Work–life boundary management and the personal digital assistant

2007 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 519-551 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annis G. Golden ◽  
Cheryl Geisler
Keyword(s):  
Personal Digital Assistant ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Boundary Management

Study-work-life balance of international students in the context of temporal boundaries

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-79
Author(s):  
Megan O'Mahony ◽  
Debora Jeske
Keyword(s):  
International Students ◽  
Social Withdrawal ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Boundary Management ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Time Zone ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Personal Challenges

The goal of this qualitative study was to examine the experience of study-work-life balance among international students who were separated from their family both geographically and temporally. Using 10 semi-structured interviews with postgraduate students and thematic analysis, several themes were identified. These included boundary management shifts due to study/work demands and time zone differences. In addition, students reported social and personal challenges (in terms of family’s expectations, relationships maintenance, socialization in host country). Temporal boundaries contributed to social withdrawal and isolation among students, many of which were heavily reliant on their own family network for support. The findings strengthen the argument that time difference impacts the boundary management and social experience of international students.

scholarly journals Boundary Management Preferences, Boundary Control, and Work-Life Balance among Full-Time Employed Professionals in Knowledge-Intensive, Flexible Work

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christin Mellner ◽  
Gunnar Aronsson ◽  
Göran Kecklund
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Control ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Sociodemographic Factors ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Boundary Management ◽  
Flexible Work ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Knowledge Intensive ◽  
Management Preferences

Profound changes are taking place within working life, where established boundaries between work and personal life are challenged by increased global competition, ever-faster changing markets, and rapid development of boundary transcending information and communication technologies (ICT). The aim of this study was to investigate boundary management preferences in terms of keeping work and personal life domains separated or integrated, that is, segmenting or blending of domains, the perception of being in control of one´s preferred boundaries, and work-life balance among employees at a Swedish telecom company (N = 1,238, response rate 65%, men 73%, mean age 42 years). Psychosocial work factors, individual characteristics, sociodemographic factors, and work-life balance were investigated in relation to boundary management preferences and perceived boundary control. For high boundary control among segmenters, nearly all the studied psychosocial work factors were significant. Among integrators, this was the case only for clear expectations in work. For both groups, the individual capacity for self-regulation was associated with high boundary control. Regarding sociodemographic factors, cohabiting women with children who preferred segmentation had low boundary control. Finally, there was a main effect of boundary control on work-life balance. In particular, male segmenters perceiving high boundary control had better work-life balance than all others. Conclusions of the study are that segmenters need external boundaries in work for succesful boundary management. Moreover, self-regulation seems a crucial boundary competence in knowledge- intensive, flexible work. Results are of value for health promotion in modern work organizations in supporting employees achieving successful boundary control and subsequent work-life balance.

Managing work-life boundaries with mobile technologies

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karlene Cousins ◽  
Daniel Robey
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Devices ◽  
Mobile Technology ◽  
Material Properties ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Mobile Technologies ◽  
Core Material ◽  
Boundary Management ◽  
Content Type

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the role that mobile technologies play in mobile workers’ efforts to manage the boundaries between work and non-work domains. Previous theories of work-life boundary management frame boundary management strategies as a range between the segmentation and integration of work-life domains, but fail to provide a satisfactory account of technology’s role. Design/methodology/approach – The authors apply the concept of affordances, defined as the relationship between users’ abilities and features of mobile technology, in two field studies of a total of 25 mobile workers who used a variety of mobile devices and services. Findings – The results demonstrate that the material features of mobile technologies offer five specific affordances that mobile workers use in managing work-life boundaries: mobility, connectedness, interoperability, identifiability and personalization. These affordances persist in their influence across time, despite their connection to different technology features. Originality/value – The author found that mobile workers’ boundary management strategies do not fit comfortably along a linear segmentation-integration continuum. Rather, mobile workers establish a variety of personalized boundary management practices to match their particular situations. The authors speculate that mobile technology has core material properties that endure over time. The authors surmise that these material properties provide opportunities for users to interact with them in a manner to make the five affordances possible. Therefore, in the future, actors interacting with mobile devices to manage their work-life boundaries may experience affordances similar to those the authors observed because of the presence of the core material properties.

