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11 – 20 of over 14000Joanna Hughes and Nikos Bozionelos
The purpose of this article is to explore the views of male workers in a male dominated occupation on issues that pertain to work‐life balance.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to explore the views of male workers in a male dominated occupation on issues that pertain to work‐life balance.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was qualitative in nature. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 20 bus drivers employed by a single company in order to identify their perceptions on the following: whether issues related to work‐life balance were sources of concern and dissatisfaction; how concern over issues related to work‐life balance was compared to other sources of concern and dissatisfaction; and whether issues related to work‐life balance were linked with withdrawal attitudes and behaviours.
Findings
It emerged that work‐life imbalance was not only a source of concern, but also that it was the major source of dissatisfaction for participants. Furthermore, participants made a clear connection between problems with work‐life balance and withdrawal behaviours, including turnover and non‐genuine sick absence.
Originality/value
The study has value at both scholarly and practice level. At scholarly level, the research investigated an important contemporary issue within a neglected group: male workers in a low profile male dominated occupation. At practice level, the findings suggest that work life imbalance incurs tangible costs to organisations; hence, organisations need to establish human resource systems to deal with it. Furthermore, pertinent legislation may need to be developed and enacted.
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This paper aims to establish and illustrate the levels of awareness of work‐life balance policies within the surveying profession in Australia and New Zealand. The culture and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to establish and illustrate the levels of awareness of work‐life balance policies within the surveying profession in Australia and New Zealand. The culture and characteristics of the Australian and New Zealand work force are to be identified. The key aspects included in work‐life balance policies are to be illustrated and the perceived benefits for the surveying profession are to be noted. The paper seeks to posit that it is vital to comprehend the levels of awareness of work‐life balance issues within the surveying profession first, so that benchmarking may occur over time within the profession and second, that comparisons may be drawn with other professions.
Design/methodology/approach
There is a growing body of research into work‐life balance and the built environment professions. Using a questionnaire survey of the whole RICS qualified surveying profession in Australia and New Zealand, this paper identifies the awareness of work‐life balance benefits within the surveying profession.
Findings
This research provides evidence that awareness of the issues and options is unevenly spread amongst professional surveyors in the region. With shortages of professionals and an active economy the pressures on existing employees looks set to rise and therefore this is an area which needs to be benchmarked and revisited with a view to adopting best practice throughout the sector. The implications are that employers ignore work‐life balance issues at their peril.
Practical implications
There is much to be learned from an increased understanding of work‐life balance issues for professionals in the surveying discipline. The consequences of an imbalance between work and personal or family life is emotional exhaustion, cynicism and burnout. The consequences for employers or surveying firms are reduced effectiveness and profitability and increased employee turnover or churn.
Originality/value
Leading on from Ellison's UK surveying profession study and Lingard and Francis's Australian civil engineering and construction industry studies, this paper seeks to raise awareness of the benefits of adopting work‐life balance policies within surveying firms and to establish benchmarks of awareness within the Australian and New Zealand surveying profession.
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Jill R. Helmle, Isabel C. Botero and David R. Seibold
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…
Abstract
Purpose
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.
Design/methodology/approach
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.
Findings
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.
Research limitations/implications
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.
Practical implications
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.
Originality/value
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.
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Xi Wen Chan, Thomas Kalliath, Paula Brough, Michael O’Driscoll, Oi-Ling Siu and Carolyn Timms
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…
Abstract
Purpose
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.
Design/methodology/approach
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.
Findings
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.
Research limitations/implications
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.
Originality/value
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.
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The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the underlying conflicts associated with current work‐life balance and travel‐to‐work policies, as employed in organisations in the UK.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the underlying conflicts associated with current work‐life balance and travel‐to‐work policies, as employed in organisations in the UK.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed method approach is used to ascertain whether professional work‐group cultures limit the effectiveness of work‐life balance policy, and the extent to which spill‐over is present between work‐life balance and transport preferences, especially car use. These concerns are explored empirically using an in‐depth local level quantitative‐qualitative case study of Greater Nottingham (a regional employment centre in the East Midlands region of England).
Findings
The evidence presented in this paper suggests: work‐group cultures prevent employees, especially women, from achieving work‐life balance; there is spill‐over between work and non‐work activities, creating time allocation challenges, and stress, for dual career households attempting to achieve desired work‐life balance; and specific conflicts are reported in balancing work with travel‐to‐work, especially car parking.
Practical implications
The research findings suggest that transport, especially employee car parking, needs to be considered a focal point in the planning and implementation of human resource (HR) policies. Employers also need to reconsider their approach to flexible working to dissolve the negative repercussions that the “choice” to work flexibly has for the careers of highly skilled workers, especially working mothers. Increases in formalised home‐based teleworking, restructuring the gender balance in management, and positive discrimination toward certain groups offer potential routes for change.
Originality/value
This paper provides important recommendations for employers and HR managers, designing and implementing work‐life balance policies. Transport issues, presently considered largely external from the employer perspective, have central relevance.
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Zahoor Ahmad Parray, Tanveer Ahmad Shah and Shahbaz Ul Islam
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…
Abstract
Purpose
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.
Design/methodology/approach
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.
Findings
The findings validated the expected relations, demonstrating that the association between psychological capital and employee job attitudes is completely mediated by work-life balance.
Research limitations/implications
This research study used cross-sectional data, which fall short of meeting the requirement for proving causation.
Practical implications
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.
Originality/value
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.
