Exploring the association between work-life balance and job satisfaction

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Int. J. Work Organisation and Emotion, Vol. 7, No. 3, 2016

Does emotional intelligence contribute to contentment? Exploring the association between work-life balance and job satisfaction Rabindra Kumar Pradhan*, Ranjan Pattnaik and Lalatendu Kesari Jena Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur – 721 302, India Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] *Corresponding author Abstract: Emotional intelligence provides the ability for performance and usage of this potential expects towards deriving contentment. The present study attempts to focus on application of emotional intelligence in work settings while exploring the relationship between work-life balance and job satisfaction among healthcare professionals. 180 respondents from healthcare organisations were approached for study through convenience sampling. The findings reveal that work-life balance and job satisfaction are positively related. Emotional intelligence is found to be significantly mediating the relationship between work-life balance and job satisfaction. From professional’s perspective it was argued that an emotionally intelligent professional is expected to derive contentment both at personal and organisational level. The results of the study offer possibility to develop intervention plans which includes wisdom and emotional intelligence as the principal component to increase the overall job satisfaction of employed professionals. Keywords: healthcare professionals; work-life balance; WLB; emotional intelligence; EI; job satisfaction; wisdom; contentment. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Pradhan, R.K., Pattnaik, R. and Jena, L.K. (2016) ‘Does emotional intelligence contribute to contentment? Exploring the association between work-life balance and job satisfaction’, Int. J. Work Organisation and Emotion, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp.180–197. Biographical notes: Rabindra Kumar Pradhan is an Associate Professor in the area of Behavioural Science and Human Resource. He is involved in research in the areas of industrial and organisational psychology, organisational behaviour, positive psychology, human resource development and management, business values and ethics. Ranjan Pattnaik is pursuing his doctoral research in the area of health psychology in the Department of Humanities and Social Science, IIT, Kharagpur, India through UGC-SRF. Formally trained in Healthcare Administration from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, he has worked with many governmental and international agencies in the field of public health. His research interests include issues in the field of mental health, nutrition, public health, and health administration.

Copyright © 2016 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Does emotional intelligence contribute to contentment?

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Lalatendu Kesari Jena is currently working as a Full Time Doctoral Research Scholar through UGC-SRF in the Department Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Kharagpur, India. He is having more than ten years of industry experience in HR and has published articles in several national and international journals. His research interests include workplace spirituality, HR effectiveness, employee engagement, performance management, organisational commitment, emotional intelligence and positive psychology. This paper is a revised and expanded version of a paper entitled ‘Does emotional intelligence contribute to contentment? Exploring the link between work-life balance and job satisfaction’ presented at International Conference on Organization and Management (ICOM), Abu Dhabi University in collaboration with Asia Academy of Management, Abu Dhabi, 22–23 November 2015.

1

Introduction

Emotions play an important role in cognitive and behavioural functions of an individual. Last decade has witnessed a paradigm shift from IQ to emotional quotient (EQ) to determine effectiveness and contentment of an individual’s personal and work life. It is understood that emotionally intelligent professionals are more aware of their own feelings as well as the feelings of others, better able to identify them and apt in communicating with others when and where appropriate. Several studies in this context, has brought out the fact that low emotional intelligence (EI) is related with self-destruction behaviour, aggression and imbalance towards ones approach to life (Rubin, 1999; Bracket and Mayer, 2003) whereas, high EI is related to positive outcomes such as pro-social behaviour, warmth and belonging from peers and achieving a conducive family relations (Mayer et al., 1999; Salovey et al., 2001; Rice, 1999). Moreover, high EI is associated with identifying and regulating feelings of frustration and job stress therefore, a timely action of individual resilience builds a balanced approach to one’s work and life (Cooper and Sawaf, 1997). This sheer prominence of EI in association with job satisfaction (JS) and work-life balance (WLB) implies that research centred on the interplay between these factors is merited. In the other hand, in this connecting world of work, professionals with low EI tend to have a low level of commitment which in turn negatively impacts their work satisfaction. To avert from such consequences, it is important to understand the interactions of EI, JS and WLB of employees. Currently, the healthcare industry is experiencing a state of complete change and organisations are trying to provide affordable services without sacrificing the quality of care. This has lead to change in focus over the way care is delivered by healthcare professionals. In the process more focus has been diverted to some of the important dimensions such as WLB, EI and JS. Addressing these aspects from medical professionals’ life shall help in enhancing the overall satisfaction level which ultimately may lead to suggest strategies for deriving a better quality of care. The next section of the paper includes review of literature on our proposed three variables: EI, WLB and JS. The subsequent section presents the objective, conceptual framework and hypothesis. This is then followed through a discussion on methodology that we have followed in healthcare industries, the measurement scales that has been used to carry out the survey, analysis of

