Queen’s College

Faculty of Business and Economics

Department of Accounting and Finance

RESEARCH PROPOSAL

ON

THE IMPACT OF WORK LIFE BALANCE ON EMPLOYEES JOB PERFORMANCE

AND SOCIAL LIFE IN THE CASE OF COMMERCIAL BANK OF ETHIOPIA ADDIS
ABABA SARIS ABO BRANCH

A RESEARCH PROPOSAL SUBMITT FOR ASSIGNMENT PURPOSE.

SUBMITTED TO MR: ESUBALEW ALMAW.

No Name ID/No

1. Alemnesh Girmaw………………….……....0030/15
2. Berihanu Azemraw ………………………...0035/15
3. Bethel Mamo……………………….……....0040/15
4. Etaferaw Beyene……………….………......0028/15
5. Fentanesh Getachew ………………..…..….0052/15
6. Tamiru Yeshi…………….……………..…...0090/15
MAY, 2024
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA
 Table of Contents
Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………………..… iii

List of tables………………………………………………………………………………….…..iii

List of Figure.................................................................................................................................. iv

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1

1.1 Background of the Study ....................................................................................................... 1

1.2 Statement of the Problems..................................................................................................... 2

1.3 Research Questions/Hypothesis ............................................................................................ 4

1.4 Objective of the study ........................................................................................................... 4

1.4.1 General objective of the study ........................................................................................ 4

1.4.2 Specific objectives of the study ...................................................................................... 4

1.5 Significance of the study ....................................................................................................... 4

1.6 Scope of the study ................................................................................................................. 5

1.7 Limitations of the study......................................................................................................... 5

1.8 Definition of terms ................................................................................................................ 5

1.9 Organization of study ............................................................................................................ 6

CHAPTER TWO: LITRATURE REVIEW ................................................................................... 7

2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 7

2.1.1 Definition of work life balance ....................................................................................... 7

2.1.2 Roots of the concept ....................................................................................................... 7

2.2 Theories of work family linkage ........................................................................................... 8

2.3 Work-Life imbalance ............................................................................................................ 8

2.4 Factors of work life balance .................................................................................................. 9

2.5 Ways to enhance work life balance ..................................................................................... 12

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 2.6 Impact of Work life balance on employees’ job performance and social life..................... 13

2.7 Conceptual framework ........................................................................................................ 16

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................... 17

3.1 Research Design .................................................................................................................. 17

3.1.1 Target Population ......................................................................................................... 17

3.1.2 Sampling Technique ..................................................................................................... 17

3.1.3 Sample Size .................................................................................................................. 18

3.2 Source of data ...................................................................................................................... 18

3.3 Method of data collection .................................................................................................... 19

3.4 Data Processing and analysis .............................................................................................. 19

3.4.1 Data Processing ............................................................................................................ 19

3.4.2 Data Analysis ................................................................................................................ 19

3.5 Ethical issues of the Study .................................................................................................. 20

3.6 Validity and Reliability ....................................................................................................... 21

TIME AND BUDJET BREAK DOWN ....................................................................................... 22

References ..................................................................................................................................... 24

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 List of Table

TABLE 1: Work plan.................................................................................................................... 22

TABLE 1: Budget Cost plan ......................................................................................................... 22

iii
 List of Figure

Figure 2.7 Conceptual frame work of the study ........................................................................... 16

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 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

Organizations are social systems where human resources are the most important factors to achieve
their objectives efficiently and effectively and cannot succeed without their personnel efforts and
commitment. Therefore, human resource is the backbone of every organization; hence every
organization is competing for this talent work force (Mukururi, 2014).
Mostly many researches focusing on work environment aspect to know how to improve the
performance of the employees. But, (Cahen & Single, 2001) argue that there is a lot of pressure
from home environment that should be considered to improve employees’ performance of
employees. (Sara et al., 2004) elaborates this as a person’s life is clearly divided into two marked
areas: work and life, and for a human resource to be best performer balance of the two domains
(satisfaction and fulfillment of the two domains) is the most determinant factor to be considered.
The basic thing behind this is that the occurrence of work life balance have much more force to
improve employees’ performance. For the term work life balance as researchers suggest, there is
no precise, monolithic definition: There are many authors who define work life balance in different
ways:
 “Satisfaction and good functioning at work and at home with a minimum of role conflict"
(Clark, 2000)

