Editorial Board

A Refereed Monthly International Journal of Management

Work-Life Harmony as a Mediator in Employee’s Staying Intention

Shailendra R. Patil

Assistant Professor,

D.K.T.E.S, Textile and Engineering Institute,

Ichalkaranji, Maharashtra, India

E-mail: - srpmba@dkte.ac.in

Corresponding author

Anjali R. Patil

Assistant Professor,

D.K.T.E.S, Textile and Engineering Institute,

Ichalkaranji, Maharashtra, India.

E-mail: - arpatil@dkte.ac.in

Vinay R. Patil

Assistant Professor,

D.K.T.E.S, Textile and Engineering Institute,

Ichalkaranji, Maharashtra, India.

E-mail: - vrpatil@dkte.ac.in

Introduction:

Today's dynamic workplace has a different working schedule than in the past, which typically starts in the morning at 10 and ends in the evening (Bharath, 2009). The global market's technology advancements have caused people's beliefs, values, attitudes, views, thinking, and behavior to alter at work and at home, which has an impact on their personal, professional, and familial lives (Geevarghese& Devi K.K.S., 2018). Organizations can now easily stay in touch with their staff day and night because of technology (Morgan, 2003). Employees are under pressure and obliged to focus extra on work and less on personal life as a result of the increased workload. Due to stress and an imbalanced workload, employees no longer have such a healthy harmony between their professional and personal life, according to Bhagwagar (2009). Work-life harmony is now seen by both employers and employees as a major issue (Sturges& Guest D., 2004). Work-life conflict has grown as a result of shifts in the workforce's demographics and the substantial growth in the proportion of female employees over the past few decades. (2005) Boyar et al. An unbalanced work-life schedule hurts performance and job satisfaction, which eventually increases the likelihood of turnover (Surienty et al., 2014). As a result of employee attrition, firms must spend a lot of money hiring and training new staff.

Organizational identification is a sense of belonging that encourages a person to identify with and want to be a member of a certain organization (Geevarghese&Pathmu, R.B., 2018). The intention of employees to leave a business is influenced by several factors. Organizational support as Perceived (OSP) is one of the key variables influencing turnover intention (Dawley et al., 2010). Employers are focusing more on OSP in their employee development and welfare initiatives because it reflects how much employees believe their employer appreciates their contributions and is concerned about their welfare. Numerous firms have acknowledged the value of work-life balance for their people and have made it a top priority. To help employees manage their professional and personal lives, firms introduced treatments like job enrichment and supervisory support, building work culture, and other advantages. (Baral and Bhargava 2010)

In this study, we explore the relationship between employees' perceptions of organizational support and their ability to maintain a work-life harmony and intention to do so in IT enterprises in the Pune area. One of the variables impacting people to remain with their employers is organizational support perceived, which has been studied in relation to staying intention and work-life harmony.

Fig.1. Framework of conceptual research

Literature Review

Organizational Support Perceived:

The amount to which employees perceive an organization will support them, recognize their contributions, care for their well-being, and meet their socioeconomic and emotional requirements is known as organizational support perceived. The dedication of employees to the organization grows as a result of organizational support, which also helps the company to achieve its objectives. (Eisenberger et al., 1986). Organizational support, according to Rhoades and Eisenberger (2002), encourages in employees a positive work attitude that improves performance and fosters a healthy mental posture.

Organizational support Perceived and Staying Intention:

Increased employee commitment and retention in the company are directly correlated with management policies that support employees. Support from the organization is one of the positive factors that has a big impact on a worker's intention to leave the company. (Mowday, 1998). Perceived organizational support has been shown to increase employee engagement, which in turn reduces the likelihood of turnover, according to the research of Malaysian Bank workers (Talat Islam, 2013). Employee retention intention is the polar opposite of employee turnover staying intention (Kim et al., 2001).

So the hypothesis is :

H1: Staying Intention is significantly positively correlated with organisational support perceived.

Organizational support Perceived and work-life harmony:

Work-family conflict is less prevalent when there is organizational support perceived. Organizational support helps in decreasing work life conflict and helps to improve employees' capacity to reconcile and manage their personal and professional lives through an interdependent process that uses a variety of organizational policies(voydanoff, 2004). By providing facilities like pensions, health insurance, paid time off, child care and flexible work schedules, organizations can assist employees in reducing work-life conflicts (Kossek, Distelberg, 2009). Their capacity to balance work and life may also benefit from their kind superiors in their various organisations. (Thomas, Ganster, 1995). If the company fosters work-life balance, then employees will work harder. In a research of employees in the banking sector in Padang, researchers discovered that organizational support perceived have a positive and favorable impact on workers' work-life harmony

So the hypothesis:

H2: Work life harmony and organisational support perceived are significantly correlated.

Worklife harmony and staying Intention :

Employees who are considering leaving the company have a turnover intention (Green et al., 2013). Work-life harmony is one of the key elements that Hughes & Bozionelos (2007) claim influences employees to leave a firm. The compensation that employees get has no value if they are under constant job pressure and cannot spend time with their families. Employees won't be content at work unless their personal and family lives are fulfilling. According to researchers, the inclination to leave a job is inversely correlated with work-life harmony. Higher levels of work-life harmony are associated with less intentions to leave the company by employees. Additional research has shown that work stress raises the likelihood that employees would leave the organization.

Based on a separate article on pharmacies completed by Lindfelt T, (2017), a crucial factor in encouraging employees to stay with their employers is work-life harmony.

