Work-Life Balance of Working Mothers in the Healthcare Industry in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Abstract This article investigated the work-life balance of working mothers in the healthcare industry in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It aimed at identifying the factors contributing to family-work conflict (FWC) (the impact of the family on the work) and work-family conflict (WFC) (the impact of the work on the family) among working mothers and deciding which measures dictate a negative impact on work or home, WFC or FWC. It utilized Netemeyer et al.’s (1996) WFC and FWC Scale to examine which areas cause the most conflict for working mothers. A descriptive survey research design was applied, and 80 respondents were chosen for analysis. The results revealed that many factors contribute to WFC among working mothers. For example, the time the job requires makes it difficult to fulfill family responsibilities. Moreover, many factors contribute to FWC among working mothers, such as home life interfering with the responsibilities at work, such as arriving at work on time, accomplishing daily tasks, working overtime, and having to postpone tasks at work because of family or spouse/partner demand. Finally, the impact of work on the family is higher than that of family on work. In the light of the results, the researcher recommended holding training courses in effective time management, stress management, and burnout prevention to help working mothers in the private sector. Shareholders, decision-makers, and bodies interested in work-life balance can benefit from the results to develop programs and plans that help working mothers in the healthcare industry. Therefore, further studies are required to dig deeper and find if other measures have not been addressed in the research that may cause WFC and FWC. The researcher recommended investigating the benefits of work-life balance, how it affects the broader context, and how to improve it, investigating the impact of work–family conflict, stress, and family work conflict and job involvement, investigating the relationship between work-life balance and job satisfaction, and investigating the link between family economic status and work-family conflict.