 “Is effectively managing the juggling act between paid work and all other home or social
activities that are important to people such as family, community activities, voluntary work,
personal development, leisure, recreation” etc.. (Noor, 2011)

 “A satisfactory level of involvement or ‘fit’ between the multiple roles in a person’s life”
(Hudson, 2005).
To summarize, it is clearly evident that the various perspectives regarding the work-life balance

differ from each other; they depict a common definition. According to (Broers, 2005) the challenge

is balancing a successful career with a personal or family life. Which also impact on a person’s

satisfaction and performance in their work and personal life’s roles. In consistent to the above,

other numerous researchers showed that, the inseparability of work life and personal life of every

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person. For example, (Marian, 2011) states that work life & personal life are the two sides of the

same coin. Hence due to work–life balance has becoming one of the predominant issues in today’s

work place to solve this work life imbalance problem and to improve employees’ performance; it

is now a heavily researched area of interest (Guest, 2002).

As (Kossek etal., 1998) also explained that there is a growing awareness in today’s workplaces

that employees do not give up their lives just because they work. Work and life remain the two

most important domains in the life of an employed individual. However, the challenge of balancing

work and non-work demands is one of today’s central concerns for both individuals and

organizations. Employees’ chronic inability to balance work and family responsibilities can lead

to higher rates of absenteeism, turnover, reduced productivity, decreased job satisfaction, lower

levels of organizational loyalty, engagement and commitment, and rising healthcare costs. And

Kossek declare that Work-life balance is now a heavily researched area of interest.

Numerous studies have been done on searching the association between work-life balance and

attitudinal job outcomes such as job satisfaction and organizational commitment. For instance,

(Virick et al., 2007)’s study on layoff survivors in a high tech company found that work-life

balance is positively related to job satisfaction, productivity and loyalty.

1.2 Statement of the Problems

Since in today’s world, organizations are constantly concerned over employees’ well-being,

creating an organizational environment in which a desirable level of work–life balance can be

experienced by an employee, but it become a constant challenge and a contemporary people

management issue for many organizations (Guest, 2002). From organizational perspective

employees are required to achieve results in an effective and efficient manner and personally they

have also their own home and social responsibilities besides to those organizational activates.

While performing multiple roles on the professional and personal front, the various work role

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demands they encounter place pressure on them to achieve success, which in turn hinders their

level of work–life balance (Marian etal., 2011). Coming to the study area, Commercial Bank of

Ethiopia which is highly competitive and this has result to attracting new customers and retaining

the existing ones in order to have a larger market share. Commercial bank of Ethiopia is now

bringing in more profits by being customer focused. In order to attain this, the bank increased its

opening hours, introduced more products, opened up more branches and has adopted the latest

technology (Mekonnin, 2013). This has led to its employees working longer hours, having a greater

and more complex workload, being moved from one branch to another. Therefore, experiencing a

lot of work pressure and a culture of poor work life balance result to their employees becoming

highly dissatisfied. So, now work life balance will be an issue among employees in the banking

sector (Hogarth and Bosworth, 2009).

Among the branches of CBE, Addis Ababa Saris Abo branch is the one banking industry which is

not exceptional to the above and according to personal communication with some of employees of

the bank, the bank works with an extended working hours and uncomfortable working culture to

cater the majority of customer demands which in turn affect the work–life balance of employees.

As some of employees of the bank said they are encountering with various work–family conflicts

due to lack of free time, high workloads, many working days (starting from Monday to Saturday.

Even if the banks salary scale is attractive, numerous causes which lead to poor work life balance

makes the employees of commercial bank of Ethiopia reluctant to their responsibility which also

affects their job performance. So, work life imbalance gets more serious as one climbs up the

ladder of management hierarchy. However, having said that, particularly in Ethiopian context work

life balance practices have not been fully implemented and there hasn’t been extensive research

on work life balance and its impact on different aspect of both employees and an organizations.

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Therefore, there is a clear need for this research to fill that gap and in light of the above problems;

this study will be specifically designed to investigate the impact of work life balance on

employee’s job performance and their social life status.

1.3 Research Questions/Hypothesis

The study will address the following research questions:
 What Work-Life balance support practices exist in commercial bank of Ethiopia Addis
Ababa Saris Abo branch?

 What are the factors which affect employees work life balance achievement?

 What is the impact of work life balance on employees’ job performance?

 What is the impact of work life balance on employees’ social life?