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data. Finally, managerial implications, conclusion and scope for future research are discussed.

2

Emotional intelligence

Although history of EI can be traced back to early 1990s (e.g. Thorndike, 1920), however, it was first introduced by Salovey and Mayer in 1990. They have defined EI as “the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and action”. In psychology literature we find different definitions of EI described by different psychologists in different times (Bar-On, 1997; Cooper and Sawaf, 1997; Goleman, 1995), but Salovey and Mayer’s definition somehow gives a better elaboration of EI and is accepted as the most widely scientific definitions of EI (Zeidner et al., 2004). For deriving an objective assessment EI has been categorised into four separate dimensions by Wong and Law (2002): 1

appraisal and expression of emotions in the self: this dimension refers to an individual’s understanding of one’s own emotions and the ability to express them accurately

2

appraisal and recognition of emotions in others: this refers to people’s ability to perceive and understand the emotions of people who are around them

3

regulation of emotions in self: it relates to the ability of people to regulate their emotions which will enable a more rapid recovery from physical distress

4

use of emotions to facilitate performance: it refers to the ability of individuals to make use of emotions by directing them towards constructive activities and individual performance.

Thus, EI is a set of competencies, which direct and control one’s feelings towards personal and professional life. Boylan and Loughrey (2007) have simplified the definition of EI stating it as a specific set of skills that can be developed by an individual which enables them to understand both their own and other’s emotions which improves their relationships and overall lives. Therefore, understanding one’s own moods and impulses of others irrespective of situations helps one to respond and behave in accordance with expectations. In work situations, professionals’ effective use of skill and knowledge in time depends on the effective regulations of emotions at work and their readiness to contribute to the best in one’s target accomplishments. Patients are the life blood of healthcare industries. All functions in the healthcare industry are undertaken keeping them as a central core point. Patients with different natures such as silent, assertive, angry, and emotionally unstable and criticism prone’s visit the hospital to avail medical as well as surgical care (Rajan, 2014). There requires the physician’s EI to understand and regulate such varied crowd, and the starting point to bridge the relationship is through patient-physician interaction (Weng et al., 2008). Secondly, a physician’s EI can impact the performance of their staff. It is believed that, a


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physician who lacks EI lacks the ability to effectively communicate with their staff; these inefficiencies in communication can create a poor organisational climate at work and contribute to an overall increase in medical errors (Agarwal et al., 2010). Lastly, EI can have a negative impact on the physician themselves. This direct impact on the physician shapes their interaction with staff and patient thus coming full circle. With limited research on EI its impact is yet to be determined, furthermore without a justifiable impact there continues to be an inconsistent focus on EI in the healthcare setting.

3

Work-life balance

The demand for deriving a solution for professionals on WLB is increasing at an unprecedented rate. As a result, the construct has become a hot topic of discussions in popular press items such as the New York Times, in addition to scholarly research works of HRD and a variety of other fields like workplace spirituality (Hill et al., 2001; Guest, 2002; Jena and Pradhan, 2014). It is stated in such research findings that WLB will be an important challenge for organisations and HR professionals towards managing their knowledge workforce. Because of the popularity of the concept a term ‘work-life culture’ has also been emerged as a critical area of interest. The term was defined by Thompson et al. (1999) as “the shared assumptions, beliefs, and values regarding the extent to which an organization supports and values the integration of employees’ work and family lives”. Basically, in a professional’s life span ‘work and life’ can be observed as an interdependent system (Munn, 2009). The life is composed of many other dimensions, like family life, community life and spiritual life etc. As professionals, one faces a tough challenge and by necessity we are forced to make difficult choices every day. Munn et al. (2011) in this connection have stated that, “Work-life balance as the way individuals choose to prioritise their work, family, individual, and community responsibilities. How one chooses to prioritize her or his work, family, individual and community responsibilities is in part influenced by the availability and knowledge of work-life initiatives as well as the organizational culture where it may or may not be acceptable to use [such] benefits.”

