Work-life balance and organizational commitment of women in construction in the United States

Existing research on work-life balance and organizational commitment covers many industries in countries around the globe. Differences in culture, age, gender, job type or field are often the bases of such studies. Although research on job satisfaction and work-life balance of women in construction industries has emerged, these studies have overwhelmingly focused on countries outside of the United States of America. Therefore, this research focused on job satisfaction, work-life balance and organizational commitment of women employed in the construction industry in the United States. Research participants were solicited from the membership of a national professional organization that is structured to promote and support the advancement and employment of women in the construction industry. The aim of this research was to identify variables that affect satisfaction with one's job and employer, as well as overall intention to remain with that employer. Much of the existing literature is limited to identifying variables that can attract women to jobs, not necessarily retain them for a long career. The questions of whether job satisfaction results in enhanced organizational commitment and intention to stay, or if the two mutually exclusive were explored. The results of the logistic regression analyses indicated a difference in the commitment of women over different time intervals, as well as differences in satisfaction with employer benefits when children under the age of 21 were living in the home. The factors that lead to the most job satisfaction were good working relationships with coworkers and peers, the degree of respect and fair treatment received from superiors, the amount of challenge on the job, a feeling of accomplishment gained from the job, and feeling valued as an employee. Factors that ranked highest in affecting an employee's organizational commitment, were the degree of job-fit to the individual's skills, flexibility and balance between work and personal time, the degree to which the employee felt valued as an asset to the company/employer, and opportunities (or the lack of) for advancement. Finally, three predictive models were developed, tested for significance, and then validated. The predictive models were “Satisfaction with Employer,” “Short-term Employee Commitment” and “Long-term Employee Commitment. ”