1.4 Objective of the study
1.4.1 General objective of the study
The general objective of the study is to examine the impact of work life balance on employees’

job performance and their social life status in the context of Commercial bank of Ethiopia Addis

Ababa Saris Abo branch with view to enhance work life balance of those bank employees.

1.4.2 Specific objectives of the study

The specific objectives of the study are to:
 To assess various Work-Life balance practices/ programs which exist in the CBE Addis
Ababa Saris Abo branch.

 To determine the factors which affect employees work life balance achievement

 To investigate the impact of work life balance on the employee job performance.

 To investigate the impact of work life balance (WLB) practices on social life of employees.

1.5 Significance of the study

The significance of this study to the specific organization brings out various work-life balance
support practices which CBE might undertake to formulate work life balance strategies and
implement for enhancing its employees job performance and make its employees committed,

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interested, satisfied in order to contribute their efforts willingly. Besides this by enhancing
awareness about WLB practices to HRM of the bank can increase retention rate, paves the way to
create good image to the bank by many aspects.
The study also might have contribution to any interested organizations and policy makers through
providing clues and understanding of how work life balance affect employees’ job performance
and social life and it tries to provide mechanism how to handle work life balance problems and fill
the existing knowledge gap regarding the role of work life balance for increasing performance and
satisfactory level of social life status. Moreover, we believes that it create awareness to identify
areas of weaknesses, strengths with regard to work life balance functioning, and this research
project draws the attention of other researchers.
1.6 Scope of the study
Commercial Bank of Ethiopia recently has more than 1950 branches, but this research will be
limited only to Addis Ababa Saris Abo branches of commercial bank of Ethiopia. Because of the
vast nature of the problem related to work life balance, we will be unable to incorporate and assess
all problems of each branch related to work life balance. Therefore, we do not recommend readers
to generalize to all branches of Commercial Bank of Ethiopia and for the sake of uniformity also
data were obtained from commercial bank of Ethiopia only, we could not incorporate other
commercial banks in the study. As work life balance has multi-dimensional impact on an
organization and employees, but the study mainly will focus on the impact of work life balance on
employees’ job performance and on their social life status.

1.7 Limitations of the study

The study will be only conducted in CBE Addis Ababa Saris Abo Branch only, which limits the
generalizability of the research findings to the whole banks context of Ethiopia. And since all
findings will be based on the information given by the respondents it might be subject to the
potential bias and prejudice of the people will may be involved.

1.8 Definition of terms

- Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) - is a voluntary, work-based program that offers free
and confidential assessments, short-term counseling, referrals, and follow-up services to
employees who have personal and/or work-related problems.

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- Extra-role performance (ERP) - the involvement of individual employees as well as group to
enhance the group behavior toward achieving both group and organizational goal.
- Family interference with work (FIW) referred to as family-to-work conflict or home-work
interference and occurs when family, home or personal life interferes with work life.
- Human Resource Management (HRM) is the process of acquiring, training, appraising and
compensating employees, and attending to their labor relations, health and safety concerns.
- In-role performance (IRP) - refers to the individual contribution to the organization as stated
in the job description and specification.
- Work interference with family (WIF) is also referred to as work-to-family conflict and occurs
when work interferes with family, home or personal life.
- Work Life Balance (WLB)-is a concept including proper prioritizing between work (career and
ambition) and Lifestyle (Health, pleasure, leisure, family and spiritual development. It means
equilibrium between job work and personal life.

1.9 Organization of study

The research proposal will be organized into three chapters. The first chapter is concerned with
the introductory part: background of the study. The statement of the problem, research questions,
significance of the study, scope of the study, limitation and organization of the study.

In chapter two theoretical foundation, empirical review and conceptual framework of the study
will be present. This chapter covers important issues related to the Work life balance literatures,
empirical studies, factors and impacts of work life balance and organizational culture.

Chapter three emphasis on the research methodology. It explains the study area, research design,
target population, source and method of data collection and analysis, data processing and
presentation, ethical consideration and validity of study.

