The nexus of work-life balance, commuting, employee in-role performance and well-being: Exploring the moderating role of Resilience in the Middle East context in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Work place commuting time is unavoidable in today’s fast paced organizations. Except active commuting it is always associated with adverse consequences. This study uses the conservation of resource theory to examine commuting implication for employees’ in-role performance and well-being. The results generally support the notion of the COR theory regarding resource depletion due to long commuting will negatively impact employees work life balance, which in turn adversely impact job performance and psychological well-being. These relationships are also expected to be moderated by individual personal resource−resilience that enable individual to cope with adversity and maintain better psychological well-being. Data from the employees’ service and non-service firms in Saudi Arabia show that commuting time negatively impact in-role performance and well-being. Results also indicate that, work-life balance mediates this relationship and finally, resilience was found to mitigate the impact of commuting time on both employee in-role performance and well-being. Policy implication and future research direction of this research is discussed.

Key words: Commuting, Work-life balance, In-role performance, Psychological well-being, Resilience

DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/16-8-06

Publication date: October 30th 2024