Exploring the Impact of Work-Life Balance on HR Proactivity and Adaptability Among Malaysian Women Employees - A Pilot Study
Abstract
This study aims to explore the impact of Work-Life Balance (WLB) on HR Proactivity and Adaptability among women employees. Given the increasing importance of work-life integration in modern workplaces, understanding these relationships can provide valuable insights for both academic research and practical HR management. A pilot study was conducted with 44 women employees from various sectors. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire with a 5-point Likert scale to measure WLB, HR Proactivity, and HR Adaptability. Multivariate regression analysis was performed using SPSS to assess the impact of WLB on the dependent variables. The results indicate that WLB significantly impacts HR Proactivity (F(17, 26) = 2.037, p = 0.05), explaining 57.1% of the variance (adjusted R^2 = 0.291). Similarly, WLB shows a significant impact on HR Adaptability (F(17, 26) = 2.003, p = 0.05), accounting for 56.7% of the variance (adjusted R^2 = 0.284). These findings suggest that better WLB practices can enhance women's proactivity and adaptability in the workplace. Due to the pilot nature and small sample size of the study, the findings may not be widely applicable. Future research should include a larger and more diverse sample to confirm and expand upon these results. Organizations can benefit from promoting WLB to improve employee outcomes such as proactivity and adaptability. Implementing flexible work arrangements and supportive policies can create a more conducive environment for women employees to balance their work and personal lives effectively. This study contributes to the limited literature on the specific impact of WLB on HR outcomes among women employees. It provides empirical evidence supporting the theoretical framework of Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, emphasizing the importance of resource management in enhancing workplace behavior and performance. Future researchers should conduct large-scale, longitudinal studies to empirically validate the framework, ensuring its robustness across diverse populations and over time.
References
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Franksiska, R., & Yuniawan, A. (2023). Employee Multitasking At Work: a Systematic Literature Review. Journal of Psychological and Educational Research, 31(1), 125–146.
Gragnano, A., Simbula, S., & Miglioretti, M. (2020). Work–life balance: weighing the importance of work–family and work–health balance. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(3), 9–11. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17030907
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Kotera, Y., Maxwell-Jones, R., Edwards, A. M., & Knutton, N. (2021). Burnout in professional psychotherapists: Relationships with self-compassion, work–life balance, and telepressure. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(10). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18105308
Le, H., Newman, A., Menzies, J., Zheng, C., & Fermelis, J. (2020). Work–life balance in Asia: A systematic review. Human Resource Management Review, 30(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2020.100766
Lee, D., Hong, Y., Seo, H., Yun, J., Nam, S., & Lee, N. (2021). Different In fl uence of Negative and Positive Spillover between Work and Life on Depression in a Longitudinal Study. Safety and Health at Work, 12(3), 377–383. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shaw.2021.05.002
McNall, L. A., Masuda, A. D., & Nicklin, J. M. (2009). Flexible work arrangements, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions: The mediating role of work-to-family enrichment. In The Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied (Vol. 144, Issue 1, pp. 61–81). Taylor & Francis. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980903356073
McNall, L. A., Nicklin, J. M., & Masuda, A. D. (2010). A meta-analytic review of the consequences associated with work–family enrichment. In Journal of Business and Psychology (Vol. 25, Issue 3, pp. 381–396). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-009-9141-1
Meijerink, J., Bos-Nehles, A., & de Leede, J. (2020). How employees’ pro-activity translates high-commitment HRM systems into work engagement: The mediating role of job crafting. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 31(22), 2893–2918. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2018.1475402
Munteanu, A. I., Bibu, N., Nastase, M., Cristache, N., & Matis, C. (2020). Analysis of practices to increase the workforce agility and to develop a sustainable and competitive business. Sustainability (Switzerland), 12(9). https://doi.org/10.3390/SU12093545
Noor, N. M., & Mahudin, N. D. M. (2016). Work, Family and Women’s Well-Being in Malaysia BT - Handbook on Well-Being of Working Women (M. L. Connerley & J. Wu (Eds.); pp. 717–734). Springer Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9897-6_40
Panda, A., & Sahoo, C. K. (2021). Work–life balance, retention of professionals and psychological empowerment: an empirical validation. European Journal of Management Studies, 26(2/3), 103–123. https://doi.org/10.1108/ejms-12-2020-0003
Park, S., & Park, S. (2019). Employee Adaptive Performance and Its Antecedents: Review and Synthesis. Human Resource Development Review, 18(3), 294–324. https://doi.org/10.1177/1534484319836315
Rahim, N. B., Osman, I., & Arumugam, P. V. (2020). Linking work-life balance and employee well-being: Do supervisor support and family support moderate the relationship? International Journal of Business and Society, 21(2), 588–606.
