Workload, Work-Life Balance and Job Satisfaction Among Medical Officers in Public Hospitals in The Klang Valley: A Proposed Conceptual Framework

Job satisfaction is a key factor in retaining the medical workforce, especially in public hospitals where medical officers often face demanding clinical duties and organizational pressures. This concept paper proposes a framework to examine the relationship between workload, work-life balance, and job satisfaction among medical officers in public hospitals in the Klang Valley, Malaysia. The framework is guided by the Job Demands–Resources theory. Workload is viewed as a job demand requiring constant physical and psychological effort, and work-life balance is the extent to which medical officers can manage work responsibilities alongside recovery and personal life. The proposed study will employ a quantitative cross-sectional correlational design. Proportionate stratified random sampling will be used to select the medical officers from the participating hospitals. Data on workload, work-life balance, and job satisfaction, together with relevant demographic and occupational information, will be collected using validated instruments. Descriptive statistics will be used to describe the respondents and study variables, and correlation and multiple linear regressions analysis will be used to examine the relationship among the variables. The proposed framework is expected to provide evidence that is more specific to the working conditions of medical officers in public hospitals in the Klang Valley. Future studies may also test the framework in other regions and hospital settings in Malaysia.