Performance Power-Up: Work-Life Balance and Employee Empowerment in UAE Higher Education

The purpose of this study was to understand the effects of work-life balance and employee empowerment on job performance in the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) higher education sector. Data were collected from staff members at public and private universities in the UAE using a self-administered questionnaire. Two hundred and forty-five of the 325 distributed questionnaires were included in the statistical analysis. The findings showed that employee empowerment and work-life balance were important predictors of job performance. The results provide policymakers in the higher education industry with valuable insights about how work-life balance and employee empowerment might enhance workers’ job performance. The study will increase understanding about how work-life balance and empowerment practices may lead to effective employee performance, which will help in the development of policies to support an organization's adoption of these practices. This research contributes to the limited body of knowledge about these practices in the context of GCC countries and in higher education generally.