Earlier empirical studies have confirmed a significant increase in organisational commitment, productivity and performance (Galinsky and Johnson, 1998; Konrad and Mangel, 2000; Perry-Smith and Blum, 2000) when there are work-life initiatives in an establishment. Studies have evinced the fact that, unclear job description, lack of formal written policies and procedures, lack of support from senior management are some of impediments of JS among employed professionals (Petchsawang, 2005; Butler et al., 2005; Ahuja et al., 2007). Healthcare is a vital service industry which has significant effects on population’s general wellbeing through dedicated service of its professional (Ronen and Pilskin, 2006). Such kind of quality service can be achieved from physicians, nurses and administrative professionals if they feel that the system is properly taking care of their work and life (Siddiqui and Khandakar, 2007). Some of the empirical studies have explored that in case of hospital employees, WLB initiatives have influenced their commitment level which in turn has enhanced the performance and productivity of the hospital (Sakthivel and Kamalanabhan, 2011; Sakthivel and Jayakrishnan, 2012). As the

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employed professionals are treasure assets for growing healthcare industry, understanding their needs are some of the important issue for human resource department to introspect and revamp their policies and practices. Therefore, it is warranted that further studies on WLB need to be validated to concretise the belief of senior management facilitating the healthcare sectors.

4

Job satisfaction

Employee attitudes relating to JS is a major interest in the domain of organisational behaviour and the practice of human resources management. In behavioural study satisfaction from a job is a kind of positive affect towards employment (Mueller and McCloskey, 1990) where as in human resource management satisfaction connotes a stable evaluation of how the job meets employee’s needs, wants or expectations (Fisher, 2003). In research, JS has been assessed using global aspects as well as multiple facets like salary, career progression, supervisor, etc. (Fisher, 2003). However, it is said that JS is a kind of approach that relates to overall attitudes towards one’s life, or life satisfaction (Ilies et al., 2009) as well as to service quality one provides being in a job (Schneider and Bowen, 1985). JS has been playing a protagonist role in management research, namely the job satisfaction-job performance relationship (Petty et al., 1984; Fisher, 2003). However, the search for a relationship between job satisfaction and job performance has been referred to as the ‘holy grail’ of organisational behaviour research (Weiss and Copranzano, 1996). The notion that satisfied employees will perform their work more effectively is the basis of many theories of performance, reward, job design and leadership (Shipton et al., 2006). JS is so important in that its absence often leads to lethargy and reduced organisational commitment (Moser, 1997). Regardless of success (or lack thereof) scholars might have had in proving the connection between job satisfaction and performance, the latter remains one of the most prominent variables of study pertaining to business and management science (Spagnoli et al., 2012). This subject seems to be relevant for scholars, managers and employees alike. It is relevant for scholars interested in the subjective evaluation of work conditions; for managers and researchers regarding organisational outcomes (e.g. organisational commitment, extra-role behaviour); for employees, job satisfaction has implications for subjective well-being (Judge and Hulin, 1993) and life satisfaction (Judge and Watanabe, 1993), and it is assumed to have major implications as it is a prevailing construct covering all professions, work, jobs and contexts (Spagnoli et al., 2012). In the context of healthcare industries, studies have emerged demonstrating a significant relationship between job satisfaction and quality of care. Evidence suggests that nurses’ job satisfaction affects patient satisfaction and the quality of patient care (Aiken et al., 1994, 1997). There are also suggestions in empirical findings where in it has been stated that a good human resources management make a difference in the hospital setting (Buchan, 2004) and even reduce mortality rate among patients (West et al., 2006). The positive correlation between nurses’ job satisfaction and retention has also been well established in some of the earlier studies (Leveck and Jones, 1996; Molassiotis and Haberman, 1996).


