Organizational culture and work–life integration: A barrier to employees’ respite?

Abstract

The management of work–life boundaries is portrayed in the literature as being a matter of individual choice. Accordingly, organizational influence has been underestimated. The first objective of this article is therefore to determine whether an organizational culture of integration (e.g. expectations about taking work home) can influence individuals’ ability to act on their personal preference for segmentation. The second objective is to determine whether a mismatch between culture and personal preferences can influence the emotional state of employees and, if so, in what way. A study of 243 employees showed that the perception of an organizational culture of integration reduced the effect of preference for segmentation on employees’ ability to detach themselves from work during rest periods. Further, a path analysis highlighted a moderated mediation, indicating that preference for segmentation was associated with reduced emotional exhaustion in employees by promoting a high level of psychological detachment, and this reduction was even stronger among those who perceived a weak culture of integration in their organization. This study proposes that jointly with individual preference for segmentation or integration, the norms and expectations of an organization have considerable influence on employees’ ability to detach and recover during non-work time.

Keywords:

• Work–life
• work–family
• segmentation
• integration
• organizational culture
• psychological detachment
• emotional exhaustion

Acknowledgments

We would like to express our thanks to Frédérick Philippe, Ph.D., Manuel Grenier, Valérie Guilbault, and Jill Vandermeerschen for their assistance with the statistical analyses conducted in this study.