Toward sustainability: mechanism between work-family balance and fertility intention with decent work as the mediating role

China’s rapid economic development has increased employment opportunities, intensifying the need for individuals to balance family roles and job responsibilities. Decent work (DW), as promoted by the ILO, supports work-family balance (WFB) and broader societal sustainability. Despite growing research on DW at the individual level, limited attention has been paid to its spillover effects on personal/family life. In the context of China’s changing fertility policies (e.g., the two-child policy), many individuals of childbearing age face challenging decisions regarding timing and number of children, often amid difficulties balancing professional and family roles. This study addresses two research questions: (1) Can WFB improve individuals’ fertility intentions (FI)? (2) How does DW affect individuals’ FI? To address these, the study reviews literature on WFB, DW, and FI; constructs a theoretical framework grounded in Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) and Life History Theory; proposes hypotheses; and empirically tests the direct, mediating, and moderating relationships among WFB, DW, FI, organizational support (OS), and family support (FS) using survey data from China. The study aims to enrich theoretical understanding of DW’s spillover effects into family life and inform policy and managerial practices that support fertility and WFB.

- Work-family balance (WFB): Defined across perspectives of conflict/facilitation, role engagement, and role expectation. WFB involves managing the interplay between work and family roles to achieve harmony. Prior research links organizational support (OS) and family support (FS) to improved WFB and positive work outcomes (engagement, efficiency, OCB, proactive behavior). Evidence is mixed on whether OS/FS directly or indirectly affect WFB, and the spillover of WFB to fertility intention (FI) remains understudied and debated. Some elements related to DW (e.g., organizational justice, income security, job stability) correlate with WFB, but broader DW-WFB relationships require further exploration. - Decent work (DW): Originating from ILO, definitions evolved from safety and fairness to self-value/meaning, emphasizing individuals’ perceptions of job resources/demands. Antecedents include social, organizational, and individual factors; outcomes include engagement and creativity. Research has focused on workplace attitudes/behaviors, with scarce examination of spillover into family life despite likely impacts on families. - Fertility intention (FI): Primary predictor of fertility behavior, measured as desired number and timing of children and related expectations. Antecedents span individual (age, marital status, reproductive history), job (occupation, income), and societal factors (environment, social support/security). FI is closely tied to actual fertility behaviors and concepts. Gaps remain regarding WFB’s spillover to FI and DW’s role within work-family-fertility mechanisms. - Summary: Existing work advances understanding of WFB, DW, and FI but leaves gaps: insufficient study of WFB’s spillover to FI; DW research focused on workplace outcomes rather than family contexts; and limited integrative, interdisciplinary theoretical frameworks. This study builds a JD-R and Life History-based model linking WFB, OS, FS, DW, and FI to clarify mechanisms and pathways from WFB to FI via DW.

Design and ethics: Cross-sectional survey approved by the Academic Ethics Committee of the Business School (Institute of Innovative Development, Shanghai Dianji University), approval number 2024010502, on January 5, 2024. Data collected January 6–26, 2024 via the online platform Wenjuanxing. Anonymity and confidentiality assured; informed consent obtained. Snowball sampling was used. Sample: 600 responses received; invalid responses excluded based on minimum response time (>2 minutes). Final N=558 valid questionnaires (93% valid rate). Key demographics: 37.3% male, 62.7% female; majority aged 18–40; 60.4% unmarried, 38.0% married; 62.7% with no children. Education: 21.1% junior college or below, 50.0% undergraduate, 24.2% master’s, 4.7% PhD. Organizational types varied; household income mostly RMB 100,001–300,000; geographic distribution across city tiers. Measures: 5-point Likert scales unless noted. - WFB: 3-item scale (Haar, 2013) measuring enjoyment, satisfaction, and management of roles (e.g., “I manage to balance the relationship between family roles and job requirements well”). - DW: Decent Work Perception Scale (DWPS; Yan et al., 2023a), 13 items across four dimensions: job security (3), professional skills (3), respect and support (4), self-worth (3). Example items: income security, autonomy, recognition, skill requirements. - OS: 6-item perceived organizational support scale (Yang et al., 2018; Hao et al., 2016), e.g., importance placed on work goals/values, concern for happiness. - FS: Selected items from King et al. (1995) Family Support Inventory; two dimensions (emotional support and instrumental support). Eight items chosen with high inter-item correlations (≥0.8 emotional; ≥0.7 instrumental), e.g., interest in work, sharing housework. - FI: 11 items (Ibrahim & Arulogun, 2020) across five dimensions: fertility intention (desired number), parents’ expectations, social expectation, individual expectation, and behavioral expectation. Control variables: Gender, age, marital status, number of children, education, organizational type, household income, and city level (coded as specified in text). Reliability: Cronbach’s alpha: WFB=0.876 (3 items); DW=0.943 (13); OS=0.885 (6); FS=0.804 (8); FI subscales: FI1 α=0.737 (2 items), FI2 α=0.817 (3 items). Items not on Likert scale in FI were excluded from reliability calculation. Validity: KMO=0.938; Bartlett’s test χ²=13769.707, df=595, p<0.001, indicating good structural validity. Common method bias: Single-factor CFA showed poor fit (χ²/df=10.412; RMSEA=0.130; GFI/CFI/NFI<0.8), suggesting CMB is not a concern. Analytical strategy: Correlation analyses among WFB, DW dimensions, OS, FS dimensions, and FI dimensions. Structural equation modeling (SEM) for main effects with model fit indices reported (χ²/df, RMSEA, RMR, GFI, CFI, NFI, NNFI). Mediation tested via bootstrapping (SPSSAU). Moderation (OS, FS on WFB→DW) tested via three-step hierarchical regressions including interaction terms, controlling for demographics.