Rahman, R. A., Mustaffa, W. S. W., Wahid, H. A., & Yunus, N. K. Y. (2019). Exploring the Factors Affecting Quality of Work Life among Millennial Academic Staff in Malaysian Public Universities. International Journal of Asian Social Science, 9(6), 379–389. https://doi.org/10.18488/journal.1.2019.96.379.389
Rajahonka, M., & Villman, K. (2022). Sandwich Generation Women in Search for Meaningful Work and Life. Working Women in the Sandwich Generation: Theories, Tools and Recommendations for Supporting Women’s Working Lives, 51–68. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80262-501-120221004
Rubenstein, A. L., Peltokorpi, V., & Allen, D. G. (2020). Work-home and home-work conflict and voluntary turnover: A conservation of resources explanation for contrasting moderation effects of on- and off-the-job embeddedness. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 119(February). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2020.103413
Sherehiy, B., & Karwowski, W. (2014). The relationship between work organization and workforce agility in small manufacturing enterprises. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 44(3), 466–473. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ergon.2014.01.002
Shirmohammadi, M., Au, W. C., & Beigi, M. (2022). Remote work and work-life balance: Lessons learned from the covid-19 pandemic and suggestions for HRD practitioners. Human Resource Development International, 25(2), 163–181. https://doi.org/10.1080/13678868.2022.2047380
Tan, J., Lim-Soh, J., & Tan, P. L. (2024). The Impact of Teleworking on Women’s Work–Life Balance and Life Satisfaction: a Longitudinal Study from Singapore. Applied Research in Quality of Life. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-024-10340-x
The Sun. (2024). Malaysia ranked second worst country for work-life balance out of 60 countries. The Sun. https://thesun.my/home-news/malaysia-ranked-second-worst-country-for-work-life-balance-out-of-60-countries-FH12623420
Vogt, C., van Gils, S., Van Quaquebeke, N., L. Grover, S., & Eckloff, T. (2021). Proactivity at Work. Journal of Personnel Psychology, 20(3), 114–123. https://doi.org/10.1027/1866-5888/a000275
Bocean, C. G., Popescu, L., Varzaru, A. A., Avram, C. D., & Iancu, A. (2023). Work-Life Balance and Employee Satisfaction during COVID-19 Pandemic. Sustainability (Switzerland), 15(15), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151511631
Boikanyo, D. H. (2024). The Role of Employee Behavior and Organizational Culture in Strategy Implementation and Performance in a VUCA World (M. Sarfraz & W. U. H. Shah (Eds.); p. Ch. 7). IntechOpen. https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.113830
Bouwmeester, O., Atkinson, R., Noury, L., & Ruotsalainen, R. (2021). Work-life balance policies in high performance organisations: A comparative interview study with millennials in Dutch consultancies. German Journal of Human Resource Management, 35(1), 6–32. https://doi.org/10.1177/2397002220952738
Brough, P., Timms, C., Chan, X. W., Hawkes, A., & Rasmussen, L. (2020). Work–Life Balance: Definitions, Causes, and Consequences BT - Handbook of Socioeconomic Determinants of Occupational Health: From Macro-level to Micro-level Evidence (T. Theorell (Ed.); pp. 473–487). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31438-5_20
Fay, D., Strauss, K., Schwake, C., & Urbach, T. (2023). Creating meaning by taking initiative: Proactive work behavior fosters work meaningfulness. Applied Psychology, 72(2), 506–534. https://doi.org/10.1111/apps.12385
Franken, E., Plimmer, G., Malinen, S., & Bryson, J. (2022). Towards resilient organizations and societies: A cross-sectoral and multi-disciplinary perspective. In Towards Resilient Organizations and Societies.
Franksiska, R., & Yuniawan, A. (2023). Employee Multitasking At Work: a Systematic Literature Review. Journal of Psychological and Educational Research, 31(1), 125–146.
Gragnano, A., Simbula, S., & Miglioretti, M. (2020). Work–life balance: weighing the importance of work–family and work–health balance. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(3), 9–11. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17030907
Hobfoll, S. E. (1989). Conservation of resources: A new attempt at conceptualizing stress. In American Psychologist (Vol. 44, Issue 3, pp. 513–524). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.44.3.513
Jayasingam, S., Lee, S. T., & Mohd Zain, K. N. (2021). Demystifying the life domain in work-life balance: A Malaysian perspective. Current Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01403-5
Junker, T. L., Bakker, A. B., Gorgievski, M. J., & Derks, D. (2022). Agile work practices and employee proactivity: A multilevel study. Human Relations, 75(12), 2189–2217. https://doi.org/10.1177/00187267211030101
Kniffin, K. M., Narayanan, J., Anseel, F., Antonakis, J., Ashford, S. P., Bakker, A. B., Bamberger, P., Bapuji, H., Bhave, D. P., Choi, V. K., Creary, S. J., Demerouti, E., Flynn, F. J., Gelfand, M. J., Greer, L. L., Johns, G., Kesebir, S., Klein, P. G., Lee, S. Y., … Vugt, M. van. (2021). COVID-19 and the workplace: Implications, issues, and insights for future research and action. In American Psychologist (Vol. 76, Issue 1, pp. 63–77). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000716
