The inter-relationship between work-life balance and organisational culture : an empirical study of Nigerian health sector

This exploratory study examines the relationship between the work-life balance and organisational culture of medical doctors and nurses in Nigeria. There has been an overwhelming majority of work-life balance studies undertaken in Western countries. This leaves Africa, most notably Nigeria, an understudied area of investigations. In order to achieve this objective, this study applies a qualitative research method. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were carried out with 62 medical doctors and 29 nurses across the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria. Drawing on the data collected, this thesis makes two important contributions to this field of research. Empirically, the study enhances the work-life balance database most especially in the specific context of Nigeria, by revealing that the traditional culture of Nigerian health organisations has an enormous influence on the employees’ abilities to use work-life balance policies and practices. In other words, there is an overarching relationship between organisational culture and the use of work-life balance policies and practices by doctors and nurses in the Nigerian health sector. The findings also reveal that Nigerian doctors and nurses struggle to cope with the demanding nature of their jobs and their aspirations to fulfil their non-work responsibilities. Theoretically, the study identifies an important shift in the construct and application of border theory. Border theory explains how employees negotiate their daily movements across work and family domains, but fails to recognise that family is by no means the only non-work duty that is important to employees. Also, border theory does not deal with factors that determine employees’ movements across the border. These shortcomings are alarming, especially now that Generation X employees (workers born after 1963) prefer work arrangements that also cater for their non-work duties and responsibilities. Following these shortcomings, and with the data collected, a work-life border control model was developed. Practically, the developed model (work-life border control model) extends work-life border theory by incorporating other non- ii working live activities including familial duties and outlines factors that determine employees’ movement across the border. Also, the findings of this study provide a valuable insight into the reality of work-life balance practices in Nigeria. This study thus provides an important and timely understanding about the working and non-working lives of Nigerian doctors and nurses and provides feasible and practicable recommendations for the relevant authorities.