Work-Life Balance as A Mechanism Linking Perceived Organizational Support to Employee Performance: The Contingent Role of Job Satisfaction in Culinary Smes

Abstract

This study examines whether work-life balance transmits the effect of perceived organizational support on employee performance and whether job satisfaction conditions that relationship among women employed in culinary micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). A cross-sectional survey was administered to 155 female employees of 252 culinary SMEs in Muna Regency, Indonesia, selected through simple random sampling subject to employment and firm-age criteria. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and partial least squares structural equation modeling with SmartPLS 4. Perceived organizational support strongly improved work-life balance (β = 0.698, p < 0.001), but its direct effect on employee performance was not significant (β = 0.081, p = 0.266). Work-life balance positively affected performance (β = 0.277, p = 0.002) and fully mediated the support-performance relationship (indirect effect β = 0.193, p = 0.003). Job satisfaction did not moderate the direct relationship (β = -0.025, p = 0.564). The model explained 48.4% of the variance in work-life balance and 58.9% of the variance in employee performance, with Q² = 0.788. These findings show that support improves performance primarily when it enables employees to balance work and non-work roles. Culinary SME owners should therefore translate relational support into predictable schedules, manageable workloads, supervisory care, and flexibility that protects employees’ family responsibilities.