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 CHAPTER TWO: LITRATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction
Living and working in the present day, most employees in every sector need to balance work and
family demands in environments where everything is moving faster. (Ashfaq, 2014) states that
since organizational performance directly depend on employees performance, they are major part
of organizational core competencies. Hence employees are ultimately the leading factors for better
organizational performance, they are hard to imitate. Therefore, there must be finding out the way
through which employees should be satisfied, skilled, intrinsically motivated and mentally present
at work place. Work-life conflict /imbalance make them uneasy and mentally disturbed, stressed
and occupied and they will have absent minds at work place. The study will try to discover the
impact of work life balance on employees’ performance as well as on their social life status.
Empirical and conceptual framework of variables will be discussed in detail.
2.1.1 Definition of work life balance
From the very beginning according to (Hudson, 2005) it is important to understand that work-life
balance does not mean to devote an equal amount of time to paid work and non-paid roles and as
he states that work-life balance proposes a relationship between work-life and non-work life and
since they are integrated, should interact in a harmonious way. According to (Sharma, 2013) Work-
Life Balance is one where we spread our energy and effort (emotional, intellectual, imaginative,
spiritual and physical) efforts between key areas of importance. Work-life balance is generally
associated with satisfactory level devotion of the amount of time and effort to work and personal
activities, to maintain an overall sense of harmony in life (Clarke, etal, 2004).
2.1.2 Roots of the concept
According to (Harrington, 2007), the work-life field can trace its roots in two related areas. The
first will be a focus on childcare programs that were a direct result of increasing number of
professional women entering in the workforce in the 1970’s and 1980’s. The second will be an
extension of the Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) that will be introduced in many companies
in the 1970’s. Organizations that evolved from a work/family perspective began with a focus on
working mothers and the need for quality childcare. Previously managing a balance between work
& life will be considered woman’s issue. But increasing workloads, globalization & technological
advancements have made it an issue with both the sexes, all professionals working across all levels

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& all industries across the world (Broers, 2005). According to (Buddhapriya S, 2009) increasingly,
many employees and organizations today are viewing WLB as an important issue.
2.2 Theories of work family linkage
(Blood and wolfe, 1960) Present several theories on their study to explain the work family linkage:
These include Segmentation, Compensation, Spillover and the Border theory. The earliest view of
the relationship between work and home will be that they are segmented and independent and do
not affect each other. (Blood and Wolfe, 1960), who were pioneers of this perspective, applied this
concept to blue collar workers. They explained that for workers in unsatisfying or un-involving
jobs, segmentation of work and home is a natural process. The Compensation theory proposed that
workers try to compensate for the lack of satisfaction in one domain (work or home) by trying to
find more satisfaction in the other domain (Lambert, 1990). The most popular view of relationship
between work and family, Spillover theory will be put forth by (Voydanoff, 1987), suggest that
positive and negative spillover. Positive spillover refers to fact that satisfaction and achievement
in one domain may bring along satisfaction and achievement in another domain. Negative spillover
refers to the fact that difficulties and depression in one domain may bring along the same emotion
in another domain. Spillover can have positive or negative effects, and can occur in both directions
− work-to-personal life and personal life-to-work. (Clark, 2000) presented a work/family border
theory - a new theory about work family balance. According to this theory, each of person’s role
takes place within a specific domain of life, and these domains are separated by borders that may
be physical, temporal, or psychological. The theory addresses the issue of “crossing borders”
between domains of life, especially the domains of home and work. According to the theory, the
flexibility and permeability of the boundaries between people’s work and family lives will affect
the level of integration, the ease of transitions, and the level of conflict between these domains.
2.3 Work-Life imbalance
Work-life imbalance or conflict occurs when certain factors cause individuals to fail in effectively
balancing and fulfilling their work and family/life roles. Work-life imbalance refers a form of inter-
role conflict in which role pressures from the work and life, or non-work domains, are mutually
incompatible (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985). According to (Magnus and Viswesvaran, 2006) the
demands of each role includes several responsibilities, duties, obligations, commitments and
expectations which require several resources, such as time, energy, skills and support functions.
When the compatibility between the demands and resources are in a state of imbalance, it has the

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potential to result in work-life imbalance. (Byron, 2005) generalized that work life imbalance can
be resulted from negative interference between work and life, means negative work interference
with family (WIF) or negative family interference with work (FIW). According to (Byron, 2005),
Work-life interference comprises of four dimensions, namely
A- Negative work-life interference (NWLI), referring to a situation where work life interacts

with personal life with a negative influence;

B- Positive work-life interference (PWLI), referring to a situation where work life interacts

with personal life with a positive influence;

C- Negative life-work interference (NLWI), referring to a situation where personal life

interacts with work life with a negative influence and finally:

D- Positive life-work interference (PLWI), referring to a situation where personal life interacts

with work life with a positive influence.

