A Work-Life Balance and Gender Study of Two Career Paths Justin Keeler, Ouachita Baptist University Robert Webster, Ouachita Baptist University Arkansas College Teachers of Economics and Business University of Central Arkansas Conway, Arkansas Friday, September 30th, 2016

Research Topic Work-life balance…an offset, neutralization, equilibrium between work and life? Zedeck and Mosier (1990) and O’Driscoll (1996), five models to explain work-life relationship: Segmentation: work and non-work are distinct and separate spheres Spillover: one sphere influences the other Compensation: a lack in one sphere (demands/satisfaction) made up in other Instrumental: one sphere facilitates success in the other Conflict: many demands in both spheres creates overloads on individuals

Background & Context Depending on career path, it can be difficult to step away from demands/satisfactions. Possible explanation, border theory (Clark, 2000)…people are daily border-crossers between home and work, they integrate the spheres. Reality is many workers still answer emails and texts long after they have left their jobs = unaccounted overtime hours Are some career paths oriented towards a particular model – segmentation, instrumentality, etc.? Do mindfulness activities play a role in adjusting work-life balance for a career because of conscientiousness (Giluk, 2009)?

Research Questions Is their evidence to support discrete differences in work and non-work life dimensions based on career path? Do mindfulness activities make a difference in work-life balance related to career path? Does gender significantly make a difference between work and non-work life dimensions?

Hypotheses H1: University faculty with advanced degrees balance work-life differently compared to business executives with advanced degrees. H2: Mindfulness activities impact university faculty and business executives differently in work-life balance. H3: Gender significantly impacts work-life balance.

Research Design - Sample Group 1 (n = 41) University faculty Advanced degrees All located in Arkansas Group 2 (n = 41) Business executives Advanced degrees Various throughout U.S. and world

Research Design - Sample Group 1 (n = 41) Demographics 20 Females *Age 45.47, SD 11.01 All Caucasian Single (4), Married (16) 21 Males **Age 53.05, SD 9.22 Asian (1), Caucasian (20) Single (3), Married (18) Group 2 (n = 41) Demographics 11 Females Age 47.64, SD 8.22 Asian (3), Caucasian (6), Other (2) Single (5), Married (6) 30 Males **Age 45.79, SD 6.98 Asian (4), Caucasian (19), African (3), Other (5) Single (2), Married (38) *Missing 3 respondent values, **Missing 1 respondent value

Research Design - Procedures Study was IRB approved, survey administration through Qualtrics. Respondents assured confidentiality and unique ID used to mask identities. Data collection was cross sectional but multiple time intervals. Group 1 – single survey Group 2 – multiple surveys None of the groups were incentivized.

Research Design - Measures Categorical Variables Description GNDIFM Gender: Female = 1, Male = 2 MEDINY Do you practice a daily form of meditation? No = 0, Yes = 1 JRDINY Do you keep a “thought” journal, paper or electronic –based and make notes in it consistently? No = 0, Yes = 1 ERCR15 Cognitive Reappraisal Continuous Variables Description OTHRPW Estimated hours of overtime, per WEEK SLHRPD Estimated hours of sleep, per DAY TVHRPW Estimated hours of watching TV, per WEEK EXHRPW Estimated hours of exercise, per WEEK SMHRPD Estimated hours of spending time on social media, per DAY RBHRPW Estimated hours of reading books, per WEEK

Research Design – Analytic Plan Group means difference test (SPSS) Comparison of continuous variables by groups and dichotomous variables. Most appropriate for identifying significant differences and related effects to test hypotheses. Independent T test allows for equal variance testing or not.

Findings RQ 1 Is their evidence to support discrete differences in work and non-work life dimensions based on career path?

Hypothesis 1 Impression H1: University faculty with advanced degrees balance work-life differently compared to business executives with advanced degrees. Impression: University faculty work less overtime, sleep more per day and watch more TV per week. Business executive work more overtime, exercise more per week and have increased cognitive reappraisal. Neither group showed significant differences of daily hours on social media or weekly hours reading books.

Findings RQ 2 Do mindfulness activities make a difference in work-life balance related to ones career path?

Findings RQ 2 Do mindfulness activities make a difference in work-life balance related to ones career path?

Hypothesis 2 - Impression H2: Mindfulness activities impact university faculty and business executives differently in work-life balance. Impression: University faculty that engage in meditation, a mindfulness activity, they significantly indicated working less overtime but exercising more than business executives that meditate. Business executives that perform some form of meditation have significantly higher tendencies of cognitive reappraisal than university faculty. Meditation did not evidence significance support for daily sleep, weekly TV, daily social media, or weekly reading of books.

Hypothesis 2 - Impression Impression - continued: University faculty that engage in some form of journaling, a mindfulness activity, they significantly more likely to work less overtime than a business executive and exercise less as well. working less overtime but exercising more than business Journaling activities did not indicate any other difference in work-life balance.

Findings RQ 3 Does gender significantly make a difference between work and non-work life dimensions?

Hypothesis 3 Impression H3: Gender significantly impacts work-life balance. Impression: Gender by itself is not significantly supported to explain a difference in weekly overtime hours, sleep, TV, exercise, social media, reading books, or cognitive reappraisal.

Discussion Career path may shape how an individual balances their work and non-work related activities. Mindfulness activities possibly involved in adjusting work-life balance of workers. Results from this study did not find support for gender to solely impact work-life balance.

Next Steps Conduct additional studies with different samples to have greater comparatives. Primary/Secondary education in process. 2 medical institutions have granted IRB approval for this study. Qualitative research to identify trends of what individuals may resort to as coping/integrating/balancing of work-life? Open-ended questions to learn more about group tendencies. Analyses of career paths to be adopters of specific tendencies and why i.e. segmentation, spillover, compensation, instrumentality, or conflict. Greater understanding of cultures and climates may lead to more productive organizations. Possible intervention insights for job design and understanding stressors.

Q&A Questions?

Bibliography Clark, S. C. (2000). Work/family border theory: A new theory of work/family balance. Human Relations, 53(6), 747-770. Giluk, T. L. (2009). Mindfulness, Big Five personality, and affect: A meta-analysis. Personality and Individual Differences, 47(8), 805-811. O'Driscoll, M. P. (1996). The interface between job and off-job roles: enhancement and conflict. International review of industrial and organizational psychology, 11, 279-306. Zedeck, S., & Mosier, K. L. (1990). Work in the family and employing organization. American Psychologist, 45(2), 240.