National culture, work-life balance and employee well-being in European tourism firms: the moderating effect of uncertainty avoidance values

Abstract

The competitive advantage of companies rests upon work attitudes and the behavior of their employees. Work-life balance initiatives are considered to be an important antecedent of employees’ well-being, and thus a factor that highly conditions employees’ work attitudes and behavior. This study explores these relationships in the tourism industry, where hotels and restaurants offer day and night services that could harm work-life balance. Also, in the tourism industry, the national diversity of employees is continuously rising as a result of the increasing movement of people across borders. According to cross-cultural studies, differences in cultural dimensions (e.g., uncertainty avoidance) cause an impact on work-related variables. Thus, people’s need for work-life balance may depend on their national cultures, which is why the moderating effect of national culture is under study. The empirical analysis carried out on a sample of 745 employees in tourism firms located in 17 European countries confirms the moderating role of national culture on the effect that human resource practices regarding work-life balance have on employees’ well-being at work.