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The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual linkage between life‐work balance and emotional intelligence (EI).

Based on a review of the literature, it is suggested that life experiences contribute to the development of EI, which then moderates the individual's life‐work balance. The effect of emotions in an individual's personal life environment is of primary importance in the development of EI, which influences the work environment. The effects of work experience on one's personal life are influenced significantly by the level of emotional intelligence.

The level of EI is viewed as central to developing an individual's life‐work balance, and the primary effect of one's personal life suggests that it is more appropriate to view work as a component of overall life satisfaction; hence the use of the term “life‐work balance”.

The paper is a theoretical development of a model that emphasizes the role of emotional intelligence in life‐work balance; as such, there is a need for empirical research to examine the propositions generated by this analysis.

Managers should seek to develop emotional intelligence in the work setting to improve employees' abilities to manage life‐work balance.

This paper extends current research on EI and life‐work balance by conceptually integrating these two concepts and provides a framework for future research and investigation.

In response to the tech skills gap, this research paper aims to examine the influence of occupational characteristics, gender and work-life balance on IT professionals' satisfaction with and commitment to their chosen occupation. In addition, the authors explore occupational differences across these investigated factors.

The authors employed a survey research method and partial least squares (PLS) modeling using 293 responses collected from professionals representing five clusters of Information Technology (IT) occupations. Authors further conducted exploratory post-hoc analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests to check for significant differences in key constructs across five IT occupational clusters.

Occupational characteristics were found to be significantly related to respondents' occupational satisfaction while work-life balance was associated with their level of occupational commitment. Authors also found that that the influence of work-life balance on occupational commitment was more positive for females than for males. Finally, significant differences were found for task significance, task variety, task autonomy, work-life balance and compensation across the five occupational clusters examined.

A key contribution of this study is the focus on IT professionals' satisfaction with and commitment to their chosen occupation rather than a job, organization or profession. Accordingly, the authors contribute a nuanced understanding of an occupation as a facet of job, professional and career outcomes. Authors also explore how gender moderates the influence of work-life balance on occupational commitment. Finally, rather than treating the IT profession as a unified whole as has been done in most prior studies, authors explore satisfaction and commitment related differences across occupational clusters.

This study aims to systematically review the existing literature and develop an understanding of work-life balance (WLB) and its relationship with other forms of work-related behavior and unearth research gaps to recommend future research possibilities and priorities.

The current study attempts to make a detailed survey of the research work done by the pioneers in the domain WLB and its related aspects. A total of 99 research work has been included in this systematic review. The research works have been classified based on the year of publication, geographical distribution, the methodology used and the sector. The various concepts and components that have made significant contributions, factors that influence WLB, importance and implications are discussed.

The paper points to the research gaps and scope for future research in the area of WLB.

The current study uncovered the research gaps regarding the systematic review and classifications based on demography, year of publication, the research method used and sector being studied.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors that influence perceptions of work-life balance among owners of copreneurial firms. Research on work-life balance in the context of family firms has focussed on the effects that perceptions of balance can have on the emotional well-being of business owners and performance of the firm. Less attention has been given to understanding the factors affecting an owner's perceptions of work-life balance. This paper not only explores the antecedents of perceptions of work-life balance but does so with copreneurs, or couples who own and manage a firm.

Data for this study were collected using surveys. In all, 210 copreneurs with businesses in nearly 20 industries answered questions about their perceptions of work-life balance, work-life conflict (WLC), life-work conflict, communication practices, characteristics of their jobs, and spousal support.

WLC was negatively related to perceptions of work-life balance. Job involvement, flexibility at work, and permeability of communication were significantly related to perceptions of WLC. Interestingly spousal support did not affect individual perceptions of life-work balance, but had a direct influence on perceptions of work-life balance.

The sample was not randomly selected, and participants were surveyed at only one point in time. Notwithstanding these limitations, the findings have implications for advancing research and theory in the areas of family business, work-life issues, and communication. While the paper focus on copreneurial firms, the findings may have implications for family firms and co-founded ventures.

The potential benefits of copreneurs’ increased awareness of these findings (from readings or through coaching) are important given prior research demonstrating that family to work conflict and work to family conflict affect the emotional well-being of family business owners, their satisfaction with work, and firm performance.

This project offers two important contributions to research in family firms. First, it focusses on copreneurial firms as a unique type of family firm which has the potential to shed light on the differences between family firms. Second, results from this study provide a picture of the predictors of work-life balance for couples who are firm owners.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the experience of work‐life balance amongst senior managers, with particular emphasis on the cause of imbalances. The research is set in a call centre in Ireland at a time when the economy was moving from growth to recession.

A single case study approach is taken. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with all eight members of senior management in Ireland and with five members of senior management based in five sites across Europe. In addition, company documentation was used.

The overall findings of this study point towards the effect the economy has on the promotion and adoption of work‐life balance initiatives. The findings also show that it is not possible to measure work‐life balance in an absolute way, because personal circumstances influence the way this is perceived. Whilst managers with caring responsibilities have obvious work‐life conflicts, the findings show that some childless managers do also, but cannot find a legitimate justification for addressing their needs. Finally, the findings show that long hours and presenteeism do form “part of the job” when accepting a role at a higher level. However, modern technology has helped this to some extent by allowing senior managers to be accessible instead of having to be present in the office.

The paper provides new insights into aspects of managerial work which impact on work‐life balance – in particular the pressure to “choose” to work long hours, the role of technology, the negative impact of traveling time, and the need for more cultural support for a better work‐life balance for managers.

