Preferred Name
Alyse Scicluna Lehrke
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Date of Graduation
12-18-2020
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
School of Strategic Leadership Studies
Advisor(s)
Adam J. Vanhove
Karen A. Ford
Melissa Alemán
Abstract
Organizational leaders in high-performing companies strive to implement work-life policies and practices that contribute to the company’s competitive advantage in meaningful ways. In the United States, leaders often cite business case justifications for work-life benefits by tracing benefits to profit and loss in the form of higher retention, lower absenteeism, and greater productivity, for example. However, a corporate social responsibility case adds to the business case for work-life benefits by recognizing the potential to enhance the company’s reputation by demonstrating ethical business practices to public audiences. This study builds on both a business case and social responsibility case to examine the potential relationship between work-life benefits communicated on public-facing corporate websites and employees’ work-life balance perceptions. Using quantitative content analysis, work-life benefits were coded by categories into three tiers: Tier 1) foundational business case, Tier 2) modern business case, and Tier 3) progressive corporate social responsibility case. A series of hierarchical regressions were conducted to test the relationships between work-life benefits in each tier and the work-life balance perceptions expressed in employees’ ratings of work-life balance on the job search site Indeed.com while controlling for company size and financial performance. The statistical analysis also tested the moderating effects of industry along with organizational culture and manager support. Statistical analyses yielded largely non-significant results. This was likely due to problems with the validity in the work-life balance measure, as evidenced by the multicollinearity observed between work-life balance ratings and other Indeed.com dimension ratings. However, post hoc analyses revealed insights into industry differences in work-life benefit offerings and offer several insights for organizational leaders. Work-life benefits can serve to attract and retain talented employees when they align with employee expectations and needs, which vary based on industry workforce demographics and norms. Organizational leaders can also institute work-life benefits as part of a corporate social responsibility campaign to demonstrate care for employee and community well-being.
Recommended Citation
Lehrke, Alyse S., "Making work-life policies and perceptions public: An examination of corporate websites and employee ratings of work-life balance" (2020). Dissertations, 2020-current. 30.
https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/diss202029/30
