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This paper aims to explore the impacts of remote auditing on auditors’ work and work-life balance.

This paper adopted a qualitative online survey approach using open-ended reflections from 98 highly experienced auditors. The survey design aligns with a “Big Q” approach to qualitative data. The reflections were interpreted through the theoretical lens of the social presence theory.

Auditors underscore that remote auditing has improved their work-life balance since it offers flexibility, greater autonomy and efficient use of time. However, they believe less social contact due to remote auditing can hurt their work.

This study aimed to holistically comprehend the concept of work-life balance in a remote auditing setting. Therefore, the study refrained from making comparisons based on demographic information (e.g. gender, experience and type of audit firm).

The findings highlight the need for adopting flexible work arrangements that prioritise auditors’ well-being. This is critical for making the audit profession attractive and enhancing overall audit quality. Updated regulatory guidance and controls are needed concerning the use of technologies in remote auditing to ensure high-quality audits.

The findings of this study can positively reshape public perception of the audit profession. Firstly, enhanced work-life balance can improve audit quality. Secondly, incorporating emerging technologies in auditing can result in society perceiving auditors as adaptive to innovation and technological advancement that has been touted for their potential for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of audit and audit quality, potentially enhancing societal trust in auditing.

The findings of this study complement the auditing literature that has mainly focused on the traditional work paradigm, requiring in-person presence. The authors identify potential challenges emanating from auditors’ remote work and propose solutions for audit firms to improve work-life balance in a remote work setting.

To empirically study the determinant factors of adopting work–life balance measures at the firm level.

After reviewing the main theories that explain work–life balance practices, IBEX-35 Spanish companies during 2015–2019 are studied to see whether the firm sector, the presence of female employees, qualified personnel, a company agreement and an equality plan determine these types of practices.

The results indicate a negative relationship between the firm activity sector and adopting work–life balance practices. Industrial companies offer fewer work–life balance measures than service companies. A company agreement implies more extensive adoption of work-life practices. Older companies are characterized by greater adoption of work-life practices, in contrast to their level of profitability that is associated negatively with these practices.

Since it is difficult for industrial companies to change their idiosyncrasies, it is necessary to incorporate other measures that promote work–life balance, such as timetable flexibility. Companies and policymakers should promote the advantages of a company agreement to contribute to the implementation of work–life balance practices.

The empirical evidence is scarce, especially in Spain and at the company level, given that most previous studies have focused on workers and the Anglo-Saxon sphere. Given the growing interest in this topic in the business world, the authors intend to contribute to this scarce literature by incorporating variables considered in previous studies, as well as other more innovative ones (agreement, equality plan) in a single model through a longitudinal study.

Estudiar empíricamente los factores determinantes de la adopción de medidas de conciliación a nivel de empresa.

Tras revisar las teorías que explican la adopción de prácticas de conciliación, se estudia para las empresas españolas del IBEX-35 durante el periodo 2015–2019, si el sector de actividad, la presencia de mujeres y de personal cualificado, así como la existencia de un convenio de empresa y de un plan de igualdad, determinan este tipo de prácticas.

Los resultados sugieren una relación negativa entre el tipo de sector al que pertenece la empresa y el índice de conciliación. Las compañías industriales poseen un menor índice de conciliación que las de servicios. La existencia de un convenio de empresa permite un mayor índice de conciliación. El índice de conciliación tiene mayor nivel de implantación en las empresas con mayor antigüedad si bien un mayor nivel de rentabilidad está asociado de modo negativo con las prácticas de conciliación.

En las empresas industriales es necesaria la incorporación de otras medidas que fomenten la conciliación, como, por ejemplo, la flexibilidad de entrada y salida. Animar a las empresas y policymarkers a incidir en las ventajas de un convenio de empresa puede contribuir al fomento de la implantación de medidas de conciliación.

