Problem Statement
In the present day of media advancement, the flow of information is very intense. Anything which happens in society is reported almost instantly. News throughout the day are full of criminal reporting. By seeing this, the first question which comes to mind is that is there some mechanism working against this crime? Of course, there exists a police force that is responsible for countering crime and criminals. Wessels (2016) say that police is one of the institutions which play a pivotal role in society. However, the way police functions against this crime is a mystery for the common man. Political interference in policing not only hampers meritocracy but also instills a sense of deprivation, (Anjum & Rehman). At the end of the second decade of the 21st century and intensive information flow, the level of education and awareness in society, police have come under the spotlight of citizens, Malsch and Smeenk (2017). The expectations for a safe and crime-free society have become more, and it is mainly the police who has to ensure this. In ensuring good governance, better police services for the citizens is also mandatory, Sousa, Miethe, and Sakiyama (2018). Police is a service for maintaining peace in society alongside ensuring the safety and security of people and their property. This force is often criticized for its performance and has been studied many times. There are certain factors that affect the performance of Police and work life balance is one of them. Most importantly, this aspect being intangible quantitatively has not been studied so far. It is imperative to know that does it affect the performance of the Police? By knowing it, certain measures can be taken to address the issue while enhancing the performance of Police in Baluchistan.
Research Question
Does work-life balance impact the performance of Police in Baluchistan?
Research Objective
To determine the impact of work life balance on performance of Police in Baluchistan with a moderating effect of occupational stress.
Research Gap
A lot of research is available in the world of knowledge on the impact of work life balance on employee performance but none on police organizations while keeping in mind the intrinsic aspects associated with this profession. In the case of Pakistan, no significant research is available on the impact of work life balance on the performance of public sector employees, and there is no research available on police organizations in Pakistan. This research will fill in this wide gap where the impact of work life balance on police performance is non-existent.
Rationale
As identified through the available researches on the subject, it is imperative to know the impact of work-life balance on organizational performance. For the purpose of this thesis, the police organization of Baluchistan has been selected to know the impact of work-life balance on its performance. Policing is very important in regulating human behaviour and crime control and protecting the citizens (Ullah, Hussain, Alam, & Akhunzada, 2016). Often the performance of police is criticized with respect to their behaviour and controlling the crime through a number of research projects. But the impact of work-life balance on the performance of policemen is merely researched. Police officers are required to undergo job stress and the organizational/ public demands, which in turn hampers their performance (Khizar & Mustafa, 2016). Therefore, it is imperative to know the impact of work-life balance on police performance.
Significance
This research will be significant to know the impact of work-life balance on the performance of police in Baluchistan and will offer measures to improve upon the working hours, organization’s culture, job
satisfaction, motivation, and occupational stress.
Implications
This research project will help in the identification of the impact of work life balance on the performance of policemen in Baluchistan with a moderating effect of occupational stress and will lead to the formulation of organizational policies helping in achieving balance to perform better.
Literature Review
Work-life balance is determined through a number of factors. Through literature review, working hours, organizational commitment, job satisfaction, motivation, and occupational stress have been identified as the major determinants of work-life balance. In today's fast-moving world, where there are more jobs, the regular working hours and employee welfare have lost its space (Matilla-Santander et al., 2019). Due to the longer working hours at the workplace, the employees retain less energy for their life part. Long working hours lead to multiple health issues, and overall quality of life one leads (Hsu et al., 2019). Before going into the explanation of determinants of work-life balance, let us first go through the definitions of work life balance through a critical literature review in ensuing paragraphs.
Definitions
Cognitive Domain in Multiple Roles
“Work-life balance is the tendency to become fully engaged in the performance of every role in one’s total role system to approach each role and role partner with an attitude of attentiveness and care”, (Marks, 1977).
Equal Time in Multiple Roles
“Work-life balance is engagement in multiple
roles with an approximate equal level of attention, time, involvement or commitment”, (Kirchmeyer, 2000).
Satisfaction in Multiple Roles
“Engagement in work and non-work roles producing an outcome of equal amounts of satisfaction in work and non-work life domains”, (Clark, 2000).
“Allocation of time and psychological energy in a balanced way in work and non-work life while deriving much satisfaction from both work and non-work life”, (Greenhaus, Collins, & Shaw, 2003).