2.4 Factors of work life balance

Through extensive research studies different factors of work life balance discovered by different
researchers who scientifically found that those determinants have significant effect on employees
work life balance status either positively or negatively. Here categories’ as:
I - Organizational domain variables

(Dikkers et al, 2007) states in recent complex world, as increased demands, energy and resources

has amplified the pressure on organizations. With this, many organizational determinants had

come forth that influences an employee’s ability to balance work and life roles. Such as:

-Work demand

According to (Scharlach, 2001), work demands refer to nature of work, what it require, how, when,

how it must be done, how often, workloads, in a person’s job with having little to no influence or

control over how that work load is planned and scheduled. High work demands are usually related

to insufficient time to complete tasks, insufficient or inadequate tools and resources to complete

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tasks, unrealistic performance targets with impractical deadlines, lack of support and guidance

from supervisors or managers in completing tasks, lack of adequate skills and knowledge by the

employee to complete the task (Dikkers et al., 2007).

- Role conflict, overload and ambiguity

Role conflict described as “when demands of one of the multiple roles make it difficult to fulfill

the demands of another role” and “the extent to which a person experiences pressures within one

role that are incompatible with the pressures that arise within another role” (Coverman, 1989).

Role overload can also be conceptualized as role strain, referring to an imbalance between the

demands at hand and the resources available to manage those demands. High levels of overload

mean that an individual has too many role demands and obligations, but is unable to perform them

all effectively (Barnett and Baruch, 1985). Another work stressor that determines to work life

balance or imbalance status is role ambiguity, which implies a lack of information required to

perform a particular role, or a lack of clarity, and, hence, uncertainty concerning the expectations

connected with the role (Kahn et al., 1964).

-Working hours

The effort-recovery model proposes that working long hours or working overtime leaves less time

for recovery, resulting in negative loading that cause prolonged fatigue and interference with

functioning at home. Negative load effects build up during the working day, prolong during the

evenings and develop into negative spill over from work to home as less time is spent on recovery.

Long working hours are related to limited rest, which results in fatigue and poorer health and are

more likely to result in work-life interference (Ballout, 2008).

-Organizational culture

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According to (Thompson etal., 1999), Organizations having a positive work-family culture are

where employees feel free to make use of work-life balance benefits or arrangements without being

discriminated against or negatively affected as a result of doing so. A positive work-family culture

is characterized by the support of an organization to its employees enabling them to balance their

work and family lives. But, the problem is most organizations do not give emphasis for work life

balance issues, as (Douglas T. etal. 2015) raised two reasons. First, some organizations are

uncertain about what action would be appropriate and effective on work/home issues. Second they

are simply unwilling to work on these issues, but not due to lack of ability.

The main objective of work-family culture arrangements is to assist employees in balancing their

work and life/family roles in an attempt to reduce work-family conflict.

II- Personal variables

Personality traits or variables are referred to as personal resources, in the form of psychological

and social means by which people cope with the various stresses in their environment (Rothmann,

and Coetzer, 2002). Personal resources, such as personality traits, characteristics, competencies or

styles are functional in controlling the environment and exerting impact on it in a successful way.

Different employees with different personality profiles will experience work-life balance

differently and also react to it differently. Various personality and demographic characteristics

may have a pronounced effect on the degree to which employees experience and cope with work-

family conflict or imbalance. The fact that there are various personality traits that could also have

a direct effect on work-life interaction, but in this particular study each personality types not

considered for testing. Here also personality treats are different demographic variables which have

relationship with work life balance: Demographics refer to individual variables such as gender,

age, ethnicity, languages, disabilities, mobility, home ownership, employment status, and location.

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 III - Home and social domain variables

Social domain variables which interface with paid work domain variables includes religion,

hobbies, leisure, sports, spouse, parent, recreation, child, volunteer, sibling, friend, committee

member, relative etc. issues are some of social activities of an individual which interface with work

related variables and resulted work life imbalance, impacting the work/non-work relationship.

More and more pressure is placed on employees to meet both work and non-work demands and

expectations, in a world that is focused on service excellence, effectiveness and efficiency,

resulting in different level of work life balance achievement for both employees and the

organization (Dash, et al 2012)

IV - Technology and its usage

Besides its unquestionable advantages, technology have found impacting work life balance

impacting work-life balance, as the internet and mobile phones has made it possible for employees

to work anytime and from anywhere, distorting the boundaries between work and home and also

different communication medias have an impact on employee work life (Beauregard, 2004).

