Determinants of work-life balance among Malaysian working mothers: implications for human resource management practices

Work-life balance has become an important organisational issue as the increasing participation of women in the workforce has intensified the challenge of balancing work and family responsibilities. Despite growing attention to work-life balance, limited empirical evidence exists on the combined influence of family responsibility, job-related factors, and childcare arrangements among Malaysian working mothers from a human resource management perspective. Therefore, this study examined the effects of family responsibility, job-related factors, and childcare arrangements on work-life balance among Malaysian working mothers. A quantitative research design was employed using a purposive non-probability sampling technique, involving 143 working mothers in Malaysia. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to examine the proposed relationships. The findings indicated that family responsibility and job-related factors significantly influenced work-life balance, whereas childcare arrangements had no significant effect. These findings contribute to the work-life balance literature by providing empirical evidence from the Malaysian context and offer practical implications for human resource management. Organisations may utilise these findings to develop family-friendly workplace policies, flexible work arrangements, and employee well-being initiatives that promote workforce sustainability while supporting employees in balancing their work and family responsibilities.