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Job satisfaction research in healthcare has been conducted mainly accordingly to different professions like nurses, doctors, therapists, etc. separately. Therefore there seems to have a lack of global approach to healthcare, namely at hospitals, envisaging all employees as an important part of the healthcare service (e.g. Veld et al., 2010). Bearing in mind that healthcare is a service industry where the overall service experience is important for customer satisfaction and quality of care there warrants undertaking research towards identifying and establishing the relationship between WLB, EI and JS. It is believed that the findings will help in understanding the overall job satisfaction level among the medical professionals leading to better quality of care.

5

EI, WLB and JS

EI is an important predictor of key organisational outcomes including JS (Daus and Ashkanasy, 2005; Pradhan and Maitra, 2012). According to the theory of EI, a person who is able to understand and is aware of one’s own feelings, and controls stress, negative emotions (Kafetsios and Zampetakis, 2008), and feeling of frustration (Sy et al., 2006), can certainly have better relationships with colleagues and supervisors, which ends in increasing JS (Wong and Law, 2002), organisational commitment (Sy et al., 2006) and better job performance (Kafetsios and Zampetakis, 2008). Some studies even reported negative relationship between EI and organisational role stress (Rai and Khurana, 2008). EI plays a significant role in the work environment (George, 2000; Goleman et al., 2002; Law et al., 2004; Sy and Cote, 2004; Wong and Law, 2002). Specifically, researchers have asserted that employees’ EI can predict work related outcomes, such as job satisfaction and job performance (Wong and Law, 2002; Pradhan and Maitra, 2012). In the other side of the coin, satisfaction in job role potentially leads to diminution of family role or vice versa where in there requires a systemic reengineering career system to meet the needs for work-family balance of employees (Bachman et al., 2000; Prati et al., 2003). However, in this knowledge age employees with high EI are assumed to experience high levels of JS and WLB because they may have the ability to appraise and manage emotions not only at workplace but also in their personal life (Shimazu et al., 2004). Specifically, in a work-setup, this skill becomes significant in group settings where employees with high EI can use their skills to foster positive interactions that help boost their own morale, as well as the morale of the group, and contribute positively to the experience of JS for all.

6

Conceptual model and research questions

The review of literature indicated that there is a very strong relationship among EI and JS of employees working across professions and organisations globally. There is also sufficient literature in establishing that WLB influences JS. However there has been a dearth in literature in establishing whether EI can mediate the relationship (positively or

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negatively) between WLB and JS. Moreover no exclusive studies have been found till date in any of these above constructs in healthcare industries in Indian context. The rapid changes in healthcare practices in the past quarter century have also stimulated considerable interest in measuring the working professionals (ranging from doctors, nurses, support staff, administrative functionaries) perceptions and attitudes about their work and life (Freeborn, 2001). Therefore, the present study has been undertaken to address the above stated research gap. The following conceptual model along with its concomitant objectives has been proposed for study: Figure 1

Conceptual model Emotional Intelligence

Work-life Balance

Job Satisfaction

1

to examine the relationship between WLB, EI and JS

2

to examine the mediating role of EI on the relationship between WLB and JS.

In order to examine the above mentioned objectives, the following hypotheses were proposed for study. H1

WLB positively influences JS.

H2

EI mediates the relationship between WLB and JS.

7

Method

7.1 Data and sample The healthcare organisations in and around eastern India were identified and selected for this scientific investigation. A diverse group of medical professionals belonging to different levels of experience and qualifications were considered for the study. Professionals with at least two years of working experience in any level of the organisational hierarchy (ranging from junior, middle and senior levels and all departments) were included in the study. A sample size of 220 medical professionals was selected by convenient sampling procedure with no deliberate bias involving in the sampling technique. Finally 180 responses were recorded and used for analysis after discarding rest of the 40 respondent due to providing incomplete information in our survey questionnaire. Males constitute 67.9% and females constitute 32.1% of the total sample respondents. In addition, 54.0% were aged between 20–30 years, 30.7% between 31–40 years, 8.5% between 41–50 years, 5.4% between 51–60 years with the mean age of 32.54. More than half of the respondents or 52.8% were married while another 47.2% were single.


