Working from Home and Employee Well-Being in Japan: Exploring the Mediating Role of Work-Family Relationship and the Moderating Role of Gender

Abstract

Aiming to improve employee well-being, the Japanese government has been promoting work-style reform. Work from home is one of the measures recommended in this policy. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of this new working style. However, the predictors of employee well-being and gender difference in this context are not discovered in the literature so far. Integrating Job Demands-resources (JD–R) model and Conservation of Resources (COR) theory as the underlying frameworks, this study aims to examine the gender difference in the relationship between job characteristics (i.e., workload and job autonomy) and employee well-being (i.e., emotional exhaustion and work engagement) among working from home employees in Japan. Furthermore, the study investigates the mediating effect of the work-family relationship (i.e., work-family conflict (WFC) and work-family enrichment (WFE)) on the relationship between job characteristics and employee well-being. The current research conducts a quantitative and cross-sectional study by collecting the data from 200 Japanese employees working from home. Data collection uses Google Forms, and data analysis uses SPSS Version 22. The measurement of variables adopts validated scales from the previous studies. This study contributes to the literature by investigating the problem in Japanese employees working from home. It provides managerial implications for deriving desirable outcomes and suggestions for future research in the area.