Career Progression of Women: Does Work Life Balance Matter?
Keywords:
Work Life Balance Practices, Career Progression, Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP), GhanaAbstract
Purpose-The study empirically examined the influence of work-life balance practices on Career Progression of Women at Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP). Design, methodology/approachGiven the reliance on explanatory research design, the study utilized structured questionnaire for gathering the primary data quantitatively from 209 randomly selected participants. A second-order model was configured in SMART PLS for testing of the directional hypotheses formulated. FindingsWork-life balance practices have a moderate significant positive predictor on both career goal progress and promotion speed. However, it significantly predicts a weak positive variance in professional development ability of career progression. Research limitations- The study was limited to only female MoGCSP employees, and this may restrict the degree of generalizability to other ministries of the government of Ghana. Practical implication- The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection through its agency, must continually provide a favourable work life balance practices for its female staff as this would in order to make female workers happy, satisfied and progressed in the various careers. Originality/valueEmpirically, the study enriches the theoretical understanding of how worklife balance if properly managed would affect female workers in progression in their career even in a masculine context as established by the role theory in Sub-Saharan country-context.
References
Ab Hamid, M. R., Sami, W., & Sidek, M. M. (2017, September). Discriminant validity assessment: Use of Fornell & Larcker criterion versus HTMT criterion. In Journal of Physics: Conference Series (Vol. 890, No. 1, p. 012163). IOP Publishing.
Adame, C., Caplliure, E. M., & Miquel, M. J. (2016). Work–life balance and firms: a matter of women? Journal of Business Research, 69(4), 1379-1383.
Agyekum, K., Kissi, E., Danku, J. C., Ampratwum, G., & Amegatsey, G. S. (2020). Factors driving the career progression of construction project managers. Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology.
Ahmad, S., Zulkurnain, N. N. A., & Khairushalimi, F. I. (2016). Assessing the validity and reliability of a measurement model in Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Journal of Advances in Mathematics and Computer Science, 1-8.
Akpebu Adjah, O., & Van der Walt, T. (2019). Career progression of female librarians in public university libraries in Ghana. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 51(2), 331-345.
Akram, F., Abrar-ul-Haq, M., & Surjit, V. (2018). Work-Life Balance among dual working couples in Pakistan. International Journal of Innovative Knowledge Concepts, 9(11).
Amalba, A., Abantanga, F. A., Scherpbier, A. J., & Van Mook, W. N. K. A. (2018). Working among the rural communities in Ghana-why doctors choose to engage in rural practice. BMC medical education, 18(1), 1-9.
Andrade, M. S., Westover, J. H., & Kupka, B. A. (2019). The role of work-life balance and worker scheduling flexibility in predicting global comparative job satisfaction. database, 9(2), 80-105.
Anwar, J., Hasnu, S. A. F., & Janjua, S. Y. (2013). Work-life balance: what organizations should do to create balance? World Applied Sciences Journal, 24(10), 1348-1354.
Badura, K. L., Grijalva, E., Newman, D. A., Yan, T. T., & Jeon, G. (2018). Gender and leadership emergence: A meta‐analysis and explanatory model. Personnel Psychology, 71(3), 335-367.
Bartlett, J. E., Kotrlik, J. W., & Higgins, C. C. (2001). Determining appropriate sample size in survey research. Information Technology, Learning, and Performance Journal, 19(1), 43-50.
Beeson, J., & Valerio, A. M. (2012). The executive leadership imperative: A new perspective on how companies and executives can accelerate the development of women leaders. Business Horizons, 55(5), 417-425.
Beltrán-Martín, I., Roca-Puig, V., Escrig-Tena, A., & Bou-Llusar, J. C. (2008). Human resource flexibility as a mediating variable between high performance work systems and performance. Journal of Management, 34(5), 1009-1044.
Bilimoria, D., & Liang, X. (2012). Gender equity in science and engineering: Advancing change in higher education. Routledge.
Burke, R. J. (2007). Career development of managerial women: Attracting and managing talent. Handbook on women in business and management, 109-131.
Cabanac, G., & Hartley, J. (2013). Issues of work–life balance among JASIST authors and editors. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 64(10), 2182-2186.
Cegarra‐Leiva, D., Sánchez‐Vidal, M. E., & Cegarra‐Navarro, J. G. (2012). Understanding the link between work life balance practices and organisational outcomes in SMEs. Personnel review.
