ICT Use as Mediator Between Job Demands and Work-Life Balance Satisfaction

The use of mobile technologies potentially alters the boundaries between professional and private spheres. Some studies report the negative overflow of work on private life, but also the possibility of a better work-life balance (WLB). As the results of previous studies are not homogenous, aiming some authors to speak about "double-edge sword" for ICT use for professional purpose after hours, workers' attitudes were considered as mediator variables. The main hypothesis was that ICT use after hours and segmentation preference are sequential mediators in the relation between job demands and WLB satisfaction. The on-line survey has been completed by 142 workers from various sectors. The results showed that job demands, ICT use and segmentation preference explained WLB satisfaction for 30% of the variance. In more details, high job demands contributed to more ICT use for professional purposes after hours, which contributed to weak segmentation preference, this weak segmentation preference increasing WLB satisfaction. In other words, integration preference, explained itself by ICT use after hours, contributed to WLB satisfaction. The results, highlighting the determinant role of boundary management attitudes, are an innovative contribution in the HCI and WLB research: it allows to better understand the "double-edged sword" phenomena by supplying some first conditions under which ICT use turns negative issues into positive ones.