Introduction
Work is necessary to meet human needs, and it has been a prerequisite for stability since man came down to earth.It is the basis for reconstruction and urbanization.A successful person is characterized by hard work, which is the secret of human success and happiness.For a person to achieve his goals and succeed, he must work hard, and every individual in society has a role that is important for the progress of society.Work-life is a business practice of creating a flexible, supportive environment to engage employees and maximize organizational performance (Amabile & Kramer, 2007).
Family-work conflict (FWC) occurs when the pressures from the family and work domains are mutually incompatible; as a result, participation in the work role is made more difficult by participation in the family role (Christy &Jeffrey, 2014).It is centered on the impact of the family on the work activities of family members (Fu & Shaffer, 2001).In contrast, work-family conflict (WFC) is defined as the experience of incompatible roles of work and family experienced by an individual centered on the impact of the work on the family.Netemeyer et al. (1996, p. 401) defined WFC as "a form of inter-role conflict in which the general demands of time, devoted to, and strain created by the job interfere with performing family-related responsibilities, " while FWC is defined as "a form of inter role conflict in which the general demands of time devoted to and strain created by the family interfere with performing work-related responsibilities." The two notions are adequately dissimilar in scope and nature to necessitate their investigation.
Work-life balance is the state in which a person chooses to prioritize the demands of work, career, and requirements of his personal life equally.Individuals who lack this balance have more work and home commitments, work longer hours, and lack personal time.The need to strive for work-life balance is driven by both external and internal factors, and individuals who maintain a work-life balance experience less stress as it paves the way to other conditions, such as depression, fatigue, high blood pressure, and heart problems, which are detrimental to the individual and the company (Lockwood, 2003).
Keeping a positive work-life balance is important nowadays, as individuals face numerous demands in their work and life domains (Murthy & Shastri, 2015).In particular, working mothers face increased pressure in playing multiple roles as the primary caregiver and employee.Role conflict and role overload are prevalent because of the demands of these multiple roles (Pranav, 2016).
When looking at work-life balance among working mothers, it is crucial to investigate this issue in the healthcare industry.This industry is an essential area of work-life balance research for working mothers, as its demands exceed those of many other industries, especially after the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.Burnout and acute stress are just some of the stresses healthcare workers face (Simon, 2021).
The two major roles experienced by working mothers in their family and work lives have created WFC (Coser, 1974).This conflict has increased due to the cultural contradictions of motherhood (Reskin & Padavic, 1994;Reskin & Ross, 1992).At home, mothers are expected to be welcoming, kind, adaptable, and sensitive.On the other hand, they are expected to embody a different persona at work by being assertive, competitive, and dynamic (Allen et al., 2000).Therefore, work and family lives are not always compatible.
FWC and WFC can negatively influence the family structure, resulting in decreased life satisfaction and a higher chance of familial conflict.Some variables influence FWC and WFC, including the age of children, size of family, marital status, and reasons for working.Additionally, working mothers face inter-role conflict in managing the work-life balance.
Many studies investigated the importance of work-life balance.For example, Haar et al. (2014) investigated the effects of work-life balance on several individual outcomes across cultures.They found that high levels of work-life balance were more positively associated with job and life satisfaction and more negatively associated with anxiety for individuals in gender-egalitarian cultures.There was strong support for work-life balance being beneficial for employees from various cultures and for culture as a moderator of these relationships.Moreover, Nwagbara and Akanji (2012) explored the impact of work-life balance on the commitment and motivation of women employees.Thus, this article aims to investigate the work-life balance for working mothers in the healthcare industry in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Literature Review
Much research has been conducted on the importance of work-life balance for all individuals.Professional women, in particular, have been found to have negative experiences with worklife balance due to the numerous areas of concern in their lives, which can affect their health and well-being (Adelmann, 1994).This is mainly due to women's role in society and what is expected from them, including being mothers, wives, daughters, and professional employees.These roles create conflict in balancing work and family life (Facione, 1994).Poulose and Sudarsan (2014) stated that in order to achieve work-life balance, one must fully engage in both domains and perform at their best in each position.An individual's contentment after completing a particular role is another aspect of work-life balance.This suggested that an employee's perception of contentment is all that matters.Gulbahar et al. (2014) defined work-life balance and asserted that it is connected to a person's priorities.The worst part is that work often takes priority over family because of long hours and increased workload.Miryala and Chiluka (2012) argued that the workplace has always been associated with masculinity and the domestic sphere is always meant for women, and work-life balance issues have always been thought to be primarily based on gender profile.According to the research, the organization has benefited greatly from the inclusion of women in the workplace, and times are changing.The authors discussed various legal issues that women face and the efforts that women are making to reconcile work and home life.They concluded that gender differences assist us in analyzing work-life conflicts.Even though women have entered the workforce, family responsibilities continue to put them under greater stress.
WFC and FWC among working mothers are heavily influenced by work demands, such as job tension, burnout, role ambiguity, and role conflict (Netemeyer et al., 1996).In fact, Super (1980) identified roles that people embody in their lifetimes.These roles include child, pupil or student, citizen, worker, leisure, homemaker, spouse, parent, and pensioner.He mentioned that people usually go from one role to the next.However, women, in particular, have been found to stack up these roles throughout life, which may bring about role conflict.He found that taking on these roles has both positive and negative impacts on professional women.Negatively, professional women who take on multiple roles have been found to suffer from physical and mental issues.Positively, women can gain a sense of control and seek fulfillment from these roles.Goff et al. (1990) found that many organizations face absenteeism because of WFC.WFC has also been found to increase turnover rates in organizations and lead to physical symptoms that impact the organization's effectiveness (Netemeyer et al., 1996).Research indicated that WFC can influence the psychological well-being of employees, turnover rates, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction (Akintayo, 2010;Aryee et al., 1998;Boles et al., 2001;Kinnunen et al., 2004).WFC not only affects individuals' professional realm but can also affect their personal lives, causing issues such as life and marriage dissatisfaction (Kinnunen & Mauno, 1998).In fact, Adams et al. (1996) found that the lower the familial support available, the higher the level of WFC.In contrast, the higher the familial support, the lower the WFC.
Many studies investigated FWC.There are many contributors to FWC, including marital issues, decreased spousal help, and lack of childcare (Fox & Dwyer, 1999).FWC can affect organizations negatively.Once employees find that their work roles interfere with family roles, they are less likely to be loyal to the organization (Olsen, 2004).Due to role conflict, FWC can cause absenteeism in organizations and lack of focus, which may also contribute to errors in job performance.It is imperative to note that factors contributing to FWC include role conflict in many women.Kandel et al. (1985) researched women's different roles in the marital, occupational, and housework domains.They found that married women have more strains and stresses in occupational and household roles and lower strains and stresses in family roles.They identified role-specific stress as the main cause of strains and stresses in life for married women.
Many factors contribute to WFC and FWC, e.g., the size of the family, children's ages, the number of hours spent working outside the home, the amount of control a person has over their working hours, the flexibility or inflexibility of working hours, and the amount of social support available (Reddy et al., 2010).
It is imperative to discuss the negative impacts that WFC and FWC have on married women, especially mothers.WFC and FWC have been found to affect the psychological and physical well-being of working women (Reddy et al., 2010).However, to date, much of the research on WFC and FWC has been conducted in Western societies.It is important to consider the factors that contribute to WFC and FWC among working mothers in Saudi Arabia since no research on these issues has yet been conducted in this region.
Thus, this article investigated the work-life balance of working mothers in the healthcare industry in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.The problem of this research is determined by the following questions: 1. What are the factors that contribute to WFC among working mothers? 2. What are the factors that contribute to FWC among working mothers? 3. Which measures dictate a negative impact on work or home, WFC or FWC Conflict?