So the hypothesis:

H3: Staying Intention has a good and positive association with work life harmony.

Role of work life harmony as a mediator:

Numerous studies on employees' desire to stay with an organization have identified work-life harmony as one of the critical factors influencing employees' choice to do so. Because there is a favorable correlation between organizational support perceived and work-life harmony together with a strong association between perceived organizational support and staying intention, we also supposed that the effect of organizational support on staying intention is mediated by work-life harmony. Better work-life balance makes employees more inclined to stick well with company because they demand top management support.

So the hypothesis:

H4:  The association between organizational support perceived and staying intention is mediated by work life harmony.

Research Methodology:

Data collection:

In the Pune region, 320 questionnaires were personally handed to IT employees, and 258 responses were obtained. 18 surveys were only partially completed and were therefore excluded from the study. 230 questions were collected during study. Table 1 displays the respondents' demography. There are 35.65% women and 64.35% men who responded to the survey.  A total of 32.17% of respondents are between the ages of 21 and 25. 23.48%, 26.96%, 26.96%, and 17.39% are between the ages of 26 – 30, 31 -35 and 36-50 respectively. A poll of 230 people revealed that 37.39% were single and 62.61% were married.

Table1:Factors affecting demographics

Instrument /Scales

Using standardized, valid, and trustworthy questionnaires, all of the research's variables were assessed. The responses are tallied on just a Likert scale ranging from one to five, with 1 indicating strongly disagree and 5 denoting strongly agree. Eisenberger et al. created an 8-item scale to measure organizational support perceived. The likelihood that employees will leave is adversely correlated with that likelihood. In order to measure employees' staying intentions, the current study makes use of a 6-item reverse-coded employee turnover scale.

Analysis of Data and Findings:

Table 2 displays the elements' means, internal consistency, and standard deviations, whereas Table 3 displays correlation statistics and the significance of the elements. Following are the steps to evaluate the mediator-client relationship: 1. The dependent and independent variables should be strongly associated. 2. The mediating factors and independent variable should be strongly associated; and  3. The significant link between the dependent and independent factors will alter after introducing the mediator;

Results of the earlier phases are displayed in Table 4. Step 1 demonstrates a substantial positive correlation between staying intention and organizational support perceived ( β = 0.515; P=0.000), supporting hypothesis 1.Step 2 shows a substantial positive relationship between organizational support perceived and work-life harmony ( β = 0.367,  P=0.0 ) , so H2 is approved. The staying intention is positively important in work-life balance, as shown in Step 3 ( β = 0.657; P= .0). Therefore, H3 is also supported. How organizational support perceived is related to staying intention put remained significant after the mediator variable (Work-life Harmony) was included, but the impact of the relationship between them shrank, with the value falling from 0.515 to 0.318. This indicates that organizational support perceived and staying intentions are partially mediated by work-life harmony. This partial mediation shows that there must be other mediating elements that establish the association between organizational support perceived and staying intention; as a result, H4 is only partially supported. Work-life harmony is not the only mediating factor.

Table.2 Mean, Standard Deviation, and Internal Consistency

Table3. Correlations and significance of elements

Table4. Results of Regression Analysis Used in the Mediation Model

Points to Discuss:

According to the aforementioned findings, there exists a considerable strong association between organizational commitment perceived and staying intention. If management support is robust and beneficial, it helps employees increase their intention to stay with the company. Staying intention is positively and significantly correlated with work-life harmony. It demonstrates that more workers are finding work-life harmony. They are encouraged to stick with the company. The organizational support perceived and the staying intention through work-life harmony are also strongly positively correlated.

But the indirect effect through the mediator variable is smaller than the direct effect between organisational supports perceived and staying intention (work-life harmony). It suggests that employees have a positive view of organizational assistance. Employees are ultimately encouraged to stay with the company because of this.

The findings of this study corroborate those of Wayne et al., who discovered that work-life harmony influences employees' inclinations to quit the company. If employees receive a significant amount of management support, people are less inclined to wish to leave the company. Work-life harmony has been found to have a substantial impact on employees' staying intentions (Lindfelt, et al., 2017). This research's findings support those of earlier studies conducted in 1986, 1997, and 2017 because they are consistent with those findings.

Conclusion:

The outcomes of the aforementioned research suggest a favorable and significant association between employees' intentions to stay with the company and organizational support. It shows that Pune's IT workers have a greater level of work-life harmony and a favorable opinion of the organization's assistance. The workers balance their obligations to their families, friends, and jobs. They also take care of their other obligations at home.

Practical consequences:

The most valuable resource for every firm is its workforce, also known as human capital. Technical and experienced professionals, particularly in the IT sector, are crucial to the success and expansion of organizations. For the seamless operation of the firm, it is extremely difficult for employers in the IT sector to retain experienced staff.  This propensity will also help keep the cost of hiring and training new employees down. This research will assist IT companies recognize the influence of organizational support perceived and work-life harmony on workers' inclinations to remain well with companies. Additionally, it enables companies to recognize the need of keeping a mindset which might raise workers' sense of organizational support and harmony between personal and professional life, each of which will reduce turnover.

Limitations upcoming research

The limitations of the research's conclusions must be taken into account and addressed in subsequent research. Only people from Pune were surveyed, and only the Pune region was used for the research. Since the study only looked at the IT sector, the results would probably vary in other industrial areas.

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