8

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Measures and variable

A set of standardised tools were used for data collection on WLB, JS and EI. All these scales are presented in form of questionnaires to all participants. Each questionnaire consists of certain statements or questions and are answered on a five-point rating scales varying from strongly disagree (1), disagree (2), neither agree nor disagree (3), agree (4), strongly agree (5).

8.1 Work-life balance WLB scale proposed by Pareek and Joshi (2010) consists of 36 items was used for measuring the areas of personal needs, social needs, time management, team work, compensation and work itself. The personal need dimension assesses fulfilling of one’s household needs and getting adequate time for personal entertainment along with family. A sample item is “I do not get time for my sick partner/child/parents” (item nos. 2, 8, 14, 20, 26, and 32). The social need dimension measures the interaction with one’s social activities such as family functions etc. A sample item is “I do not get time to invite my friends for a party at home” (item nos. 1, 7, 13, 19, 25 and 31). The time management dimension is taken an important variable of WLB just because time affects human life in any situation: how an individual utilises his time and how he divides his time between work and life (item nos. 3, 9, 15, 21, 27 and 33). The team work component is an influential factor for one’s emotional and social life. It is believed that a professional should be in a state in which he can rely on his colleagues and thus feel satisfied at workplace. A sample item is, “I share the work with my colleagues whenever needed” (item nos. 4, 10, 16, 22, 28 and 34). Compensation and benefits is an important factor contributing towards WLB of an individual. A sample item is, “I enjoy the privileges I am offered by the organization” (item nos. 5, 11, 17, 23, 29 and 35). The work dimensions measures one’s achievement not only in workplace, but also in personal life. A sample item is, “I love to do the kind of work I do, without any stress” (item nos. 6, 12, 18, 24, 30 and 36).

8.2 Emotional intelligence The Wong and Law emotional intelligence scale (WLEIS) was used for rating by the respondents. The 16 items WLEI scale proposed by Wong and Law (2002) are having four subscales with four items each. The self-emotion appraisal dimension assesses individuals’ ability to understand and express their own emotions. A sample item is “I really understand what I feel”. The others’ emotion appraisal dimension measures peoples’ ability to perceive and understand the emotions of others. A sample item is “I always know my friends’ emotions from their behaviour”. The use of emotion dimension denotes individuals’ ability to use their emotions effectively by directing them toward constructive activities and personal performance. A sample item is “I always tell myself I am a competent person”. The regulation of emotion dimension refers to individuals’ ability to manage their own emotions. A sample item from this dimension is “I have good control of my own emotions”.

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8.3 Job satisfaction The shorter version of MSQ – Minnesota job satisfaction questionnaire consisting of 20 items was used in this study (Fields, 2002). The MSQ ‘short form’ includes only 20 of the 100 original items, namely, the ones that better represented each of the 20 original subscales (Ahmadi and Alireza, 2007). The 20 MSQ-short version consists of three subscales such as intrinsic, extrinsic and general satisfaction was used for the present study. The Cronbach alpha (α) for the scale is found to be 0.81.

9

Results

9.1 Reliability analysis of the instruments Reliability or internal consistency (inter-item correlation) indicates the homogeneity of items comprising a measurement scale (DeVellis, 1991). Cronbach alpha is a commonly used method to assess reliability of a scale. High inter-item correlation explains that the items of a scale have a strong relationship with the latent construct and possibly measure the same thing. Items with item-total correlation less than .30 should be eliminated from the scale to improve the corresponding alpha values (Field, 2005). Whereas, construct reliability need to be greater than .70 (Nunnally, 1978). All the constructs included in the present study have obtained an acceptable coefficient alpha of above .70 keeping all the original items of the scales, indicating that the measurement scale is reliable and appropriate for further data analysis. The summary of the reliability analysis extracted from SPSS 20.0 are presented in Table 1. Table 1