Conceptual Framework
This framework discusses the perception that exists in three distinct groups and has a direct impact on employees' balance of work-life and the organization's work-life policies.Individual perception, organizational perception, and social perception have been identified (as depicted in Figure 1) (Dave & Purohit, 2016).People are much more mentally fit when they have more control over their work and family schedules.This demonstrates that a person's perception can influence their work-life balance.
Companies with the right mindset and perception can expect their employees to be more loyal and committed.Unreported absenteeism and staff turnover will no longer be a problem for businesses.Society ought to recognize that the time has come to recognize that women should not be restricted to family responsibilities and should honor their advancement in the workplace.Social norms should not prevent anyone from progressing in their careers.(Dave & Purohit, 2016).
Thus, the aim of this article is to recognize the factors that contribute to WFC or FWC among working mothers in the healthcare industry and decide which measures dictate a negative impact on work or home, WFC or FWC.

Statement of the Problem
The increasing number of women in Saudi Arabia are entering the workforce.The number of women in the Saudi labor market has doubled in the last five years, with thirty-five percent of the current workforce being female.Saudi Vision 2030 aims to boost women's participation in the workforce to meet the demands of the expanding economy (Jalabi, 2021).Work-life balance has been a focus of extensive research, and its significance in the lives of employees has been promoted.
Conflict at work is also increasing; younger people do not want to work in the same way as their parents.They want greater control over what their jobs look like and what they could potentially offer in the future.They want collaborative working environments (Byrne, 2005).Work-life balance is a vital issue nowadays for individuals and organizations (Abdulrahman & Ali, 2017).
Therefore, the problem of this article is determined in defining the factors that contribute to WFC among working mothers and the factors that contribute to FWC among working mothers and deciding which measures dictate a negative impact on work or home, WFC or FWC Conflict.

Objectives
The article investigates the work-life balance of working mothers in the healthcare industry in Riyadh.It aims at identifying the factors that contribute to WFC and FWC among working mothers and deciding which measures dictate a negative impact on work or home, WFC or FWC.

Research Design
Based on its nature and objectives, the study adopted the qualitative research design "descriptive survey method" "that includes current relevant information and accurately defines the domains of a situation, sample of people, or phenomenon, helping illustrate the problem and conclude results" (Al-Shahlob, 2016, p.139).