Cheah, J. H., Sarstedt, M., Ringle, C. M., Ramayah, T., & Ting, H. (2018). Convergent validity assessment of formatively measured constructs in PLS-SEM. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Chin, W. W. (1998). Commentary: Issues and opinion on structural equation modeling.
Cohen, J. (1988). Set correlation and contingency tables. Applied psychological measurement, 12(4), 425-434.
Durodolu, O. O., & Mamudu, P. A. (2020). Work–life balance of librarians at the Kenneth Dike library in Nigeria. Library Management.
Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error: Algebra and statistics.
Garson, G. D. (2016). Path analysis. Asheboro, NC: Statistical Associates Publishing.
Gatrell, C. J., Burnett, S. B., Cooper, C. L., & Sparrow, P. (2013). Work–life balance and parenthood: A comparative review of definitions, equity and enrichment. International Journal of management reviews, 15(3), 300-316.
Gatrell, C., Cooper, C. L., & Kossek, E. E. (2017). Maternal bodies as taboo at work: New perspectives on the marginalizing of seniorlevel women in organizations. Academy of Management Perspectives, 31(3), 239-252.
Godbey, G., Crawford, D. W., & Shen, X. S. (2010). Assessing hierarchical leisure constraints theory after two decades. Journal of Leisure Research, 42(1), 111-134.
Gupta, A., Batra, S., & Gupta, V. K. (2020). Gender, culture, and implicit theories about entrepreneurs: a cross-national investigation. Small Business Economics, 1-17.
Hair, J. F., Risher, J. J., Sarstedt, M., & Ringle, C. M. (2019). When to use and how to report the results of PLS-SEM. European business review.
Hancock, M. G., Grappendorf, H., Wells, J. E., & Burton, L. J. (2017). Career Breakthroughs of Women in Intercollegiate Athletic Administration: What is the Role of Mentoring? Journal of Intercollegiate Sport, 10(2), 184-206.
Henseler, J., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2015). A new criterion for assessing discriminant validity in variance-based structural equation modeling. Journal of the academy of marketing science, 43(1), 115-135.
Hu, L. T., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural equation modeling: a multidisciplinary journal, 6(1), 1-55.
Javed, M., Khan, M. A., Yasir, M., Aamir, S., & Ahmed, K. (2014). Effect of role conflict, work life balance and job stress on turnover intention: Evidence from Pakistan. Journal of Basic and Applied Scientific Research, 4(3), 125-133.
Jenkins, S., Bhanugopan, R., & Lockhart, P. (2016). A framework for optimizing work–life balance practices in Australia: Perceived options for employee support. Journal of Employment Counseling, 53(3), 112-129.
Katiyal, D. (2019). Work-life balances model for working women: To draw attention of the society and hr professionals. Asian Journal of Multidimensional Research (AJMR), 8(4), 169-178.
Kavitha, V. (2017). The relationship and effect of role overload, role ambiguity, work-life balance and career development on work stress among call center executives of business process outsourcing (BPO) in Selangor (Doctoral dissertation, Universiti Utara Malaysia).
Kim, Y. H., O’Brien, K. M., & Kim, H. (2016). Measuring career aspirations across cultures: Using the career aspiration scale with young Korean women. Journal of Career Assessment, 24(3), 573- 585.
Kim-Appel, D., Appel, J., Newman, I., & Parr, P. (2007). Testing the effectiveness of Bowen's concept of differentiation in predicting psychological distress in individuals age 62 years or older. The Family Journal, 15(3), 224-233.
Kossek, E. E., & Lautsch, B. A. (2012). Work–family boundary management styles in organizations: A cross-level model. Organizational Psychology Review, 2(2), 152-171.
Kraimer, M. L., Seibert, S. E., Wayne, S. J., Liden, R. C., & Bravo, J. (2011). Antecedents and outcomes of organizational support for development: The critical role of career opportunities. Journal of applied psychology, 96(3), 485.
Mattis, J. S. (2002). Religion and spirituality in the meaning–making and coping experiences of African American women: A qualitative analysis. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 26(4), 309-321.
McCarthy, A., Darcy, C., & Grady, G. (2010). Work-life balance policy and practice: Understanding line manager attitudes and behaviors. Human Resource Management Review, 20(2), 158-167.