Summary of measurement reliability

Constructs

Originals items

Items retained

Cronbach alpha

36

36

.872

Work-life balance (WLB) Emotional intelligence (EI)

16

16

.840

Job satisfaction (JS)

20

20

.864

Source: Authors findings

9.2 Correlation analysis The descriptive statistics and correlation matrix are displayed in Table 2. The table of zero order correlation shows that all the components of WLB is positively related to JS r (180) = .57, p < .01. EI is found to be significantly related to JS r (180) = .89, p < .01; whereas the dimension of WLB (team work, time management) and EI (self-emotional appraisal, other’s emotional appraisal) are found to carry a significant positive relation among them. Especially the correlation with self-emotions appraisal (SEA) dimension of EI with teamwork dimension of WLB r (180) =.09, p < .01 and regulation of emotions (ROE) dimension of EI with team work dimension of WLB r (180) = .168, p < .01 is comparatively very low. However, all the components of EI is found to be positively related to WLB r (180) = .53, p < .05.

3.43

3.38

3.33

3.42

3.70

3.22

3.24

3.39

OEA

UOE

ROE

EI

I

E

G

JS

SD

.636

.952

.790

.530

.565

.822

.558

.602

.805

.481

.538

.647

.647

.603

.580

.566

.675**

.503**

.844**

.266**

.610**

.517**

.587**

.646**

.296**

.809**

.587**

.710**

.308**

.713**

.633**

1

SN

.484**

.322**

.587**

.286**

.434**

.388**

.414**

.421**

.220**

.923**

.742**

.803**

.778**

.512**

1

PN

.428**

.333**

.550**

0.122

.457**

.354**

.455**

.520**

.219**

.724**

.294**

.519**

.456**

1

TM

.196**

0.041

.258**

.246**

.197**

.168*

.210**

.186*

0.097*

.782**

.455**

.725**

1

TW

.569**

.448**

.603**

.341**

.506**

.427**

.555**

.464**

.253**

.879**

.454**

1

CB

.417**

.184*

.657**

.191*

.382**

.370**

.276**

.390**

.214**

.715**

1

W

.568**

.377**

.713**

.302**

.531**

.455**

.516**

.538**

.266**

1

WLB

.719**

.605**

.532**

.705**

.828**

.762**

.463**

.303**

1

SEA

.543**

.461**

.639**

.173*

.669**

.379**

.638**

1

OEA

.741**

.661**

.700**

.436**

.817**

.648**

1

UOE

.869**

.730**

.761**

.682**

.896**

1

ROE

.899**

.767**

.809**

.652**

1

EI

.681**

.434**

.450**

1

I

Notes: **Correlation is significant at the .01 level (two-tailed). *Correlation is significant at the .05 level (two-tailed). SN: social need; PN: personal need; TM: time management; TW: team work; CB: compensation and benefits; W: work; WLB: work-life balance; SEA: self-emotional appraisal, OEA: other’s emotional appraisal; UOE: use of emotions, ROE: regulations of emotions, EI: emotional intelligence; I: intrinsic satisfaction; E: extrinsic satisfaction; G: general satisfaction; JS: job satisfaction. Source: Authors findings

3.52

SEA

3.27

CB

3.10

3.31

TW

3.05

2.94

TM

WLB

3.08

PN

W

2.61

Mean

.874**

.671**

1

E

.898**

1

G

1

JS

Table 2

SN

Does emotional intelligence contribute to contentment? 189

Mean, SD and inter dimension correlations among WLB, EI and JS (N = 180)

