Beyond Bidirectionality in Spill‐Overs: Asymmetrical Work‐Life Dynamics and Indigenous Support Systems in a Fragile‐State Military Context

Abstract

Work-life balance and work engagement are central concerns in human resource development because they shape employee well-being, resilience, retention, and sustainable performance across demanding work environments. However, much of the literature on work-life balance and engagement has been developed in relatively stable civilian and Western institutional contexts, where role boundaries are more manageable and formal support systems are often more reliable. These assumptions may not hold in fragile-state military settings characterized by prolonged insecurity, deployment instability, rigid hierarchy, and uneven welfare provision. This study explores how personnel in the Armed Forces of Nigeria experience work-life balance and work engagement under such conditions. Drawing on qualitative interview data from 60 military personnel and using a Gioia-inspired analytical approach, the study integrates the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model and spill-over theory to examine how demands, resources, and cross-domain pressures interact in a fragile-state military context. The findings show that work-life spill-over is not experienced as a balanced or consistently reciprocal process. Instead, participants describe a strongly asymmetrical dynamic in which prolonged deployment, hypervigilance, unpredictable scheduling, welfare strain, and institutional rigidity intrude into family life and weaken recovery, morale, and sustained engagement. At the same time, kinship ties, peer solidarity, and communal reciprocity emerge as culturally embedded informal resources that partially buffer these pressures where formal organizational supports are weak or unevenly accessible. The study contributes to HRD scholarship in two main ways. First, it refines spill-over theory by showing that, in a fragile-state military setting, spill-over is better understood as structurally asymmetrical rather than presumptively bidirectional. Second, it extends JD-R theory by demonstrating that resources are hierarchically mediated and culturally supplemented rather than simply organizationally present or absent. These findings extend work-life and engagement research into an under-studied Global South military context and underscore the importance of context-sensitive HRD interventions in high-risk institutional environments.