- Correlations: WFB positively correlated with DW dimensions (r=0.49, 0.57, 0.62, 0.46). DW dimensions positively correlated with FI dimensions (e.g., r≈0.15–0.22). WFB positively correlated with FI (r=0.20 and 0.15). OS correlated with DW dimensions (r=0.53–0.69). - SEM model fit: χ²/df=6.338; RMSEA=0.098; RMR=0.077; GFI, CFI, NFI, NNFI > 0.9. - Main effects (Table 5; standardized coefficients): • WFB → DW: β=0.672, SE=0.033, z=14.175, p=0.000 (significant positive). Supports H1. • DW → FI: β=0.136, SE=0.102, z=2.363, p=0.018 (significant positive). Supports H3 (as labeled in text for DW→FI). • WFB → FI: β=0.110, SE=0.066, z=2.084, p=0.037 (significant positive). Supports H2 (as labeled in text for WFB→FI). - Mediation (Table 6, bootstrapping): Indirect effect WFB → DW → FI = 0.131, Boot SE=0.034, z=3.828, p=0.000; 95% CI [0.107, 0.242] (excludes 0). Authors conclude DW completely mediates the WFB–FI relationship (supports H4). - Moderation (Tables 7–8): Interaction terms non-significant. • OS moderation on WFB→DW: Interaction β=0.022, ΔR²=0.000; not significant. H5 not supported. • FS moderation on WFB→DW: Interaction β=−0.014, ΔR²=0.000; not significant. H6 not supported.

The findings address the research questions by demonstrating that balancing work and family roles (WFB) enhances perceptions of decent work (DW), which in turn increases fertility intentions (FI). WFB also directly improves FI. Grounded in the JD-R framework, effective allocation of job and personal resources to meet demands fosters positive emotions, autonomy, support, and skill development—key components of DW—which spill over to the family domain to shape reproductive decisions. From a Life History Theory perspective, more secure, respectful, and supportive work environments (higher DW) reduce uncertainty, encouraging a “slow” strategy with planned and potentially higher-quality childbearing and greater willingness to consider fertility. The study extends theory by integrating JD-R and Life History Theory to link workplace resources/demands with reproductive intentions, positioning DW as a mechanism for WFB’s spillover into family life. Contrary to expectations, organizational and family support did not moderate the WFB→DW relationship; one interpretation is that when individuals already achieve balance and experience lower role conflict, additional support exerts limited incremental influence. This suggests boundary conditions and prompts exploration of contextual moderators (e.g., employment uncertainty, policy environments, community supports). Practically, enhancing DW (income/job security, respect/support, autonomy, opportunities for skill development and self-worth) and facilitating WFB (flexible work, family-friendly practices) may be effective levers to bolster FI, informing both governmental fertility support policies and organizational HR practices.

This study constructs and empirically validates a theoretical framework linking work-family balance (WFB), decent work (DW), and fertility intention (FI) based on JD-R and Life History Theory. Using survey data from individuals of childbearing age in China (N=558), results show: WFB positively influences DW and FI; DW positively influences FI; and DW mediates the WFB–FI relationship. Organizational and family support did not significantly moderate the WFB→DW link. The study contributes by: (1) integrating JD-R and Life History Theory to explain cross-domain spillover from workplace conditions to family reproductive intentions; (2) introducing DW as a mediator in the WFB–FI mechanism; and (3) highlighting the limited moderating roles of OS and FS under observed conditions. Future research should broaden samples across industries and countries, combine qualitative and quantitative approaches to probe mechanisms and boundaries (e.g., work-family conflict/enrichment, policy contexts), and employ longitudinal designs to capture dynamic changes in WFB, DW, and FI over time.

- Sample scope: Snowball sampling focused on childbearing-age individuals in China; limited randomness and generalizability. Expansion across regions/countries and improved sampling quality are needed. - Method: Reliance on self-report questionnaires; adding interviews/qualitative methods could deepen insights and triangulate findings. - Cross-sectional design: Provides a snapshot and limits causal inference for constructs that evolve over time (WFB, FI). Longitudinal studies are recommended to assess changes and strengthen causal claims.