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9.3 Regression findings Table 3 shows results of simultaneous regression analysis of the dimensions of WLB predicting the dimensions of JS. Regression analysis shows the differential impact of WLB on different dimensions of JS. Time management (β = –.20 at t = –2.02) and work (β = –1.39 at t = –.89) were found to be the negative predictors with intrinsic satisfaction; where as personal need (β = –.14 at t = –1.43), team work (β = –.32 at t = –3.36) stand as negative predictors followed with social need (β = –.38 at t = –1.94), team work (β = –.97 at t = –6.40) with general satisfaction dimensions of JS. However, the dimensions of WLB: social need (45.5%), personal need (23.4%), time management (18.3%), team work (3.8%), compensation and benefits (32.3%) and work (17.4%) were found to be regressed with JS. Figure 2 shows overall strength of association between JS and WLB. The beta value of .568 between WLB and JS is significant at 0.01 level of confidence. It shows significantly high association between the two constructs and WLB predicts 32.2% of JS. Table 3

Summary of step wise multiple regression analysis of the dimensions of WLB predicting the dimensions of JS

Criterion variable

Intrinsic satisfaction

Extrinsic satisfaction

General satisfaction

Predictor variable

β

t

β

t

β

t

.26

1.80

.34

2.78

–.38

Social need

F-value

ΔR2

–1.94

148.72

.455

Personal need

.04

.22

–.14

–1.43

.30

1.84

54.34

.234

Time management

–.30

–2.02

.17

2.31

.37

3.09

39.88

.183

Team work

.25

1.37

–.32

–3.36

–.97

–6.40

7.11

.038

Compensation and benefits

.03

.14

.40

3.49

.94

5.19

85.11

.323

–1.39

–.89

.47

5.93

.08

.66

37.52

.174

Work

Source: Authors findings Figure 2

Strength of association between WLB and JS Work-life balance

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Social need Personal need Time management Team work Compensation and benefits Work

β = .568 Δ R2 = .322

Job satisfaction 1. Intrinsic satisfaction 2. Extrinsic satisfaction 3. General satisfaction

9.4 Mediation analysis In order to understand the influence of EI between WLB and JS a mediation analysis was performed using the causal-step approach proposed by Baron and Kenny (1986). In addition to it, bootstrapped confidence interval for the indirect effect was obtained using procedures described by Preacher and Hayes (2008). The causal variable for the present


191

study is WLB whereas the outcome variable is JS and the proposed mediating variable is EI. Preliminary data screening has suggested that there were no serious defilements of assumptions of normality and α = .01 two-tailed is the criterion for statistical significance. Figure 3 represents the total effect of WLB on JS as significant at, c = .749, t = 9.20, p < .01 whereas the indirect effect of WLB on JS moderated with EI has found to be highly significant at c = .936, t = 22.11, p < .01. This was judged for statistical significance through using the Sobel (1982) test at, z = 7.807, p = .01. Using the SPSS script for the Indirect procedure (Preacher and Hayes, 2008), bootstrapping was performed; 5,000 samples were requested; a bias-corrected and accelerated confidence interval (CI) was created for both the constructs. For this 95% CI, the lower limit was found to be .7228 and the upper limit was .7771. Figure 3

Total and indirect effect of WLB EI and JS (see online version for colours) Emotional intelligence 1. 2. 3. 4.

Self-emotional appraisal Other’s emotional appraisal Use of emotions Regulations of emotions

C = .936 t = 22.11

Work-life balance

1. Social need

2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Personal need Time management Team work Compensation and benefits Work

C = .749 t = 9.20

Job satisfaction 1. Intrinsic satisfaction 2. Extrinsic satisfaction 3. General satisfaction

Source: Authors findings

10 Findings and discussion In our proposed framework, JS is an integral component which eventually is influenced directly with WLB and indirectly through the efficient usage of EI. Doctors and administrative professionals engaged in healthcare industries are found to be spending major times of the day in hospitals and they are grossly affected with WLB issues. In our survey, we have found that higher work-load and consequent time management (β = –.30 at t = –2.02) among physicians and administrative professionals is promoting greater job hazards, whereas insufficient staffing (β = –1.39 at t = –.89) on the other hand in some healthcare institutions questions about their WLB issues. However, in our study with urban healthcare employed professionals the overall results have found that the hypothesis tested between WLB and JS (ΔR2 = 32.2%, C = .749 at t = 9.20) was yielding a positive relationship. This is because their social needs (Δ R2 = 32.2%, F = 148.72) are well addressed by the organisational HR management which consequently helps in dealing with their personal requirements (ΔR2 = 23.4%, F = 54.34). The findings are in line with Rajaei et al. (2013) who have found during their research with Iranian obstetricians that there was significant positive correlation between JS due to WLB

