Work–life balance: Literature Review-Concept-Definitions-Theories

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By Fatima R. KHATEEB, Károly Ihrig Doctoral School, University of Debrecen, Cross-Cultural Management Journal Volume XXIII, Issue 1/2021

Work-life balance as a concept encompasses different formulations, theories, policies, and practices. The literature on the work-life balance presents a great deal of diversity. This paper succinctly presents the research work done as a formulation in form of the definitions, conceptualization in form of theories and deployment in form of organizational policies in the field of work-life balance while indicating the authors, research papers, books, journals etc.

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The points of view expressed by the authors of videos, academic or non-academic articles, blogs, academic books or essays (“the material”) are those of their author(s); they in no way bind the members of the Global Wo.Men Hub, who, amongst themselves, do not necessarily think the same thing. By sponsoring the publication of this material, Global Wo.Men Hub considers that it contributes to useful societal debates. Material could therefore be published in response to others.

By Zainab Bello, Garba Ibrahim Tanko

ABSTRACT

Objective – This paper’s objective is to make a comprehensive compilation of the various theories used in studies of work-life balance (WLB) in order to understand their usage.
Methodology/Technique – Based on past literature, this paper focused on review of relevant literature from various online data bases as well as manual texts of studies on WLB with particular attention on the theories used. Using descriptive layout, the paper gives adequate review of WLB theories.
Finding – This paper found that there are numerous prevailing theories on WLB explaining the relationships in various WLB studies. Such as Overall Appraisal, Structural Functionalism, Enhancement, Facilitation, Segmentation Spill-over, Compensation, Conservation, Conflict, Human Capital, Congruence, Ladder, Instrumental, Resource drain, Ecology, Border, Boundary and Integration Theories. Based on literature, this paper found that Boundary theory and Border theory are the two major foundation theories used in many studies to explain the different aspects of WLB.
Novelty – This paper found that there are no universally accepted theories for WLB. Theories used on WLB studies depend on the range of the study’s framework, variables or perspectives of the study. This leads to omissions or overlapping in frameworks.
Type of Paper: Review
JEL Classification: B54, D63, E24, J24.
Keywords: Work-life Balance; WLB Concepts; Work-Life Balance Theories; Family-Work
Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Bello, Z; Tanko, G.I. (2020). Review of Work-Life Balance Theories, GATR Global J. Bus. Soc. Sci. Review, 8(4): 217 – 227. https://doi.org/10.35609/gjbssr.2020.8.4(3)

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The points of view expressed by the authors of videos, academic or non-academic articles, blogs, academic books or essays (“the material”) are those of their author(s); they in no way bind the members of the Global Wo.Men Hub, who, amongst themselves, do not necessarily think the same thing. By sponsoring the publication of this material, Global Wo.Men Hub considers that it contributes to useful societal debates. Material could therefore be published in response to others.

By Michel Zaitouni , Gertrude Hewapathirana , Mohamed Mostafa , Raghid Al Hajj b, Ahmed R. ElMelegy, Published:July 04, open access 2024 DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e34084

Work-life balance has gained increasing popularity among scholars and practitioners since the beginning of the century. Despite significant attempts to consolidate this burgeoning field, the scholarly knowledge on work-life balance research remains fragmented and detached due to extant number of publications in the area and the mostly subjective approaches used to encapsulate the literature. As such, the current study presents an objective overview of work-life balance research between 2000 and 2020. Using bibliometric techniques, the authors examined 1190 articles indexed in Scopus database to identify the conceptual structure and current dynamics in the field. During the critical period between the reconceptualization of word-life balance
and the emergence of COVID-19 pandemic, the findings reveal that the field was growing exponentially as a multidisciplinary research area. Most of the scholarly work originated in the US, UK, and Australia with a “locally-centralized-globally-discrete” collaboration pattern among scholars. The most relevant and developed research themes included, in addition to work-life balance, topics related to gender and family life. Furthermore, new emerging research directions
had evolved beyond the traditional constructs including job security, flexible working hours, individual productivity, and work-life conflicts. The study contributes to the current knowledge on work-life balance by providing critical insights into the evolution of the field and offers potential avenues for scholars who are interested in this critical research domain and the changes it has experienced post pandemic.

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The points of view expressed by the authors of videos, academic or non-academic articles, blogs, academic books or essays (“the material”) are those of their author(s); they in no way bind the members of the Global Wo.Men Hub, who, amongst themselves, do not necessarily think the same thing. By sponsoring the publication of this material, Global Wo.Men Hub considers that it contributes to useful societal debates. Material could therefore be published in response to others.