2.5 Ways to enhance work life balance

In order to effectively reduce work-life imbalance or work-family conflict and increase the use of
work-life balance arrangements, organizations should create a work-family culture that considers
the above determinants and supports employees by rendering different work-life balance initiatives
and arrangements.

- Organizational support

Organizational support enables employees to be better able to control the work-life conflict
relationship in their lives. Having organizational support establishes a better person-environment
fit and has been shown to be a better predictor of reduced psychological distress and improved
quality of life (Richman et al., 2008).

- Work-life balance initiatives

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Work-life balance initiatives are benefits and practices provided by an organization to its member’s

in order to assist them to effectively meet their work and personal life obligations. Work-life

balance initiatives provide employees with the ability to make choices influencing when, where

and for how long they engage in work related tasks enabling employees to control their work and

life roles, decreasing conflict between these two domains and as a result achieve work satisfaction

and engagement (Hill etal, 2001). The initiatives include flexible working and leaving options such

as flexible hours, tele-work/ working from home arrangements), leave arrangements, part time,

job-sharing, and etc.

- Job Performance

(Williams and Anderson, 1991) define that performance is the aggregated value of employee

contribution both directly and indirectly to organizational objectives. According to (Bashir, 2010).

Performance of an employee at their workplace is a point of concern for all organizations

irrespective of all the factors and conditions. (Moorman et al., 1993) states that employees’

performance can be defined based on in-role and extra-role performance. A good performance of

employees of an organization leads towards a good organizational performance thus ultimately

making an organization more successful and effective (Armstrong & Baron, 1998).

2.6 Impact of Work life balance on employees’ job performance and social life
(Beauregard and Henry, 2009) shows that there are a number of routes by which work-life balance
practices can influence employee’s performance, different multi-level analysis and research have
shown through multiple directions:
 Reduction of work-life conflict

Interference between work and non-work responsibilities has a number of negative outcomes that

have been well established in the literature. In terms of job attitudes, employees reporting high

levels of both work-to-life and life-to-work conflict tend to exhibit lower levels of job satisfaction

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and performance (Burke & Greenglass, 1999). Both directions of conflict also lead to include

reduced work effort, and increased absenteeism and turnover, stress, burn out (Anderson etal.,

2002). Several studies reported by (Beauregard and Henry,2009) have shown that the use of

flexible working hours, perceived control, family supportive policies, practices and perceptions

have been associated with lower levels of work-life conflict.

Improves employee loyalty: (Lambert, 2000) averts that improving a company’s WLB practices

not only leads to greater productivity but greater loyalty and job satisfaction among employees.

(Hobson et al., 2001), say that, critical support in the form of increased motivation, productivity,

attendance, commitment, loyalty and so forth can heightened efforts of employee.

Reduces absenteeism: Work-family conflict is positively related to work absenteeism (Thomas

and Ganster, 1995) and to turnover intentions (Netemeyer et al., 1996). Work-life programs

generate performance benefits for firms by enhancing recruitment and reducing absenteeism and

turnover (Greenhaus and Parasuraman, 1997).

 Satisfaction and commitment

Using the provision of work-life balance practices as an indicator of favorable treatment,

employees will reciprocate in ways beneficial to the organization – increased commitment,

satisfaction with one’s job, and citizenship behaviors, increase their perceptions of organizational

support. (Lero et al, 2009) states that the availability of work-life balance initiatives, reduction of

work-life conflict are very likely to change employees’ attitudes and perceptions of an

organization; and in turn affect their personal satisfaction and commitment towards their job and

organization. (Beauregard et al,2009) In addition with increased organizational commitment and

performance, reduced turnover intentions; and increased job satisfaction and loyalty.

 Improved personal health and wellbeing

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The effort-recovery (E-R) model, as originally proposed by (Meijman and Mulder, 1998),

facilitates understanding of the impact that certain work stressors can have on personal well-being,

as it proposes that effort expenditure in the form of work, is associated with short-term

physiological and psychological costs, in terms of fatigue, tension and stress. The negative effects

of these costs can be reversed when the individual reduces effort investment and exposure to work

load and pressure. This process is known as the recovery phase. (Lero et al. 2009) found in his

study that work-life balance practices had a positive impact on reducing job stress and improved

morale and mental health

Happy employee: (Adams et al., 1996) found work-family conflict will be negatively related to

both job satisfaction and life satisfaction. Negative relationships between job-life satisfaction and

various forms work-family conflict exert considerable influence on family life in the form of

unpleasant moods. Employees enjoy better relation with spouse, kids, friends, etc.