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policies and employees’ performance. Earlier studies have further tried to explore the reason behind this and they have come to an understanding that a number of physicians and allied professionals in healthcare industry prefers a specialty-based assignments that may well fit with their personal life providing a healthy WLB throughout their professional span (Dorsey et al., 2003; Newton et al., 2005). In this study we have also explored that some of the best predictors of JS are basically emanating from heath professional’s overall satisfaction with non-professional aspects of their life. As our survey was majorly focusing on their immediate job environment we have found that physicians, matrons and administrative professionals who are competent in recognising emotions, concerns and needs of patients are successful in dealing with their job pressures and consequently are able to derive job contentment. It is understood that interpersonal communication between the patient and a healthcare professional plays a major role in patient outcomes and the ability to recognise and understand patients’ emotions plays an influential role towards deriving JS. Job contentment is a critical challenge for healthcare organisations and is strongly associated with professional stress and work-life imbalance across its employed professionals (Zangaro and Soeken, 2007). The present study has found that an emotionally intelligent professional working with an organisational supportive employee friendly work environment can derive more satisfaction. Our findings of EI is found to be significantly mediating (C = .936, t = 22.11) between WLB and JS which indicates that with higher EI there happens higher JS. For example, employees with high EI could be more adept at identifying when they are beginning to feel overwhelmed by work-life imbalance. This kind of awareness and regulations allows them to search for the causes in their personal and professional life activities, thereby enabling them to develop coping strategies and ways to manage their emotional reactions to these needs. This supports our second hypothesis while supporting the findings of Wong and Law (2002). The findings are also in line with Sadri (2013) who has stated that “emotional intelligence lets professional to perceive, evaluate, anticipate, and manage emotions more effectively which in turn allows them to better collaborate and motivate their staff and customers deriving more job satisfaction”. Pradhan and Maitra (2012) also reported that EI positively influences employee’s job performance and job satisfaction. Our findings support the proposition that EI is important for healthcare positions as the profiles are heavily involved in dealing with interpersonal relations and hence the professionals of this sector need to be trained in this aspect. This proposition is supported with the review study carried out by Henochowicz and Hetherington (2006) wherein they have examined the state of leadership coaching for physicians and non-medical healthcare employees. They have suggested that “healthcare organisations need to find a way to continue to be patient centred while they are expanding. It is suggested that leadership wisdom training could be a solution because it allows the development of interpersonal and emotional intelligence competencies”.

11 Implications and scope for future research Many of the factors influencing healthcare professional satisfaction identified in this study can be shared by professionals in a wide variety of settings. First of all, irrespective of any organisation in order to develop effective retention approaches, it is imperative that WLB and JS need to be addressed by HR department of respective establishment.


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Organisations need to initiate training program on ‘EI’ as such kind of professional trait is capable of recognising, managing and using emotions to overcome obstacles. Pradhan and Nath (2014) stated that there exist a strong link between EI and positive psychology. By nurturing EI, organisational can enhance positive skills of their employees such as problem solving, coping ability, resilience and wellbeing. These skills and competencies will help them to deal with daily stressors arising out of jobs and family responsibilities (Pradhan and Nath, 2014). This kind of skill set can provide an inner thrust to handle stress caused by highly complex and demanding work environment like healthcare sector. Despite efforts by the researchers to ensure that the present study is without flaws, it has to be acknowledged that this study is not immune to limitations. Firstly, a small sample size of 180 healthcare professionals who were based in only eastern Indian subcontinent engaged in premier healthcare institutions was used. Therefore, it becomes necessary, then, to exercise caution when generalising the findings of the present study to other populations and contexts of similar nature. Future research studies may focus on carrying longitudinal research to understand the trend of relationships examined in the present study over an extended period of time, which will effectively refine the results.

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