Kotera, Y., Maxwell-Jones, R., Edwards, A. M., & Knutton, N. (2021). Burnout in professional psychotherapists: Relationships with self-compassion, work–life balance, and telepressure. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(10). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18105308
Le, H., Newman, A., Menzies, J., Zheng, C., & Fermelis, J. (2020). Work–life balance in Asia: A systematic review. Human Resource Management Review, 30(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2020.100766
Lee, D., Hong, Y., Seo, H., Yun, J., Nam, S., & Lee, N. (2021). Different In fl uence of Negative and Positive Spillover between Work and Life on Depression in a Longitudinal Study. Safety and Health at Work, 12(3), 377–383. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shaw.2021.05.002
McNall, L. A., Masuda, A. D., & Nicklin, J. M. (2009). Flexible work arrangements, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions: The mediating role of work-to-family enrichment. In The Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied (Vol. 144, Issue 1, pp. 61–81). Taylor & Francis. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980903356073
McNall, L. A., Nicklin, J. M., & Masuda, A. D. (2010). A meta-analytic review of the consequences associated with work–family enrichment. In Journal of Business and Psychology (Vol. 25, Issue 3, pp. 381–396). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-009-9141-1
Meijerink, J., Bos-Nehles, A., & de Leede, J. (2020). How employees’ pro-activity translates high-commitment HRM systems into work engagement: The mediating role of job crafting. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 31(22), 2893–2918. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2018.1475402
Munteanu, A. I., Bibu, N., Nastase, M., Cristache, N., & Matis, C. (2020). Analysis of practices to increase the workforce agility and to develop a sustainable and competitive business. Sustainability (Switzerland), 12(9). https://doi.org/10.3390/SU12093545
Noor, N. M., & Mahudin, N. D. M. (2016). Work, Family and Women’s Well-Being in Malaysia BT - Handbook on Well-Being of Working Women (M. L. Connerley & J. Wu (Eds.); pp. 717–734). Springer Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9897-6_40
Panda, A., & Sahoo, C. K. (2021). Work–life balance, retention of professionals and psychological empowerment: an empirical validation. European Journal of Management Studies, 26(2/3), 103–123. https://doi.org/10.1108/ejms-12-2020-0003
Park, S., & Park, S. (2019). Employee Adaptive Performance and Its Antecedents: Review and Synthesis. Human Resource Development Review, 18(3), 294–324. https://doi.org/10.1177/1534484319836315
Rahim, N. B., Osman, I., & Arumugam, P. V. (2020). Linking work-life balance and employee well-being: Do supervisor support and family support moderate the relationship? International Journal of Business and Society, 21(2), 588–606.
Rahman, R. A., Mustaffa, W. S. W., Wahid, H. A., & Yunus, N. K. Y. (2019). Exploring the Factors Affecting Quality of Work Life among Millennial Academic Staff in Malaysian Public Universities. International Journal of Asian Social Science, 9(6), 379–389. https://doi.org/10.18488/journal.1.2019.96.379.389
Rajahonka, M., & Villman, K. (2022). Sandwich Generation Women in Search for Meaningful Work and Life. Working Women in the Sandwich Generation: Theories, Tools and Recommendations for Supporting Women’s Working Lives, 51–68. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80262-501-120221004
Rubenstein, A. L., Peltokorpi, V., & Allen, D. G. (2020). Work-home and home-work conflict and voluntary turnover: A conservation of resources explanation for contrasting moderation effects of on- and off-the-job embeddedness. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 119(February). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2020.103413
Sherehiy, B., & Karwowski, W. (2014). The relationship between work organization and workforce agility in small manufacturing enterprises. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 44(3), 466–473. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ergon.2014.01.002
Shirmohammadi, M., Au, W. C., & Beigi, M. (2022). Remote work and work-life balance: Lessons learned from the covid-19 pandemic and suggestions for HRD practitioners. Human Resource Development International, 25(2), 163–181. https://doi.org/10.1080/13678868.2022.2047380
Tan, J., Lim-Soh, J., & Tan, P. L. (2024). The Impact of Teleworking on Women’s Work–Life Balance and Life Satisfaction: a Longitudinal Study from Singapore. Applied Research in Quality of Life. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-024-10340-x
The Sun. (2024). Malaysia ranked second worst country for work-life balance out of 60 countries. The Sun. https://thesun.my/home-news/malaysia-ranked-second-worst-country-for-work-life-balance-out-of-60-countries-FH12623420
Vogt, C., van Gils, S., Van Quaquebeke, N., L. Grover, S., & Eckloff, T. (2021). Proactivity at Work. Journal of Personnel Psychology, 20(3), 114–123. https://doi.org/10.1027/1866-5888/a000275
Published
2024-12-01
How to Cite
JAIS, Juraifa; SAID, Mahiah; SABRI, , Shahnaz Shafiza.
Exploring the Impact of Work-Life Balance on HR Proactivity and Adaptability Among Malaysian Women Employees - A Pilot Study.
International Journal of Business and Technology Management, [S.l.], v. 6, n. 4, p. 136-148, dec. 2024.
ISSN 2682-7646.
Available at: <https://myjms.mohe.gov.my/index.php/ijbtm/article/view/28472>. Date accessed: 24 jan. 2025.
Section
English Section