Reduces tension: Employees said to benefit through greater job satisfaction. WLBPs create a sense

of assurance for employees that their organization/employer is supportive of employee wellbeing

and non-work related needs.

Psychological well-being: Work-life balance is associated with decreased psychological distress

(Major et al., 2000). Experiences of both types of work-family conflict produces increased

depression levels (Allen et al., 2000).

Physical health: Studies have showed that higher levels of WFC and FWC experiences relate to

decreased levels of self-reported overall physical health as well as more physical and somatic

health complaints on specific symptom checklists (Allen et al., 2000). Successful work-life

integration is related to reduce physical and psychological complaints such as illness, increased

appetite and energy levels, decreased fatigue, nervous tension and anxiety (Allen et al., 2000).

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2.7 Conceptual framework

According to the above literature review and to achieve the research objectives the following

conceptualized research model is developed. Further, Figure below shows that work life balance

of employees influenced by different determinants which grouped in four categories

organizational, home and social, personal variables and technology. And also the model indicates

the effect of work life balance on employees’ job performance and social life status. Moreover, the

determinants of work life balance were significantly explaining the variation in work life balance

and since work life balance positively and significantly predict employees’ job performance.

Therefore, work life balance is one of the several factors that have an effect on employees’ job

performance.

Organizational variables Employees’ job Performance

Home/social variables

Personal variables
Work Life Balance

Technology

Employee’s social Life status

Figure 2. 7 Conceptual frame work of the study

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 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY

The main objective of this chapter will be to give an overview of the research design and

methodology used to investigate the research problem. Since, obtaining the right data from the

right source by using the right method and analyzing it via the right analytical tool is the most

important for the best accomplishment of the study (Kothari, 1990),in this section, the following

methodologies and procedures discussed below:

3.1 Research Design

Decisions regarding what, where, when, how much, by what means concerning an inquiry or a

research study constitute a research design. The research design will be used descriptive and

explanatory research design using quantitative method. The rationale behind using descriptive

study design is it is preferable to describe the existing phenomena regarding to work life balance

using behind explanatory research design is to determine how the independent variable /work life

balance / explain the dependent variable/job performance/ of the study.

3.1.1 Target Population

A population is the entire group of individuals, events or objects having common evident features.

A target population is that population to which a researcher wants to take a broad view of the

results of a study (Coolican, 2013). In this study, the target population will comprises 200 total

full time staff members working and managed under Commercial bank of Ethiopia, Saris abo

branches.

3.1.2 Sampling Technique

We will decide to uses simple random sampling techniques in order to study the impact of work

life balance on employees’ job performance and their social life status in case of commercial bank

of Ethiopia saris abo branches. In this sampling method, each member of the population has an

17
exactly equal chance of being selected. This method is the most straightforward of all the

probability sampling method, since it only involves a single random selection and requires little

advance knowledge about the population. Because it uses randomization, any research performed

on this sample should have high internal and external validity, and be at a lower risk for research

biases like sampling bias and selection bias. This leads us to choose simple random sampling for

the current study.

3.1.3 Sample Size

Sampling is the process of systematically choosing a sub-set of the total population that the
researchers are interested in surveying. Regarding to these Paula et al. (2001) noted that, sampling
refers to drawing a sample or selecting a subset of elements from a population.

Depending up on Taro Yamane (1973) the sample size calculated as follows to represent the total
population or universe, 200, which is the total number of employees managed under Commercial
bank of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa Saris Abo branch at 95% confidence level.
It calculated as follows:
𝑁
n= Where, n =Sample size,
1+𝑁∗(𝑒)2
N = Population,
e = standard error (0.05)
200
n=
1+200∗(0.05)2
n= 133.3 approximate as 133

Therefore, according to the above sampling calculation this research will select 133 numbers of
respondents as the sample size employees who are working in the CBE saris abo branch due to the
convenient in collecting the data. The respondent will be any gender, salary level, occupation and
position.

3.2 Source of data

Both primary and secondary source of data will be used. The primary sources are employees of

the CBE. They are considered being the relevant sources of data because they are the ones who

18
know or have experience with every activities of the bank. In addition, secondary sources like

Articles, Journals, and researches will be used.

