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There is a growing interest in living labs (a research concept in which innovations are co-created with end-users and tested in practice) as a method to test and develop health and social care innovations. However, little is known about their effect on the care organization and care providers’ quality of working life. By using the Flanders Care Living Labs program (Belgium) as a case study, the purpose of this paper is to explore how innovations in a living lab context may affect those issues.

This qualitative study combined data from document analysis, in-depth interviews and focus groups involving 23 care innovation projects. Deductive category application was used for analyzing data.

Outcomes indicate that 22/23 care innovation projects resulted in organizational changes, and that 22 affected at least one care provider’s quality of working life. Surprisingly, no project deliberately intended to affect the care organization and quality of working life. Future care innovation projects should focus on actual innovation and its implications for specific end-users, and on the broader organizational consequences and the possible effect on the care providers’ work.

This is the first study that specifically focused on care innovation’s effect on the care organization and on the quality of working life within a living labs context.

Realizing the importance of psychological capital of marketers for their work, the authors aim to investigate the mediating role of quality of work life, job effort, and job attractiveness in the relationship between psychological capital and job performance of marketers in a transitioning market, Vietnam.

To test the mediating role of quality of work life, job effort, and job attractiveness in the relationship between psychological capital and job performance, the authors used a survey data set collected from 696 marketers working for various types of firms in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

The authors found that psychological capital has both direct and indirect impacts, mediated by quality of work life, job attractiveness, and job effort, on job performance of marketers.

The findings suggest that firms should pay attention to psychological capital in their recruiting, training, and development programs.

This study documents the mediating role of quality of work life, job effort, and job attractiveness in the relationship between psychological capital and job performance of marketers in a transitioning market, Vietnam.

Quality circles have recently been suggested as a technique for enhancing employees′ quality of work life and satisfaction with their work. This study attempts to analyse the relationships between employees′ participation in quality circles, their sense of quality of work life, perceived job reinforcement capacity and job satisfaction. One hundred and forty‐three employees of a large industrial corporation in Israel, half of them regularly participating in quality circles and half not participating, were surveyed. The results support the hypotheses of the study. A positive relationship was found between participation in quality circles and various aspects of quality of work life, perceived job reinforcement capacity and job satisfaction. Results are discussed in the context of the arguments concerning the effects of participation in quality circles.

Interrelationships among some common factors of human resource (HR) management and quality management are still unexplored. Changes in work patterns due to the Covid-19 pandemic have aroused interest in some of these factors, such as working-hours, work pressure, work–life balance practices, job satisfaction. The purpose of this study is to explore the interrelationships among such factors. Specifically, the influence of work hours, work pressure, job rotation and work–life balance on job satisfaction is evaluated both directly and under the mediating influence of working conditions.

A questionnaire-based survey was conducted in Indonesia among diversified organisations. A total of 432 responses were gathered, and they were examined using hypothesis testing and partial least square based structural equation modelling.

The study confirms the statistically proven impact of work pressure, job rotations and work–life-balance practices on working conditions. Job rotations, work–life balance practices and working conditions directly influenced job satisfaction. Work pressure did not influence job satisfaction directly, but it significantly influenced working conditions, which eventually affected job satisfaction. Working hours neither affected working conditions nor job satisfaction in a significant manner.

Covid-19 necessitated working from home, which is a peculiar work–life balance situation. The findings are helpful for organisations in planning strategies related to work–life-balance, working hours, multi-skilling, working conditions and other quality of work life factors in both regular working conditions and under Covid-19 conditions.

The proven influence of work pressure and work–life-balance practices may result in the formation of informal organisations, social groups and increased social networking. As working hours are not diagnosed as an influencing factor for job satisfaction, organisations may think about increasing them, affecting the social fabric of the working community.

Previously unexplored interrelationships among various quality of work life factors are established. Under Covid-19 circumstances, factors such as working hours, work–life-balance and work pressure are investigated in a novel manner. The factors and their interrelationships are important to both quality management professionals and HR professionals.

Imai defined Kaizen as: “a means of continuing improvement in personal life, home life, social life, and working life. At the workplace, Kaizen means continuing improvement involving everyone – managers and workers alike”. According to Imai, Kaizen can take at least three forms: Kaizen management; Group Kaizen; Individual Kaizen. In this last form, the strength of the continuous improvement of this Japanese management approach is focused on the work of each person as an individual. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore how some people have applied Personal Kaizen to their personal lives in order to improve their quality of life. The research question that drives the study is: How do some people apply Personal Kaizen in order to improve their quality of life?