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S.B. Burnett, C.J. Gatrell, C.L. Cooper and P. Sparrow
The paper considers the impact of work‐life balance policies on the work and family practices of professional, dual‐earner parents with dependent children, by assessing the extent…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper considers the impact of work‐life balance policies on the work and family practices of professional, dual‐earner parents with dependent children, by assessing the extent to which “well‐balanced families” have been resultantly facilitated. It poses two research questions: the first centres on how far work‐life balance policies have better enabled working parents to manage their commitments to employers and children, whilst the second focuses on how far parental and employer responses to work‐life balance policies may be gendered. The ultimate aim is to (re)‐articulate the importance of gender in the work‐life balance agenda.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws upon historical and conceptual research on work and family practices. It invokes gender as a lens through which notions of the “well‐balanced family” are considered.
Findings
It is argued that work‐life balance policies have not led to well‐balanced, or “gender‐neutral”, work and family practices. This is for two reasons, both relating to gender. First, the take up of work‐life balance policies is gendered, with more mothers than fathers working flexibly. This is partly because organizational expectations fail to acknowledge social change around the paternal parenting role. Second, work‐life balance policies focus mainly on the issues of paid work and childcare, failing to take account of domestic labour, the main burden of which continues to be carried by mothers.
Practical implications
Deeply ingrained social assumptions about the gendered division of labour within heterosexual couples limit the impact of work‐life balance policies on work family practices.
Originality/value
The paper moves forward the debate on work‐life balance through taking an interdisciplinary approach to an issue which has often been addressed previously from discipline‐specific approaches such as health, psychology or policy.
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Saarce Elsye Hatane, Bernard Emerson, Olievia Soesanto, Ruth Arum Gunawan and Hatane Semuel
The purpose of this study is to discover the impact of work–life balance on the intention to pursue accounting careers through accounting career image.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to discover the impact of work–life balance on the intention to pursue accounting careers through accounting career image.
Design/methodology/approach
The study managed to collect 693 closed questionnaires, using the five-point Likert Scale, from accounting students in several universities in Java, Sulawesi and Kalimantan, as the three most densely populated islands in Indonesia. The research model is analysed using partial least square method as a part of structural equation modelling.
Findings
There are positive and significant influences between work–life balance and the intention to pursue accounting career when supported by accounting career image. The positive perception of accounting career image motivates accounting students to pursue accounting careers. Accounting students argue that attaining a balance between work and personal life can improve positive perceptions of accounting careers, which drive them to pursue a career in accounting. Work–life balance is an essential factor due to the fact that it can, directly and indirectly, affect the intention to pursue accounting careers. In addition, positive image of accounting profession is found to be able to strengthen the positive influence of the work–life balance to pursue accounting careers.
Research limitations/implications
Further studies can continue along the line of this study as the intention to choose an accounting career can change from time to time. In addition, the generational difference may create a discrepancy in perception and orientation in choosing accounting careers. Therefore, future studies should consider a broader scope and more updated objects.
Practical implications
The findings suggest that working experience is an essential part for accounting students in choosing accounting careers, and so higher education institutions need to consider including field work-practice in their curriculums. Companies are also expected to prioritise work–life balance since it will motivate accounting students to choose an accounting career.
Originality/value
This study investigates the link between work–life balance and decisions to pursue accounting careers through accounting students' perceptions in Indonesia. This study combines the influences of work–life balance and accounting career image on the intention to pursue accounting careers in one model, in which accounting career image is the mediating variable in the indirect link of work–life balance.
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Marta Mas-Machuca, Jasmina Berbegal-Mirabent and Ines Alegre
The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between work-life balance, organizational pride and job satisfaction. When evaluating employee work-life balance the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between work-life balance, organizational pride and job satisfaction. When evaluating employee work-life balance the present paper takes into consideration two relevant antecedents: supervisor support and job autonomy; and explores their link with organizational pride and job satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
To verify the hypothesis, a questionnaire survey was used to collect data in a Spanish pharmaceutical organization; 374 responses were obtained. Structural equation modeling was used for the data analysis.
Findings
Data confirms the relationship between the analyzed constructs. The results support the hypothesized relationships of supervisor work-life balance support and autonomy with employee work-life balance. In addition, employee work-life balance is positively related with organizational pride and job satisfaction.
Practical implications
This study provides a useful measurement model that employers and employees can use to evaluate and improve work-life balance through job autonomy and supervisor support. Companies should pay attention to employee work-life balance to enhance organizational pride and job satisfaction. The research tries to help companies to more effectively use their human capital resources.
Originality/value
The paper addresses gaps in the current literature in work-life, organizational pride and job satisfaction. The results may serve as the criteria for managers to better enhance employee job satisfaction in organizations.
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Katherine T. Smith, L. Murphy Smith and Tracy R. Brower
Prior research has shown that a work environment that facilitates work-life balance not only benefits the personal lives of employees but also leads to better job performance and…
Abstract
Prior research has shown that a work environment that facilitates work-life balance not only benefits the personal lives of employees but also leads to better job performance and ethical decision-making. Allocation of time between career and personal life is an age-old challenge for working people. Work-life balance refers to the manner in which people distribute time between their jobs and other activities, such as family, personal pursuits, and community involvement. This study compares the work-life balance perspectives of current and future accountants. Three research questions are examined. The first relates to the importance accountants place on work-life balance. The second concerns how work-life balance perspectives of current practitioners compare to future accountants. The third considers how gender differences affect work-life balance perspectives. Data for analysis was obtained via a survey of current accounting practitioners and of future accountants (students near graduation). Findings indicate that both current and future accountants believe that a healthy work-life balance is connected to work satisfaction, work performance, and ethical decision-making.
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