The relationship between work and non-work support and work-life balance in Taiwan

Abstract

The aim of this study is to explore the relationship between employees' supportive resource (workplace support and non-work support) and their work-life balance in Taiwan. The roles of work-life balance's four components (work-to-life conflict, life-to-work conflict, work-to-life facilitation, and life-to-work facilitation) in the relationship between support and employee outcomes (psychological wellbeing, turnover intention, affective- and continuance organizational commitment) were examined.

Eight-hundred surveys were distributed to for-profit and non-profit sectors. After eliminating the invalid questionnaires, 658 valid questionnaires were used for further analysis. The findings of this study suggested that three kinds of support (organizational support, supervisor support, and non-work support) were positively related to employees' work-life balance. However, no significant relationship was found between the availability and usage of the work-life balance policies and employees' work-life balance. More importantly, it was found that work-life balance and four components mediate the relationship between supervisor support and all employee outcomes. The relationship between employees' awareness of the policies that organization offered and favourable employee outcomes is also mediated by work-life balance. Interestingly, the availability and usage of the policies were not found to be related to either employees' better work-life balance or favourable employee outcomes. It is thus recommended that emphasizing supervisor support might be a better option than introducing various work-life balance policies for employees to achieve a better work-life balance. Otherwise, the work-life balance policies offered have to meet employees' needs.