Cost of high workload on work–life balance: a moderated mediation model

Abstract

The study examined dual-pathway (emotional exhaustion and intensive smartphone use in the evening for non-work purposes) through which high workload is related to work–life balance (WLB). The study equally tested whether family cohesion moderated these mediation effects among university academics from the South-eastern region of Nigeria. Results from a 3-wave survey data (N = 683) using PROCESS model 14 showed that high workload related negatively to WLB. High workload related positively to emotional exhaustion. Emotional exhaustion mediated the relationship between high workload and WLB. The results equally indicated that high workload related positively to intensive smartphone use in the evening for non-work purposes. Intensive smartphone use in the evening mediated the negative relationship between high workload and WLB. Family cohesion moderated the mediation effect of emotional exhaustion by buffering its influence on WLB but did not moderate the mediation effect between intensive smartphone use in the evening for non-work purposes and WLB. Our findings extend the understanding of how high workload impairs WLB via emotional exhaustion and intensive smartphone use in the evening and shed light on how to cope with high workload to achieve WLB.