Minimum Conflict between Work and Family Role
“Work-life balance is satisfaction and good functioning in work and family roles with minimum role conflict”, (Ernst Kossek & Ozeki, 1998).
Role Enrichment
“Work-life balance is characterized by a high degree of role enrichment with a low degree of role conflict in work and non-work life domains”, (Greenhaus & Allen, 2011).
After having gone through the definitions and domains of work-life balance, let us now examine the major determinants of work-life balance and their impact on performance.
Working Hours
In today's life, earning a livelihood is a major concern, and to fulfill this every individual is working. No doubt, doing work is to survive and enjoy a better life in the social circle one lives in. However, research has shown that in the quest of leading a good life, one gets engulfed more in the workplace and often compromises the personal or life side. (Lederer et al., 2018) found it as commonly reported that one does not have enough time to sleep, spend time with partner and children and even for one's own self due to long working hours. On the other side, reduced working hours are known to have improved work-life balance. Reduced working hours improved the family life relationship amongst colleagues and enhanced workplace performance (Barck-Holst, Nilsonne, Åkerstedt, & Hellgren, 2020). Flexibility in the working hours can improve the employees’ balance between work and life. By having flexibility in working hours and the schedule of working, the employees can manage time in a better way and perform well (Arlinghaus et al., 2019).
Organizational Commitment
Organizations are not merely the workplace for individuals. These are places where individuals interact with each other. The organizations are tools for society and mini cultures wherein the individuals meet and get their identification from, (Stefanovska-Petkovska, Petrovska, Bojadziev, Schaeffer, & Tomovska-Misoska, 2019). Organizational commitment can be defined as a device that can gauge the effectiveness of an organization (Tayfun & ÇATIR, 2014), and in the same study, he found a positive relationship between organizational commitment and work-life balance. In another study (Sahni, 2019) also found a positive relationship between work-life balance and organizational commitment and defined organizational commitment as an indication of attitudes of members towards the values and goals of an organization. (Shabir & Gani, 2020) in a recent study found a positive relationship between organizational commitment and work-life balance.
Job Satisfaction
Doing some job is a need to survive, and there may be occasions when someone opts for a job which he/ she does not like. They do it just because there is no other option available to them. Research shows that job satisfaction has a positive effect on work-life balance and increased job performance (Krishnan, Loon, & Tan, 2018). The level to which an employee is satisfied with his/ her job may also vary. As there are multiple aspects of the job, an employee may be satisfied with one or few and not with all, (Kasbuntoro, Maemunah, Mahfud, Fahlevi, & Parashakti, 2020). Although every job has identified tasks related to it, however, there may be occasions where employees are asked to perform tasks other than a primary job. Managers can improve upon the employees' job satisfaction by incorporating managerial strategies regardless of the organizational demands (Walga, 2018). There may still exist a slightly higher work-life balance with very low job satisfaction in certain cases. A study by (Lagrana & Bayoneta, 2021) showed poor job satisfaction in employees, yet they had a moderate work-life balance. Nevertheless, there had been no research findings where there was poor job satisfaction and a high level of work-life balance.
Motivation
Motivation is a driving factor in doing any task as per the dictionary definition. Motivated people can use this driving force, may it be social or economical for doing their job in a better way. Motivation has been found to increase the level of work-life balance in employees, especially in the public sector (Pautz & Vogel, 2020). Motivation is more of a psychological aspect and therefore has to be a concern for an organization to be more productive. If there exists good motivation in an organization, it can lead to employees' better work-life balance and ensure more productivity (Thamrin & Riyanto, 2020). In another study (Popoola & Fagbola, 2020) found that motivation and work-life balance may lead to better performance. Motivated people perform better in both roles, that is, work and life hence can achieve a more balanced state. Individuals who had less motivation were found to be less balanced in work life and mentally fatigued (Hawke, 2019).
Occupational Stress
(Selye, 1956) defined stress as a consequence of the interaction between stimulus and response. Occupational stress may have adverse implications on the employees and thereby lead to lower work-life balance. (Kalpna & Malhotra, 2019) found a strong relationship between increased occupational stress and decreasing work-life balance. Occupational stress is taking tension of assigned tasks within an organization, meeting deadlines, and giving desired output. (Kofoworola, Ologbosere, & Ibironke, 2021) Found that the professional environment has a lot of impact on employees in getting occupational stress which in turn affects work-life balance.