This paper aims to understand the relationships among calling, employee engagement, work-life balance and life satisfaction for executive chefs based on role theory and spillover theory.

Surveys were completed by members of the American Culinary Federation in North America, the Nevada Restaurant Association and attendees at the ChefConnect Annual Conference. The data were analysed with confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling.

All relationships in the model were significantly positive except for calling to life satisfaction. Importantly work-life balance was a significant mediator between calling and life satisfaction as well as for employee engagement and life satisfaction.

The research provides a more comprehensive framework for hospitality scholars to understand the outcomes of work as a calling through meaningfulness. The sample of executive chef limits generalizability.

The identification of a calling through in-depth interviews is recommended. Once recognized, managers should further foster chef’s passion through employee engagement facilitated by workplace autonomy and continuing education and work-life balance supported with human resource management practices including time off for critical life events. This will allow calling to flourish, increase life satisfaction and reduce the likelihood of turnover and burnout.

Outcomes reveal the complexity of the relationship between calling and life satisfaction. Contrary to previous findings, the presence of positive work-life balance was critical to attain life satisfaction, even when work was viewed as a calling.

Although flexible work arrangements (FWAs) are widely regarded as a desirable employee benefit, questions remain about which factors drive (or attenuate) applicant attraction to them. The authors offer a novel theoretical account by advancing the concept of lay theories (i.e. mindsets) around an individual's ability to juggle work and life responsibilities, defined as beliefs that the ability to juggle is either malleable (i.e. growth) or cannot be changed (i.e. fixed), which suggests greater efficacy increases attraction.

Utilizing an experimental policy-capturing design, 86 participants each rated a series of 64 job offers (N = 5,376) with several manipulated job attributes. Participants were randomly assigned into a growth or fixed mindset condition.

Multilevel regressions revealed that a growth (vs fixed) mindset caused participants to place greater weight on flexible work scheduling policies by reporting greater attraction to jobs with flexible arrangements.

Organizations may increase applicant attraction by taking steps to ensure that the value of work–life benefits is salient, such as offering concrete examples of how policies have been used.

This study questions the assumption that those who need flexibility are more attracted to FWAs and demonstrates that beliefs around one's ability to juggle work–life demands are a unique mechanism shaping applicant attraction.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediating roles of work and family demands and work-life balance on the relationship between self-efficacy (to regulate work and life) and work engagement. Specifically, it seeks to explain how self-efficacy influences employees’ thought patterns and emotional reactions, which in turn enable them to cope with work and family demands, and ultimately achieve work-life balance and work engagement.

Structural equation modelling (SEM) of survey data obtained from a heterogeneous sample of 1,010 Australian employees is used to test the hypothesised chain mediation model.

The SEM results support the hypothesised model. Self-efficacy was significantly and negatively related to work and family demands, which in turn were negatively associated with work-life balance. Work-life balance, in turn, enabled employees to be engaged in their work.

The findings support the key tenets of social cognitive theory and conservation of resources (COR) theory and demonstrate how self-efficacy can lead to work-life balance and engagement despite the presence of role demands. Study limitations (e.g. cross-sectional research design) and future research directions are discussed.

This study incorporates COR theory with social cognitive theory to improve understanding of how self-efficacy enhances work-life balance and work engagement through a self-fulfilling cycle in which employees achieve what they believe they can accomplish, and in the process, build other skills and personal resources to manage work and family challenges.

This study aimed to examine the direct impact of work–life balance on employee retention and turnover intentions among doctors in Pakistan. Further, it also aimed to test the mediating role of job satisfaction on these relationships.

This study's data were collected from 394 doctors working in public hospitals in Pakistan, using survey-based questionnaires and stratified random sampling technique. For data analysis, structural equation modelling was utilised to investigate the direct and indirect associations among the variables, while Statistical Software for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for data management.

Work–life balance was found to have a positive association with employee retention and a negative association with turnover intention. Results suggest that a fair work–life balance is a significant predictor of employee retention and turnover intention. Also, job satisfaction significantly mediated the relationship between work–life balance and employee retention and between work–life balance and turnover intention.

This study's focus was limited to doctors working in public hospitals. Thus, future research can extend the scope to other segments such as nurses, paramedics and pharmacists from both public and private organisations.

Human resource (HR) executives can improve employee retention and turnover intentions through strategic implementation of work–life balance practices. Policymakers should stress upon hospitals to implement favourable working hours that are satisfactory to employees to reduce turnover intention.

In the healthcare industry, suitable work–life balance strategies will help improve employees' lifestyle, which will positively impact their family and social relationships.

This study is expected to contribute to the existing healthcare literature in the context of Pakistan by explaining the process by which work–life balance affects employee retention and turnover intention. Specifically, job satisfaction is the mechanism that explains these relationships.

Women leaders operate within multiple roles, managing both work and nonwork obligations. Exploring work-life balance constructs, this study examined role integration, social support sources, and work-family conflict to determine their influence on women leaders. Findings suggested that women leaders felt the benefit of a variety of social support services, but especially from sources external to the organization. Women leaders were diverse in role integration strategies, with respondents largely divided between blurring and segregating their work and nonwork roles. Time-based work-family conflict was slightly more apparent than strain-based conflict. Women leaders also indicated that their work interfered with their family more than their family interfered with their work. Findings provide valuable insights as to how women view work-life balance within their roles as leaders.