An exploratory qualitative study was conducted. Using theoretical sampling, three persons who have implemented Personal Kaizen in their daily lives in order to change their quality of life were identified and interviewed. Similarly, documentary references of the three cases cited were used to generate a cross‐case analysis of the methodological techniques used.

This paper analyses the cases of three persons who have implemented Personal Kaizen in their lives in order to change their quality of life. The authors cross the empirical data with the theoretical framework of Kaizen and quality of life and try to corroborate three hypotheses.

This paper has the same limitations as all other qualitative research, including subjectivity of analysis and questionable generalisation of findings. Furthermore, there may well be a theoretical gap with respect to the geographic region, given that the paper only considers three individuals living in Mexico.

The description of how three persons apply an individual Kaizen approach in order to change their quality of life may prove to be of value to other persons who wish to change their health‐related behaviour.

The study contributes to the limited existing literature on the Personal Kaizen approach and subsequently disseminates this information in order to provide impetus, guidance and support for improving individual quality of life.

This paper aims to examine whether companies in Indonesian controversial industries can rely on their corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices to improve potential employees' job pursuit intention, which lead to a higher quality of work life (QWL) and a better performance from their employees.

The target respondents are interns, staff and supervisors of 42 Indonesian listed companies in controversial industries. The data collection method is performed by distributing questionnaires using a seven-point Likert scale. Collected data using partial least squares (PLS) analysis are conducted and tested.

Consistent with the existing result, the authors find out that potential employees have a higher intention to join and accept a job offer from companies with a higher level of CSR practices. Regarding the corporate social responsibility, it is further proven to have a positive effect on employee's quality of work life. More interestingly, the findings of the current study reveal that CSR also affects employee performance (EP), both directly and indirectly, through QWL.

Findings demonstrate that CSR in Indonesian controversial industry represents an important factor for recruiting top employees that lead to the improvement of the employee's quality of work life and performance.

The findings indicate that enterprises should be more concerned about CSR engagement in attracting new talents, enhancing the quality of work life and cultivating the employee's performance.

This study enhances previous supports and studies on the concept of CSR and human resource management by analyzing the relationship between CSR and employee performance. Previous researches have concentrated their objectives in finding the link between CSR and the financial performance of a company. However, it must be understood that a company's success actually hinges on the performance of one of their greatest assets, the human resources. Additionally, due to the change in generations that will be the job seekers, recruitment strategy to attract job applicants and improve the job pursuit intention (JPI) is now needed more than ever. One of the strategies that Indonesian companies can use to do so is by practicing CSR. Hence, this is the first study in an attempt to observe the overall relationship of the CSR with the job pursuit intention, QWL and EP, especially in the controversial industries. The study will drive companies to intensify their efforts in maintaining good employee performance.

This study aims to examine the relationship between the quality of working lives and the perceived stress of health personnel working in a hospital specialized in physical medicine and rehabilitation services.

This descriptive correlational study was conducted with health personnel providing medical, sport and vocational rehabilitation in an education and research hospital. The Quality of Work Life Scale (QWLS) and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) questionnaires were used to collect data. Descriptive statistics were used for quantitative analysis.

There was a positive correlation between their stress scores on the QWLS and perceived stress on the PSS. The highest score on the QWLS was obtained from the dimension of working conditions (3.47), and the lowest score was obtained from the dimension of stress (1.34). The mean score on the PSS was 33.18 ± 3.29. No significant relationship was found between participants’ scores on the PSS and their demographic characteristics.

There is a need to improve the quality of rehabilitation providers’ working lives by reducing their work-related stress.

As rehabilitation personnel play an important role in protecting and promoting the health of vulnerable groups in the society, it is a main priority to examine the relationship between rehabilitation providers’ perceived stress and the quality of their working lives.

Quality of work life (QWL) has become an increasingly popular cross‐cultural field of theory and practice. An examination of the current state of the art revealed that the inquiry paradigm is one of the areas that leads to the contradictory and mostly disjointed state of QWL knowledge. A phenomenological‐based approach is proposed and utilized in an exploratory study that examines MBA students′ QWL experiences in the USA and Hong Kong. Discusses the learnings both in terms of the approaches used and the QWL knowledge gained.

Compiled by K.G.B. Bakewell covering the following journals published by MCB University Press: Facilities Volumes 8‐18; Journal of Property Investment & Finance Volumes 8‐18; Property Management Volumes 8‐18; Structural Survey Volumes 8‐18.

Index by subjects, compiled by K.G.B. Bakewell covering the following journals: Facilities Volumes 8‐18; Journal of Property Investment & Finance Volumes 8‐18; Property Management Volumes 8‐18; Structural Survey Volumes 8‐18.