Title: Mother-friendly companies, work-life balance, and emotional well-being: is there a relationship to financial performance and risk level?

Authors: Janell L. Blazovich; Katherine Taken Smith; L. Murphy Smith

Addresses: Opus College of Business, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA ' Department of Management and Marketing, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, O'Conner Building – Room 333, 6300 Ocean Drive, Unit 5808, Corpus Christi, TX 78412-5808, USA ' Department of Accounting, Finance, and Business Law, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, O'Conner Building – Room 333, 6300 Ocean Drive, Unit 5808, Corpus Christi, TX 78412-5808, USA

Abstract: Research in philosophy, sociology, history, and business indicates that the family is the key building block of a nation or culture. In families, parents often struggle with time allocation between their jobs and family life. The pursuit of career and wealth can easily become over-prioritised to the detriment of family. Even in ancient times, this was a problem, as indicated by the wise king Solomon, who warned: "Those who love money will never have enough." In recent decades, the proportion of women in the labour force has greatly increased. Being mother-friendly may be ethically right and socially desirable, but what is the financial impact on companies with human resource policies that facilitate the mother role of female employees? Findings of this study provide support that mother-friendly firms experience better financial performance; specifically, higher market value of equity. This is a notable finding, suggesting that the capital markets value firms with 'mother friendly' attributes. This affirms prior research that shows enhancing work-life balance, which facilitates emotional well-being, is associated with improved job performance, which in turn is associated with better company financial performance.

Keywords: CSR; family friendly; flexible working; work-life balance; job satisfaction; human resource development; HRD.

DOI: 10.1504/IJWOE.2018.097153

International Journal of Work Organisation and Emotion, 2018 Vol.9 No.4, pp.303 - 321

Received: 24 Jul 2017
Accepted: 19 Jul 2018
Published online: 02 Jan 2019 *

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