3.3 Method of data collection

Method of data collection involves questionnaires for primary data and beside these; the above

secondary data will be used. The purpose of using questionnaires in the research is because of the

direct response and feedback from the respondents that can be collected in short period of time

and in an easier manner.

3.4 Data Processing and analysis

3.4.1 Data Processing
The method of data processing in this study is both manual and computerized system. In the
Processing procedure editing, coding, classification, and tabulation of the collected Data will be
used. We will edit the data which will be collected from each respondent to detect errors,
omissions, checking that whether each questions answered or not. Then process of assigning
numerical symbols will be conducted to reduce responses into a limited number of categories or
classes. After this, the processes of classification or arranging large volume of raw data in to classes
or groups based on common characteristics were undertaken. Data having the common
characteristics were place together and in this way, the data were divided into a number of groups.
Finally, tabulation will be used to summarize the raw data and displayed in the compact form (in
the form of statistical table) for further analysis.
3.4.2 Data Analysis
After the data will be collected and processed, this is further transformation of the processed data
according to the objective to look for patterns and relationships between variable, proper analysis
and interpretation will be conducted. Here we will use both descriptive and inferential Statistical
analysis. In this regard a power full statistical tool, SPSS version 25 will be used.
A. Descriptive Analysis: We will use descriptive analysis to reduce the data in to a summary

format and with respect to the nature of each question, the descriptive statistics utilized will

19
 be cross tabulations for related double questions and summary statistics such as means,

standard deviations, minimum and maximum will be computed for the rest variables.

B. Inferential Analysis: According to (Sekaran,2000), “inferential statistics allow researchers

to infer from the data through analysis the relationship between two variables; differences

in a variable among different groups; and how several independent variables might explain

the variance in a dependent variable.

The following inferential statistical methods will be conduct in this study.

I-The Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient:(Cohen and Swerdlik ,2002) posit that the

Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient is a widely used statistical method for obtaining

an index of the relationships between two variables when the relationships between the variables

is linear and when the two variables correlated are continuous. On this study, we will be used it to

determine the following relationships among variables for the respondents or to ascertain whether

a statistically significant relationship exists between:

WLB and employees job performance and

WLB and employee’s social life

II-Regression Analysis: used to investigate the impact of independent variable on dependent

variable. In the current study simple linear regression will be used to investigate the impact of:

Work life balance on employees’ job performance and

Work life balance on employees’ social life status

3.5 Ethical issues of the Study
Concerning ethical considerations, we will take in account:
Confidentiality – the respondents will be assure that they will not confuse and that their response

remained confidential. The information they provide is confidential and will be used for academic

purpose only.

20
Organizational approval – A written letter that explains the research idea as well as a copy of the

research proposal will be provide to the study site. We will obtain approval prior to any research

activity at the specified location will being carried out.

Informed consent – Cover letters will explain the purpose of the questionnaire and well as for what

purpose the study is going to be conduct.

3.6 Validity and Reliability

Validity: The extent to which the measurement what intends to measure. The instrument will
designed by taking in to consideration the basic question and all items included in the
questionnaires.

Reliability: Reliability of the instrument is also taste to check on its internal consistency using

Cronbach’s alpha result for all the seven categories of the questionnaire.

21
 TIME AND BUDJET BREAK DOWN

Duration in Months, 2016

Tasks will Mar Apr May
perform
Remark

W1 W2 W3 W4 W1 W2 W3 W4 W1 W2 W3 W4

We
Topic Selection

Different We
literature
review
Proposal We
preparation

We
Questionnaires
Development
Data Collection We

Data Processing We

We
Data Analysis
and
Interpretations
First draft We
submission

We
Final report
submission and
presentation
TABLE 1: Work plan

22
 Unit
No Item Quantity Unit price Total price(Birr)

1 Pen 20 15 300
Dozen
2 Paper Ream 1 3 1000

25 50
2
3 Mobile card 50 200
Number 4
3 100 300

4 Notebook 4 70 280
Pad
5 Binder 3 55 170
Piece
6 Printing and photocopy 100 10+15=25 2200
page
7 Internet service - 100 100
Hr.

8 Flash disk 1(8GB) 600 600

Number

9 Miscellaneous expense Birr - - 1000

Birr
10 Contingency cost (5%) - 200 1200

= 8,000
Total Expense

TABLE 2: BUDGET COST PLAN

23
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