Effect of Work-Life Balance on Organizational Citizenship Behaviour: Role of Organizational Commitment

Balancing work and life stands as an on-going challenge in contemporary times. Today's global market place demands conflicting professional responsibilities in the form of unflinching 'work-life commitment'. In organizational context, a high quality of work-life balance is essential to continue attracting and retaining its employees. This kind of practice is having significant implications on employee attitudes, behaviours, well-being as well as organizational effectiveness. In contemporary times, many multinational corporations (MNCs) have been found focusing on organizing work-life programmes as these are becoming an intelligent choice to help in increasing job satisfaction among employees and in career accomplishment. On the other hand, the popular concept of ` organizational citizenship behaviour' inherently strives from its employees to extend their discretionary behaviours beyond the expected normal duties. However, this kind of anticipated behaviour of employees is somehow silently contradicting the notion of work-life balance. Thus, in this context, the influences of work-life balance on organizational citizenship behaviour need to be explored. Keeping this objective in mind, the present study examines the effect of work-life balance on organizational citizenship behaviour. It examines the role of organizational commitment on the relationship between work-life balance and organizational citizenship behaviour. A survey was conducted using a set of established questionnaire on work-life balance, organizational citizenship behaviour and organizational commitment with employees and execu-tives of manufacturing industries in eastern India. The study reports significant effects of work-life balance on organizational citizenship behaviour. It also shows the mediating effect of organizational commitment on the relationship between work-life balance and organizational citizenship behaviour. The study has suggested implications for researchers and practitioners in the field of human resource management and experts in the area of organizational development.