Sample
The sample included 80 working mothers in the healthcare industry in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as the nature of their work is difficult, and they always suffer from stress and exhaustion from their work because of the working hours.A simple random sampling technique and snowball sampling (which is a technique used by researchers to form a group of participants based on the recommendation of the initial current participants to add potential participants who have the same research interest and ask them, after their consent to participate, to recommend other participants until a sufficient number of participants with the same characteristics is obtained) were utilized.A questionnaire was distributed from 1 st October to 30 th November 2022 to a sample; (96) questionnaires were distributed, and (80) questionnaires were retrieved, which was (the research sample).The settings for the research included KAAUH in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and any working mothers in the healthcare industry who were reached out to by researchers via WhatsApp.
In KAAUH, the questionnaire was sent to all employees via professional hospital email after obtaining approval from the hospital administration.Additionally, snowball sampling was used to reach out to working mothers in other healthcare industries via WhatsApp.Table 1 shows the participants' distribution according to the study variables.
Table 1 illustrates that all the variables were represented.Regarding age, (from 30 to less than 40) was ranked first with a rate of 56.3%, while (less than 30) was ranked last.Regarding education, (bachelor) was ranked first with a rate of 38.8%, while (other) was ranked last with a rate of 5%.Regarding marital status, (married) was ranked first with a rate of 88.8%.Regarding the number of children, (more than three) was ranked first with a rate of 47.6%.Regarding management of transportation, (driver) was ranked first with a rate of 35%.Finally, regarding the reasons for work, the most prominent reason was (family support), which was ranked first with a rate of 26.3%.This result showed the diversity of the variables according to the sample description, and these variables affected the impact of work on the family and the family on the work.It is consistent with (Reddy et al., 2010), who emphasized that many factors contribute to WFC and FWC, including the size of the family, children's ages, the number of hours spent working outside the home, the amount of control a person has over their working hours, the flexibility or inflexibility of working hours, and the amount of social support available.

Instruments
The manuscript utilized a questionnaire that included demographic factors, such as age, sex, education, marital status, household income, number of children, type of job, reasons for working, years of overall working experience, and management of transportation, as shown in Table 1.Netemeyer et al. (1996) WFC and FWC Scale was also utilized.The scale included 12 items; (7 items related to WFC) and (5 items related to FWC).The study made use of the 7-point Likert scale, which aimed at measuring the WFC and FWC of working individuals.The participants were asked to specify the degree to which they agreed with each item on the scale.The responses ranged from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree).Higher scores showed higher levels of conflict, while lower scores showed lower levels of conflict.

Validity of the Scale 2. Reviewer's validity (face validity)
The draft of the scale was presented to (10) reviewers of the faculty members to determine the items' relevance, clarity, and appropriateness.The reviewers suggested important modifications, such as deleting some items and rephrasing others.After making modifications, the reviewers approved the final form of the scale.

Internal consistency
The correlation coefficient was calculated between the score of each phrase and the total score on a pilot sample of (20) participants, as shown in Table 2.
Table 2 shows that the correlation coefficients between the score of each phrase and the total score ranged (0.41: 0.88), which were statistically significant at (0.01), confirming the internal consistency of the phrases of the scale and indicating a high validity of the scale.

Reliability of the Scale
The reliability of the scale was calculated using Cronbach's alpha, as shown in Table 3. Table 3 shows that the reliability value using Cronbach's alpha coefficient was (0.889), indicating a high reliability of the scale.

Procedures
The researcher distributed a questionnaire from 1 st October to 30 th November 2022 to a sample; (96) questionnaires were sent, and (80) questionnaires were retrieved, which was (the research sample).The settings for the research included KAAUH in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and any working mothers in the healthcare industry reached out to by researchers via WhatsApp.In KAAUH, the questionnaire was sent to all employees via professional hospital email after obtaining approval from the hospital administration.Snowball sampling was used to reach out to working mothers in other healthcare industries via WhatsApp.

