Role of perceived work–life balance between work overload and career commitment

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to examine the mediating effect of perceived work–life balance (WLB) between work overload and career commitment among law enforcement officers in India. The study also explores whether satisfaction with organizational WLB strategies moderates the relationship between work overload and perceived WLB.Design/methodology/approachThis research is based on a sample of 819 law enforcement officers through a structured questionnaire based data collection. The reliability coefficient of the scales varied between 0.86 and 0.94. The study adopted a hierarchical multiple regression analysis to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe result supported the mediating role of perceived WLB in the relationship between work overload and career commitment. It also demonstrated that the impact of work overload on perceived WLB would be diminished among employees having high levels of satisfaction on organizational WLB strategies.Practical implicationsThe research findings have significant policy implications for the organization under study and a reference for many others with deteriorating WLB to amend the existing policy or formulate new measures.Originality/valueThe present study expands the scant literature on the mediating role of perceived WLB between work overload and career commitment. The study also furthers the literature by exploring the moderating roles of WLB strategies between work overload and perceived WLB.