1.1 Background

The ability to achieve Work–Life Balance (WLB) has become an important topic in many societies in the world due to the societal and technological changes over the last few decades. The WLB concept has generated substantial interest in the academia, research and published literature. It has been said that achieving WLB results in positive outcome of an individual including job satisfaction, life satisfaction, organizational commitment, and psychological well-being. WLB research began gaining popularity in recent years despite its long history in the existing literature and research. One of the main reasons for this phenomenon is due to the demographic changes as well as the shifts in attitudes which are changing the workforce’s perspective in the need and desire for WLB (Lingard & Francis, 2009). It has also been said that work and life imbalance has a detrimental effect to one’s physical and psychological health (Lingard & Francis, 2009). The shift in this trend is a worrying issue especially in the construction industry where it has often been labelled by many people as dirty, demanding and dangerous (Ofori, 2000). The construction industry has also been characterized for its long working hours, high demand and stressful job scope (Lingard & Francis, 2009). Juggling work and life for employees working in the construction industry (especially in main contractor firms) is frequently tough and difficult. According to Bannon, Ford, and Meltzer (2011), WLB is one of the major concerns for the Millennials workforce. The Millennials workforce tends to avoid working long hours at the expense of spending time with their family and friends. With more Millennials employees entering the workforce, concerns related to WLB must be addressed by the organizations to help this generation achieve WLB.

Even though Singapore has enacted laws to protect the workers from excessive working hours under the Employment Act, the nature of the construction industry has often pushed workers to the limit. The Ministry of Manpower (2011) in Singapore has also reported that construction industry practices have made employees work for weeks on end without any rest days. Working long hours without rest will also affect their physical and mental health. Most organizations (including building contractors) have failed to implement proper policies and practices that would help the workers eliminate or overcome this issue. These negativities have resulted in deterring the current Millennials from entering to work in the construction industry based on the figures reported by the Ministry of Manpower (2016) in Singapore. With an ageing workforce on the rise and the disproportional local to foreign workforce currently in the Singapore construction industry, it is clear that the relevant authorities and organizations should set up new policies that will help promote WLB especially to the Millennials building professionals.

1.2 Research Problem

WLB as mentioned earlier has generated substantial interest in the academia, research and published literature. Unfortunately till date, WLB still appears to be an underdeveloped and fragmented concept that has not been keeping pace with the increasing interests generated (Grzywacz & Carlson, 2007). Furthermore, there is still a lack of consensus on how WLB should be defined and measured despite the abundance of WLB studies in the existing literature (Rantanen, Kinnunen, Mauno, & Tillemann, 2010). Currently there is still no strong theoretical understanding of WLB, resulting in literatures and notions driven by diverse empirical findings. Likewise, the absence of strong empirical support has also resulted in the loosely defined conceptualization of WLB which came under the scrutiny of many researchers (Carlson, Grzywacz, & Zivnuska, 2009; Grzywacz & Carlson, 2007). The lack of empirical evidence can impair the ability of human resource practitioners to apply effective and viable organizational strategies to promoting WLB; thus causing counterproductive results. In addition, many studies generalized WLB as a single solution which can be applied to all individuals across different societies (Grzywacz & Carlson, 2007; Rantanen et al., 2010). However, this may not be feasible as there are also other elements that can influence the realization of WLB. Hence, this warrants an investigation to evaluate if achieving WLB can indeed be of a universal application or an isolated solution based on a case-by-case basis.

1.3 Research Aim and Objectives

The research aims to operationalize the concept of WLB which can be used to apply across different areas of study. A comparative study will be performed to validate the operationalized concept as well as to justify whether achieving WLB is indeed a universal application or an isolated solution to be considered on a case-by-case basis.

The research objectives presented in this study are as follows:

  • To develop a framework that provides a linking mechanism to explaining WLB; and

  • To evaluate and assess WLB as perceived from two different countries (namely Singapore and South Korea) with the same demographics in order to establish a fair comparison and interpretation of the results during the assessment

1.4 Research Hypotheses

The conceptual framework (presented later in the book) formed the basis for the research hypotheses. There are a total of 12 hypotheses in this research which will be reviewed and presented in the book.

1.5 Research Scope

This research focuses on operationalizing the concept of WLB and to test the conceptual framework by conducting empirical studies in the construction industry. However, the scope of this study is limited to assessing the level of WLB on Millennials employees working in the construction industry, particularly with the main contractor firms dealing with builder’s works. In addition, the study will be targeting Singapore and South Korea nationalities, as well as to examine whether the application of the results on the conceptual framework of WLB will yield different outcomes in two different countries.

1.6 Structure of Book

This book comprises of seven chapters. Figure 1.1 illustrates the structure of the book. This chapter introduces the background of this research as well as setting the research problem, aim, objectives and scope of the study. Chapters 2–4 present the literature review of this study. Chapter 2 on Work–Life Balance and Work–Life Interface provides insights on past WLB research works carried out as well as discussing all the Work–Life Interfaces that are associated with WLB. Chapter 2 covers the literature review associated with Work–Life Balance as well as developing the background knowledge of the WLB research which is essential for developing the conceptual framework in Chap 3. In Chap. 3, Constructing the Conceptual Framework, a conceptual framework is formulated based on the ideas and theories drawn from past research studies. This chapter also explains each of the indicators used in the conceptual framework in details. The research hypotheses are also presented to show the relationships between the succeeding and preceding attributes. Chapter 4 on the Singapore and South Korea Context introduces the background of the research scope and comprises of three sections: namely overview of Singapore and South Korea society, the construction industry in Singapore and South Korea and the Millennials population in Singapore and South Korea. Chapter 5 on Research Design and Methodology, discusses the formulation of the research design and adoption of the appropriate research method. This includes the formulation of the survey questionnaire, the method of analyzing the data using descriptive and inferential statistics as well as providing qualitative inputs of the interview findings and background information of the interviewees. Chapter 6 on Research Findings and Analysis presents findings of the descriptive and inferential statistics. In the descriptive statistics, the mean scores computed from the Singapore and South Korea survey results are ranked and compared individually to evaluate which attribute has the highest or lowest impact to the individual. The mean differences between the Singapore and South Korea survey results are also ranked and compared. This identifies the clear distinction that separates the characteristics of the Singaporean and South Korean respondents. The inferential statistics computed from the Singapore and South Korea surveys are used to explain the conceptual framework. Structural equation modelling is chosen to perform multivariate analysis on the conceptual framework as this method simultaneously examines the relationships between variables. A series of computation will be conducted to assess the validity and reliability of the measurement model as well as testing the hypotheses of the conceptual framework by assessing the structural model. Interviews are also conducted to gather the interviewees’ views and opinions of the findings from the statistical analysis. Chapter 7 concludes this book by discussing the theoretical and practical implications, strengths and limitations of this study as well as recommendations for further study.

Fig. 1.1
figure 1

Structure of the book

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