Statistical Coefficients Used:
Using the program "Statistical Packages for Social Sciences SPSS", the following statistical transactions were used:

The Factors That Contribute to WFC among Working Mothers
To answer the first question of the research, which states, "What are the factors that contribute to WFC among working mothers?The mean and standard deviation were calculated, as shown in Table 4.
In Table 4, the higher the mean, the greater the conflict on the WFC scale.The amount of time the job requires makes it difficult to fulfill family responsibilities (mean = 4.26, SD = 1.9) was the highest factor that affected the family, followed by job causes stress, making it difficult to fulfill family responsibilities (mean = 4.22, SD = 2).Then, things at home cannot be achieved because of the demands of job (mean = 4.21, SD = 1.9); working mothers have to make changes to their plans for family activities due to work-related duties (mean = 4.18, SD = 1.9); the behaviors used at home to solve home-related problems do not seem to function effectively at work (mean = 3.78, SD = 1.8); work demands interfere with my family life (mean = 3.57, SD = 1.9); and the mean of transportation to go work and come back creates problems in the family (mean = 3.13, SD = 1.9).
The respondents' scores were higher for statements 2 to 5 and lower for statements 1, 6, and 7.This illustrates that the factors that contribute to WFC among working mothers are the amount of time the job requires makes it difficult to fulfill family responsibilities, the stress resulting from work that impedes doing the family responsibilities, working mothers have to make changes to  The Wfc and fWc Scale their plans for family activities due to work-related duties, and things working mothers want to do at home don't get done because of the demands of their job respectively.This finding agrees with Netemeyer et al. (1996), who found that WFC and FWC in working mothers were heavily influenced by work demands, such as job burnout, job tension, role conflict, and role ambiguity, Super (1980), who found that women, in particular, have been found to stack up roles throughout life, which may bring about role conflict, and Zhang and Bowen (2021), who found that work demands affect WFC both directly and indirectly through role blurring.WFC was found to increase turnover rates in organizations and lead to physical symptoms that affect the effectiveness of the organization.Not studies -to the researcher's knowledge -differ from this result.

The Factors That Contribute to FWC among Working Mothers
To answer the second question of the research, which states, "What are the factors that contribute to FWC among working mothers?, the mean and standard deviation were calculated as shown in Table 5.
In Table 5, the higher the mean, the greater the FWC.The table illustrates that home life interferes with responsibilities at work, such as arriving to work on time, accomplishing daily tasks, and working overtime (mean = 3.7, SD = 2) was the highest factor that affected working effectively, followed by postponing tasks at work because of family or spouse/partner demands (mean = 3.6, SD = 1.8); then family-related stress interferes with the ability to perform job-related duties (mean = 3.5, SD = 1.9); the demands of family or spouse/partner interfere with work-related activities (mean = 3.3, SD = 1.8); and things at work cannot be achieved because of the demands of family or spouse/partner (mean = 3.3, SD = 1.7).
This finding illustrates that the factors that contribute to FWC among working mothers are that home life interferes with responsibilities at work, such as arriving to work on time, accomplishing daily tasks, and working overtime; postponing tasks at work because of family or spouse/ partner demands; family-related stress interferes with the ability to perform job-related duties; the demands of family or spouse/partner interfere with work-related activities; and things at work cannot be achieved because of the demands of family or spouse/partner respectively.This finding agrees with Goff et al. (1990), who found that many organizations face absenteeism because of work-family conflict.It also 3.5 1.9 agrees with Boyar et al. (2005), who found that while WFC had a positive main effect on leaving work early, FWC did not, and neither type of conflict was related to tardiness.No studies -to the researcher's knowledge -differ from this result.

Measures That Dictate a Negative Impact on Work or Home, WFC or FWC
To answer the third question of the research, which states, "Which measures dictate a negative impact on work or home, WFC or FWC?The mean and standard deviation were calculated as shown in Tables 6 and 7.
Table 6 shows the grand mean of respondents' scores for the WFC scale, illustrating that overall, the respondents were choosing responses between "somewhat disagree" and "neither agree nor disagree, " with a mean of 3.91 and a standard deviation of 0.068.
Table 7 shows that the grand mean of respondents' scores for the FWC scale illustrates that overall, the respondents were choosing responses between "somewhat disagree" and "neither agree nor disagree, " with a mean of 3.51 and a standard deviation of 0.08.
From Tables 6 and 7, the mean score for WFC (3.91) was slightly higher than that for FWC (3.51).This finding shows that participants reported that WFC conflict was slightly more important than FWC in the reaction to issues in the two domains.It may be due to lower familial support.Adams et al. (1996) found that the lower the familial support is available, the higher the level of work-family conflict.In contrast, the higher the familial support, the lower the work-family conflict.
This result agrees with Boyar et al. (2005), who found that WFC had a positive main effect on leaving work early, and Namasivayam and Mount (2004), who found that, expectedly, WFC issues were related to lower job satisfaction.It was also found, quite unexpectedly, that FWC issues were related to higher job satisfaction.