Ng, T. W., & Feldman, D. C. (2010). Human capital and objective indicators of career success: The mediating effects of cognitive ability and conscientiousness. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 83(1), 207-235.
Ogawa, T., Kimoto, S., Nakashima, Y., Furuse, N., Ono, M., Furokawa, S., ... & Kawai, Y. (2017). Measurement reliability of current perception threshold and pain threshold in parallel with blood sampling. Clinical and experimental dental research, 3(4), 154-159.
Oyewobi, L. O., Oke, A. E., Adeneye, T. D., Jimoh, R. A., & Windapo, A. O. (2022). Impact of work–life policies on organizational commitment of construction professionals: role of work–life balance. International Journal of Construction Management, 22(10), 1795-1805.
Parker, P., Hewitt, B., Witheriff, J., & Cooper, A. (2018). Frank and fearless: Supporting academic career progression for women in an australian program. Administrative Sciences, 8(1), 5.
Patton, W., & McMahon, M. (2001). Career development programs: Preparation for lifelong career decision making. ACER.
Powell, G. N., & Butterfield, D. A. (2003). Gender, gender identity, and aspirations to top management. Women in Management Review.
Prithi, S., & Vasumathi, A. (2018). The Influence of Demographic Profile on Work Life Balance of Women Employees in Tannery Industry-An Empirical Study. Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities, 26(1).
Sackey, J., & Sanda, M. A. (2017). Sustenance of human capital: Social support as managerial stress reliever for women in developing economies. Research and Practice in Human Resource Management, 19(2), 1-23.
Shaikh, S. S., Shah, S. A. S., Katpar, N. K., & Shah, S. K. B. (2019). Factors Affecting Work-Life Balance of Women Working in NGOs of Pakistan. The Women-Annual Research Journal of Gender Studies, 11(11).
Sherwani, L. A. (1984). The partition of India and Mountbatten. Atlantic Publishers & Distri.
Shobha, S. (2014). Work-life balance–implications for working women. International Journal for Sustainable Development, 14(1), 28-44.
Smith, J. (2017). Target-setting, early-career academic identities and the measurement culture of UK higher education. Higher Education Research & Development, 36(3), 597-611.
Spagnoli, P., & Weng, Q. (2019). Factorial validity, cross-cultural equivalence, and latent means examination of the organizational career growth scale in Italy and China. The international journal of human resource management, 30(21), 2951-2970.
Stephens, C. A. (2017). Women and Work-life Balance: A Narrative Inquiry of Working Single Mothers Balancing Family and Work.
Sullivan, O. (2019). Gender inequality in work-family balance. Nature human behaviour, 3(3), 201-203.
Swathi, R. R. (2017). Work-life Balance in Indian Service Industry: A Study. International Journal, 5(4).
Toffoletti, K., & Starr, K. (2016). Women academics and work–life balance: Gendered discourses of work and care. Gender, Work & Organization, 23(5), 489-504.
Tsikata, D. (2009). Gender, land and labour relations and livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa in the era of economic liberalisation: Towards a research agenda. Feminist Africa, 12.
Tsikata, S. (2016). Organizational Capacity Assessment Report For NAFPTA. The USAID/Ghana Sustainable Fisheries Management Project (SFMP). Narragansett, RI: Coastal Resources Center, Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island and SNV Netherlands Development Organization. GH2014_CAP021_SNV.
Ulshafer, S., Potgeisser, M., & Lima, T. H. (2005). Concierge services help deliver better work/life balance at Bronson Healthcare Group. Journal of Organizational Excellence, 24(3), 23-30.
Velilla, S. (2018). A note on collinearity diagnostics and centering. The American Statistician, 72(2), 140-146.
Weng, Q., & McElroy, J. C. (2012). Organizational career growth, affective occupational commitment and turnover intentions. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 80(2), 256-265.
Weng, Q., & Xi, Y. (2010). A literature review of employees' career growth. Forecasting, (6), 1-7.
Weng, Q., McElroy, J. C., Morrow, P. C., & Liu, R. (2010). The relationship between career growth and organizational commitment. Journal of vocational behavior, 77(3), 391-400.
Werner, C., & Schermelleh-Engel, K. (2009). Structural equation modeling: Advantages, challenges, and problems. Introduction to Structural Equation Modeling with LISREL.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 ESI Preprints

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.