Professional development, lifestyle behaviors, and job satisfaction: the mediating role of work-life balance in a multi-sector sample
- 1School of Marxism, Henan University, Kaifeng, China
Abstract
Background: Modern organizations face increasing pressure to enhance employee satisfaction and productivity. Although prior research has examined individual antecedents of job satisfaction, less is known about whether professional-development, behavioral, and lifestyle-related resources are associated with job satisfaction through work–life balance.
Objective: This study examines the associations of social media engagement (SME; hereafter used to denote social media engagement), employee training (ET), healthy dietary habits (HDH), online learning participation (OLP), and physical activity (PA) with job satisfaction (JS), with work–life balance (WLB) evaluated as a model-based indirect pathway.
Methods: A quantitative, cross-sectional survey was administered to 437 working professionals across multiple industries. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and bootstrapped indirect-effect analysis were used to assess the measurement model, structural relationships, and indirect associations.
Results: The measurement model demonstrated strong reliability and validity. All five antecedent variables were significantly and positively associated with WLB, with OLP showing the strongest path coefficient (β = 0.379). WLB was also positively associated with JS (β = 0.624, p < 0.001). The SRMR value indicated adequate approximate model fit (SRMR = 0.053), whereas the NFI value (0.893) was slightly below the ideal 0.90 threshold and was therefore interpreted cautiously. Bootstrapped indirect-effect analysis supported WLB as a statistically significant indirect pathway linking the antecedent variables with JS.
Conclusion: The findings suggest that professional-development, behavioral, and lifestyle-related resources are associated with job satisfaction through employees' perceived work–life balance. Because the study is cross-sectional, the results should be interpreted as statistical associations rather than evidence of causal effects.
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BibTeX
@article{yang2026professional,
title = {{Professional development, lifestyle behaviors, and job satisfaction: the mediating role of work-life balance in a multi-sector sample}},
author = {Zhijia Yang},
journal = {Frontiers in Psychology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1923493},
url = {https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1923493},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Professional development, lifestyle behaviors, and job satisfaction: the mediating role of work-life balance in a multi-sector sample
AU - Zhijia Yang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/22
JO - Frontiers in Psychology
DO - 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1923493
UR - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1923493
AB - Background: Modern organizations face increasing pressure to enhance employee satisfaction and productivity. Although prior research has examined individual antecedents of job satisfaction, less is known about whether professional-development, behavioral, and lifestyle-related resources are associated with job satisfaction through work–life balance. Objective: This study examines the associations of social media engagement (SME; hereafter used to denote social media engagement), employee training (ET), healthy dietary habits (HDH), online learning participation (OLP), and physical activity (PA) with job satisfaction (JS), with work–life balance (WLB) evaluated as a model-based indirect pathway. Methods: A quantitative, cross-sectional survey was administered to 437 working professionals across multiple industries. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and bootstrapped indirect-effect analysis were used to assess the measurement model, structural relationships, and indirect associations. Results: The measurement model demonstrated strong reliability and validity. All five antecedent variables were significantly and positively associated with WLB, with OLP showing the strongest path coefficient (β = 0.379). WLB was also positively associated with JS (β = 0.624, p < 0.001). The SRMR value indicated adequate approximate model fit (SRMR = 0.053), whereas the NFI value (0.893) was slightly below the ideal 0.90 threshold and was therefore interpreted cautiously. Bootstrapped indirect-effect analysis supported WLB as a statistically significant indirect pathway linking the antecedent variables with JS. Conclusion: The findings suggest that professional-development, behavioral, and lifestyle-related resources are associated with job satisfaction through employees' perceived work–life balance. Because the study is cross-sectional, the results should be interpreted as statistical associations rather than evidence of causal effects.
SN - 1664-1078
ER -