Theoretical Underpinning
A lot of theories explaining work-life balance are available in the literature. However, for the purpose of this thesis, two theories i.e Role Conflict Theory, and Border Theory have been selected.
Role Conflict Theory
Role conflict theory has its roots in scarcity theory (Michel, Mitchelson, Kotrba, LeBreton, & Baltes, 2009). Individuals have themselves, and often they cannot perform different roles within themselves. In this case, it is often seen that fulfilling one role will be at the cost of a second (Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek, & Rosenthal, 1964). Individuals always remain in an environment of competition within different roles. There is always a competition between different roles of individuals within their limited resources (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985). Role conflict occurs when the demands put in by the work side are unable to be met with the demands put in by the family side, (Pradhan, 2016). There are three types of role conflicts i.e time based, strain-based and behaviour-based, (Greenhaus et al., 2003). Timebase conflict occurs when one has limited time to perform in both roles. Strain based conflict occurs when the strain of one role spills over into the other role, and behavior-based conflict occurs when a particular behaviour expected in one role is displayed in other where it is not expected (Hundera, Duijsters, & Naudé, 2019). Individuals have different social statuses with regard to their personal and work environments. They have multiple roles within each status (Thompson, Hickey, & Thompson, 2016). Society expects people to behave in a manner they feel comfortable with. Role conflict puts a lot of strain on individuals keeping in view the expectations (Dierckx, Mortelmans, & Motmans, 2019). Not coping with the expectations of self and society leads to an imbalance thus hampering one's performance.
Border Theory
As it is evident from the name, the border is any decided limit that distributes two different entities. Border theory in particular, deals with the limits that divide time, place, and people (Johari, Tan, & Zulkarnain, 2018). The theory has a direct relationship with work life balance. Work-life balance is integral to this theory which means the satisfaction and good performance both at work and family domains (Allen, Cho, & Meier, 2014). It is not very easy as said to manage the borders between work and family domains. Border theory views these domains from integration to segmentation, where they seem to be integrated at one place and segmented at another (Khateeb, 2021). In achieving a balance between work and family domains, it is very important to know the dimensions. If the domains are clearly distinct, the conflict is likely not to occur (Rao, 2017); however, transition in this perspective is perceived to be difficult. Maintaining work-life balance, therefore, is the management of these borders. Individuals attempt to maintain and create balance in the transitions between these domains, i.e, work, and family (Wepfer, Allen, Brauchli, Jenny, & Bauer, 2018). Integration in this aspect may lead to a more balanced state. Individuals who bring their friends and family to the workplace may achieve a more balanced state, (Kreiner, Hollensbe, & Mathew).
Research Framework
Hypothesis 1: Work-life balance has a relationship with performance.
Hypothesis 2: Occupational stress has an effect on performance.
Hypothesis 3: Occupational stress has a moderating effect between Work-life balance and performance.
Methodology
Research Strategy
In order to know the impact the work-life balance on the performance of Police in Baluchistan, a Quantitative Research Strategy is used with positivist epistemological and objectivist ontological considerations.
Research Design
Since the purpose of the study is to ascertain the impact of work-life balance on the performance of Police in Baluchistan, a survey through questionnaire is being conducted. The research design being followed is cross-sectional since data has been gathered at a particular point in time.
Sampling
Ensuing paras give details of population, sample
size and sample design and technique.
Population
Keeping in view the active participation in policing functions with reasonable authority, Sub Inspector and above were identified as population. These are the ranks deputed as in charge of the basic policing unit i.e a Police Station or Sub Police Station. The total strength of upper subordinate staff in these ranks is approximately 4500, and the same formed as the population for this research.
Sample Size
As it is very difficult and critical phase of the research to ascertain the sample size, the calculator was used given by, (Krejcie & Morgan, 1970) as a guideline and sample size of 175 individuals was considered to be acceptable. Another software, G* Power, was used for said purpose, and the sample size was suggested to be 310.
Sample Design and Technique
Simple random sampling is a type of probability
sampling where members of the target population represent the majority of the population. Therefore, a "Simple Random Sample" design has been employed in this research for the collection of data by distributing questionnaire forms. A web based questionnaire was sent to the participants in the sample as well as it was sent via post to those who could not be contacted on the telephone. A total of 280 questionnaires were sent via e-Mail and post. Two hundred forty responses were received in total, thereby generating a response rate of 85%, out of which 210 were complete, and the same were used to analyze the data.