La evidencia empírica es escasa para el caso español, y a nivel de empresa, dado que la mayoría de estudios previos han analizado al trabajador como objeto de estudio y pertenecen al ámbito anglosajón. Considerando el creciente interés de este tema en el mundo empresarial, se pretende contribuir a esta escasa literatura en España, incorporando tanto variables consideradas en estudios previos como otras más novedosas (convenio, plan de igualdad) a través de un estudio longitudinal.

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.

This study aims to examine the effect of several types of ex post idiosyncratic deals (i-deals) on work–life balance and work well-being, focusing on the mediating effect of work–life balance on the relationship between ex post i-deals and work well-being as well as the moderating effect of gender on the relationship between ex post i-deals and work–life balance in the hospitality industry.

This study uses a questionnaire survey of 642 hotel managers from developed cities in China and analyze the data with structural equation modeling. This study also conducts on-site interviews among 20 hotel managers to support conclusions of the survey.

The results indicate that task i-deals as well as career and incentives i-deals significantly promote work–life balance, thereby indirectly improving work well-being. However, the impact of flexibility i-deals on work–life balance and work well-being is insignificant. The influence of career and incentives i-deals on work–life balance for males is slightly stronger than that for females.

This study has practical implications for hotel employers in terms of using various ex post i-deals to motivate and retain hotel managers by improving personal work–life balance and work well-being.

As one of early attempts to highlight the potential of i-deals to serve as solutions for work–life conflicts and unhappiness issues among hotel managers, this study provides novel insights into the mediating process between ex post i-deals and work well-being from the work–life balance perspective as well as distinct influences of various ex post i-deals on work–life balance for male and female managers.

Digital technologies have been transforming the traditional workplace and reshaping how work is designed, performed and managed in organizations. This makes understanding digital work and its impact on job performance critically important. This study investigates the impact of digital work on job performance in organizations from the perspective of technology affordance.

A comprehensive review of the related literature has been conducted, leading to the development of a conceptual model for exploring the impact of digital work on job performance from the perspective of technology affordance. Such a model is then tested and validated using structural equation modelling on the survey data collected in Australia.

The study shows that the use of digital technologies significantly improves coordination and knowledge sharing between individuals, leading to better work–life balance and improved job performance. Furthermore, the study reveals that the use of digital technologies that can enhance communication and decision-making does not significantly influence work–life balance and job performance in digital work.

This study presents a comprehensive investigation of the impact of digital work on job performance in organizations from the perspective of technology affordance. It explores the changing role of digital work in transforming existing working practices in organizations, and how different technology affordances in digital work can be actualized for improving work–life balance and job performance in a digitalized working environment.

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.

The major goal of this research is to examine the work-life balance as a mediating factor in the association between psychological capital and employee attitudes including job satisfaction, organizational commitment and turnover intentions.

The authors gathered data from prestigious healthcare institutes in North Indian states to test the suggested study model. Data were gathered from 613 personnel employed in public and private healthcare organizations via an online Google form. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was applied for analyzing the data.

The findings validated the expected relations, demonstrating that the association between psychological capital and employee job attitudes is completely mediated by work-life balance.

This research study used cross-sectional data, which fall short of meeting the requirement for proving causation.

The findings of this study will help organizations and practitioners, particularly healthcare administrators and policymakers, better recognize the value of psychological capital and work-life balance, and how they impact job attitudes.

This research study added to the existing self-determination theory (SDT) model developed by Deci et al. (2017) by incorporating psychological capital and work-life balance as autonomous intrinsic and workplace context factors, respectively, into the SDT model to study work behaviors in terms of job outcomes. In addition, the study added to the existing body of knowledge in organizational behavior literature about the role of mediating variables in understanding the indirect effect of personal resources on job attitudes.

Research on the effect of pay cuts/freezes on employee morale is limited. More importantly, past studies examining this relationship tend to focus on fairness perception as a mediator. This study hypothesizes that work–life conflict also mediates the negative relationship between pay cuts/freezes and employee morale.

