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How do working mothers negotiate the work-home interface?

Bruno Felix von Borell de Araujo (Fucape Business School, Vitoria, Brazil)
Cesar Augusto Tureta (Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Vitoria, Brazil)
Diana Abreu von Borell de Araujo (Fucape Business School, Vitoria, Brazil)

Journal of Managerial Psychology

ISSN: 0268-3946

Article publication date: 6 July 2015

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the tactics that mid-career professional working mothers use to improve their work-home balance.

Design/methodology/approach

The qualitative study used in-depth interviews with 63 Brazilian professional working mothers aged between 37 and 55, having at least one child under the age of 18, and living in dual-career households. The interviews were content analyzed.

Findings

The study reported four dimensions of boundary work tactics (behavioral, temporal, physical, and communicative) that mid-career working mothers adopted to construct a satisfying level of segmentation or integration between work and home.

Research limitations/implications

The study suggests individual tactics for actively constructing a generalized work-home state that can be adopted by working mothers. Additionally, the authors suggest that HR managers should develop work-home balance programs that provide policies that adjust to the work-home boundary preferences for those mothers who want to integrate and segment these domains.

Social implications

The authors hope this study can help mid-career working mothers to understand how they can interact actively with others in such a way that they can better answer their work and home demands.

Originality/value

This study was the first to use boundary work tactics theory to explore how mid-career professional working mothers improve their work-home balance.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Research for this study was supported by FAPES (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Espírito Santo).

Citation

Araujo, B.F.v.B.d., Tureta, C.A. and Araujo, D.A.v.B.d. (2015), "How do working mothers negotiate the work-home interface?", Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 30 No. 5, pp. 565-581. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMP-11-2013-0375

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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