Research Instrument
The constructs were measured using different scales which were adapted based on the requirements of this study as under:-
· Work-Life Balance was measured through the composite of working hours, organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and motivation.
· Working Hours scale by (MacInnes, 2005) was adapted having four items.
· The organizational Commitment scale by (Meyer & Allen 1997) comprising five items, was adapted to know the impact of working hours.
· Job Satisfaction scale has three items by (Judge, Bono, Erez, & Locke, 2005).
· The Occupational Stress Index scale by (Srivastava & Singh, 1984) was adapted comprising six items.
· The motivation was known by adapting four items scale by the famous (Perry, 1996) scale for Public Service Motivation.
· The performance index was known through a six items scale by (Williams & Anderson, 1991)
Analysis and Discussion
After the data was collected and sifted, it was processed through SPSS 20 for analysis. Detailed analysis is as under:-
Reliability of Scale
The Cronbach alpha for each construct is as under in table 1. It can be noted that all values of Cronbach alpha are more than 0.8, and as per (D. George & Mallery, 2003), values more than 0.8 are considered good for knowing the reliability and internal consistency of the scale.
|
Constructs |
Cronbach Alpha |
|
WLB |
.817 |
|
OS |
.803 |
|
P |
.890 |
Table 1
Correlation Matrix
The correlation matrix is explained in table 2 below. WLB has a significantly positive correlation with performance, whereas a significantly negative
correlation with occupational stress. Occupational stress has a significantly negative correlation with performance.
Table 2
|
Correlations |
||||
|
|
WLB |
OS Mean |
P Mean |
|
|
WLB |
Pearson Correlation |
1 |
-.245** |
.316** |
|
Sig. (2-tailed) |
|
.000 |
.000 |
|
|
OS_Mean |
Pearson Correlation |
-.245** |
1 |
-.076 |
|
Sig. (2-tailed) |
.000 |
|
.274 |
|
|
P_Mean |
Pearson Correlation |
.316** |
-.076 |
1 |
|
Sig. (2-tailed) |
.000 |
.274 |
|
|
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Results
After analyzing table 3, the following is concluded:-
· WLB has positive relationship performance. Therefore H-1 is supported.
· Occupational Stress has a negative relationship with performance. Hence H-2 is supported.
· Occupational Stress has moderating effect
on performance but keeping the overall beta value of WLB, the effect is not very pronounced. However, H-3 is also supported.
|
|
Beta value |
Std Error |
t-value |
Sig |
Decision |
|
WLB |
.6792 |
.127 |
5.35 |
0.000 |
Supported |
|
OS |
-1.94 |
.315 |
-6.171 |
0.000 |
Supported |
|
WLB*OS |
.207 |
.033 |
6.21 |
0.000 |
Supported |
Table 3
· As evident from the literature, work life balance has an impact on performance, and so has occupational stress. Since not much was available in literature as what effect occupational stress would have in this linear equation, this research has found a significant relationship of the same.
Conclusion
Policing is a stressful job and is required and expected to produce good results at the same time. Work-life balance is an important dimension of human beings, and organizations not catering for this aspect may see a pronounced effect on their performance. Since policing in the World as well as in Pakistan is purely a governance function, its performance is often criticized. However, an important dimension of work-life balance has never been studied. This research has made an endeavor to know the impact of work-life balance on the performance of police in Baluchistan with a moderating effect of occupational stress, which will contribute to policy making tiers to introduce measures for enhancing the better balance between work and personal life of the policemen.
Global Social Science Review (GSSR) is published by Humanity Publications, a leading publishing house in Pakistan in research and analytics, that assists researchers in advancing research outcomes for societal benefit. GSSR intends to promote qualitative and quantitative researches and findings with the help of newly emerging tools and patterns utilized in experiments, observations, interviews, analysis and surveys by encircling all major segments of Social Sciences and Multi-disciplinary academic and research disciplines. GSSR is a multi-disciplinary, quarterly, double-blind peer-reviewed research journal that encompasses major disciplines of social science, i.e. Government & Politics, Human & Society, Historical & Regional Studies and Education & Mass Studies in general, with a specific interest in the sub-disciplines