A total of 13,139 employees in 1,830 workplaces in Britain in the 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Survey were analyzed.

The analyses confirm the above hypothesis. The results also demonstrate that this mediating mechanism can be mitigated to some extent when work–life balancing practices are available, but much more strongly when they are actually used.

If possible, organizations should provide and encourage employees to use work–life balancing practices when employees' pay needs to be cut or frozen if maintaining employee morale is a concern.

Our study highlights the need to incorporate various theoretical frameworks, and not just the dominant justice/fairness theories, into the study of pay cuts and freezes. The current research demonstrates that the work–life conflict framework can also be applied to understand the relationship between pay cuts/freezes and employee morale.

The purpose of the study is to investigate the differences between generational groups (specifically Generations X, Y and Z) in terms of variables that influence organisational commitment and intention to stay within an organisation. The aim is to fill the research gap in understanding how different factors influence commitment and retention across different generations.

This study follows a quantitative approach based on cross-sectional survey data. The respondents were employees of Generations X, Y and Z. The data were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling and multigroup analysis.

The results of the study indicate several relationships between variables and organisational commitment/intention to stay. Person-organisation fit is positively related to organisational commitment, and work-life balance is positively related to both organisational commitment and intention to stay. The mediation of organisational commitment shows a positive relationship with person-organisation fit and work-life balance. In addition, there are positive relationships between organisational culture and both organisational commitment and intention to stay, as well as a positive relationship between person-organisation fit and intention to stay. Furthermore, all three Generations (X, Y and Z) show positive relationships between organisational commitment and intention to stay.

The implications of the study are twofold. First, it provides theoretical contributions by uncovering the relationships between various variables and organisational commitment/retention. Second, it provides practical implications for organisations by highlighting the importance of person-organisation fit, work-life balance and organisational culture in fostering commitment and retention among employees of different generations.

The originality and value of this study lies in its exploration of the differences between generational groups in terms of variables affecting organisational commitment and intention to stay. By addressing this research gap, the study contributes to the existing literature on organisational commitment and retention. The detailed presentation of theoretical contributions, practical implications, limitations and suggestions for future research enhances the overall value of the study.

This case study is best suited for courses in career management, stress management, work–life management or science of well-being in organization behavior (OB) or human resources management (HRM). This case study is targeted at the MBA or executive development programs. The learning outcomes of this case study are as follows: to analyze the challenges in balancing Suraj Kumar’s (the protagonist) work–life balance situation and identifying the main causes of such a conflict. What are some strategies that could be used to address these issues? To develop a plan to balance work responsibilities with family and personal life. What specific actions could he take to achieve this balance? To design a training program for employees that addresses work–life balance issues. What topics would you cover in the training, and what methods would you use to deliver the content? To create a proposal for a flexible work arrangement program that an organization could offer to its employees. What would be the benefits of this program, and how would it be implemented and managed? To develop a business case for why an organization should prioritize work–life balance for its employees. What are the potential benefits of doing so, and how can the organization measure the impact of its efforts?

This case study discusses conflicts due to competitive priorities that people face in balancing the pressures, roles and responsibilities between their professional life (careers) and their personal life, and the trade-offs that they make across these multiple aspects of their lives. This case study revolves around Suraj Kumar, a successful consultant, who was offered a promotion as the executive director for the social sector. This promotion would require extensive travel and time away from his family. Kumar was struggling to balance his work responsibilities with his family life and his involvement with the Smile and Shine Foundation, which supports the education of children from economically weaker sections of society. He was reflecting on his past and present and trying to figure out how to prioritize his commitments while also achieving his personal and professional goals.

This research has shown that a case discussion and role-play can be effective for a less experienced audience. Instructors can provide multiple perspectives to stimulate reflection and debate. For executive MBA or executive development programs, a self-reflection exercise is recommended. Participants in these programs may have personal experience dealing with or may know others who have dealt with work–life balance issues, making self-reflection a valuable tool.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 6: Human resource management.