The Moderator Effect of Role Salience in the Relationship Between Working Time Outside Office Hours and Work-Life Balance of Women Professionals

Preserving the balance between work and non-work life domains for employees has become more challenging in today’s competitive work life. Especially for female employees who take more life role responsibilities compared to men, it is argued that the time allocated to work outside work hours may cause difficulties in establishing worklife balance. However, we assumed that besides the working time outside work hours, individual preferences may have an indirect effect on the work-life balance. In this regard, this study examined the moderator effect of the role salience, as an individual preference, in the relationship between working time outside work hours and the perception of work-life balance (WLB) with a sample of 145 female professionals. Perception of WLB, role salience (work salience and non-work salience) and the time allocated to work and non-work activities were evaluated using self-report scales. Findings showed that increased working time outside work hours affected negatively only the WLB of women whose work salience was low. Results also demonstrated that increased working time outside work hours only negatively affected the WLB of women whose non-work salience was high. Additionally, there was a significant positive relationship between the time allocated to non-work activities and WLB. Overall, this research showed that working time outside work hours did not have negative effects on the WLB of women whose work roles were more salient, or non-work roles were less salient. We recommend that organizations should consider the role salience of their professional women employees, which is an individual preference, among the factors affecting their WLB and adapt their work conditions according to their needs.