Recommendations and Suggestions for Further Research
In the light of the results, the researcher recommended holding training courses in effective time management, stress management, and burnout prevention to help working mothers in the private sector.Shareholders, decision-makers, and bodies interested in work-life balance can benefit from the results to develop programs and plans that help working mothers in the healthcare industry.Therefore, additional studies are required to dig deeper and find if other measures have not been addressed in this research that may cause WFC and FWC.The researcher also recommended investigating the benefits of work-life balance, how it affects the broader context, and how to improve it, investigating the impact of work-family conflict, stress, and family-work conflict and job involvement, investigating the relationship between work-life balance and job satisfaction, and investigating the link between family economic status and work-family conflict.

Limitations
Notably, this article is associated with several limitations.For example, there were some technical challenges while applying the scale.Due to the small study population and the size of the sample, which was limited only to 80 participants of working mothers in Riyadh, the results could not be generalized to other cities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.The study variables, such as WFC and FWC, were assessed by a self-report technique, which might lead to common method variance and consistency bias.Alternative data collection approaches, such as focus groups, could be used in future studies.Despite these limitations, this study contributes to examining the factors that affect both WFC and FWC.

Conclusion
As far as the researcher knows, this research is one of the fewest studies attempting to investigate Furthermore, the researcher recommended investigating the benefits of work-life balance, how it affects the broader context, and how to improve it, investigating the impact of work-family conflict, stress, and family-work conflict and job involvement, and investigating the relationship between work-life balance and job satisfaction.This article is associated with several limitations; there were some technical challenges while applying the scale.Due to the small study population and the size of the sample, as it was limited to only 80 participants of working mothers in Riyadh, the results could not be generalized to other cities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.The study variables, such as WFC and FWC, were assessed by a self-report technique, which might lead to common method variance and consistency bias.Alternative data collection approaches, such as focus groups, could be used in future studies.Despite these limitations, this study contributes to examining the factors that affect both WFC and FWC.

Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Table 1 .
Description of the sample.

Table 2 .
correlation coefficients between the score of each phrase and the total score of the scale (N = 20).

Table 3 .
reliability coefficients of the scale.

Table 4 .
item analysis of the Wfc scale.

Table 5 .
item analysis of the fWc scale.

Table 6 .
Grand mean and standard deviation of the fWc scale.

Table 7 .
Grand mean and standard deviation of the fWc scale.-life balance of working mothers in the healthcare industry in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.It aims to identify the factors that contribute to WFC and FWC and decide which measures negatively impact work or home, WFC or FWC.However, mothers in the healthcare industry have a relatively good work-life balance and lower conflict in work-family and family-work.The results revealed many factors contributing to WFC among working mothers, such as the amount of time the job requires makes it difficult to fulfill family responsibilities, and the job causes stress, making it difficult to fulfill family responsibilities.Many factors contributed to FWC among working mothers, including home life interfering with the responsibilities at work, such as arriving at work on time, accomplishing daily tasks, working overtime, and having to postpone tasks at work because of family or spouse/partner demand.Finally, the impact of work on the family is higher than that of family on work.In the light of these results, the researcher recommended holding training courses in effective time management, stress management, and burnout prevention to help working mothers in the private sector.Shareholders, decision-makers, and bodies interested in work-life balance can benefit from the results to develop programs and plans that help working mothers in the healthcare industry.Therefore, further studies are required to investigate if other measures have not been addressed in this research that may cause WFC and FWC. work