Boundary Management

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy P. Rothbard ◽  
Ariane Ollier-Malaterre
Keyword(s):  
Time Horizon ◽  
New World ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Boundary Management ◽  
Life Domains ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Different Dimensions ◽  
And Control

Boundary management is an important area within the field of work–life research. It is a set of cognitions and strategies by which people manage the critical boundaries between their multiple life domains. In this chapter, we embed this construct in its historical context from the industrial revolution to the present day. We review research that has accumulated on the different types of boundaries (e.g., spatial, temporal, relational, cognitive), the different dimensions of boundary management (segmentation versus integration preferences and behaviors, permeability, and control), as well as its directionality and time horizon. This chapter also presents a chronological approach that invites us to revisit the value of segmentation against of backdrop of an increasing blurring of the boundaries in the new world of work.

Work-life boundary management styles of women entrepreneurs in Ethiopia – “choice” or imposition?

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 368-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Konjit Hailu Gudeta ◽  
Marloes L. van Engen
Keyword(s):  
Women Entrepreneurs ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Boundary Management ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Management Styles ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Government ◽  
Work Family ◽  
Life Roles

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the work-life boundary management experiences and challenges women entrepreneurs face in combining their work-life responsibilities. Design/methodology/approach In-depth interviews were conducted with 31 women entrepreneurs in Ethiopia using a grounded theory approach to investigate how they manage the boundaries between their work-life roles, the challenges they face and how these challenges affect their boundary management experiences. Findings Integration, as a work-life boundary management strategy, is imposed on women as a result of normative expectations on women to shoulder care and household responsibilities, as well as to fulfil societal roles and obligations. In addition, challenges related to managing employees at home and at work frequently require women to combine work and life roles, forcing them to integrate even more. Practical implications The findings of this study underline the need to recognise the work-life interface challenges faced by women entrepreneurs and to develop programmes and hands-on training to help them adopt work-life boundary management tactics. In addition, it is hoped that the findings will inform policies and women entrepreneurship development programmes designed by the government, development partners and other stakeholders. Originality/value This paper contributes to the work-family literature by highlighting the contextual and environmental factors imposing work-family boundary management styles on women entrepreneurs in the Sub-Saharan country of Ethiopia.

scholarly journals Occupational and Individual Determinants of Work-life Balance among Office Workers with Flexible Work Arrangements

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 1418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sofie Bjärntoft ◽  
David M. Hallman ◽  
Svend Erik Mathiassen ◽  
Johan Larsson ◽  
Helena Jahncke
Keyword(s):  
Job Demands ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Office Workers ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Boundary Management ◽  
Flexible Work Arrangements ◽  
Flexible Work ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Work Arrangements ◽  
Overtime Work

Flexible work arrangements permitting workers to work anytime and anywhere are increasingly common. This flexibility can introduce both challenges and opportunities for the organisation, as well as for worker work-life balance (WLB). This cross-sectional study aimed to examine the extent to which occupational factors (organizational, leadership and psychosocial) and individual work-related behaviours (over-commitment, overtime work and boundary management) are associated with WLB, and whether these associations are modified by the perceived level of flexibility at work (i.e., control over when, where, and how to do the work). In total, 2960 full-time office workers with flexible work arrangements at the Swedish Transport Administration participated. Associations were determined using linear regression analyses with adjustment for covariates. The strongest negative associations with WLB were found for over-commitment, quantitative job demands, expectations of availability, and overtime work. Strongest positive associations were found for boundary management, information about organizing work, social support, and relation-oriented leadership. Perceived flexibility was positively associated with WLB, and interacted with several of the examined factors, buffering their negative associations with WLB. Results suggest that WLB can be promoted by organizational initiatives focusing on minimizing excessive job demands, increasing psychosocial resources, supporting boundary management, and enhancing perceived flexibility.

Finding Balance Amid Boundarylessness: An Interpretive Study of Entrepreneurial Work–Life Balance and Boundary Management

2015 ◽  
Vol 38 (11) ◽  
pp. 1546-1576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Souha R. Ezzedeen ◽  
Jelena Zikic
Keyword(s):  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Boundary Theory ◽  
Boundary Management ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Interpretive Study ◽  
Subjective Perceptions ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
High Flexibility ◽  
Practical Implications

In recent years, entrepreneurship has grown as an attractive career alternative, promoting much scholarly attention. Still, little is known about the work–life interface of entrepreneurs, in particular whether entrepreneurship enhances work–life balance or exacerbates conflict between domains. We base this study on boundary theory to explore how subjective perceptions of balance and boundary management might illuminate this contradiction. Indeed, entrepreneurial roles are unique in that they entail high flexibility and permeability, facilitating role blurring, or boundarylessness. We interpretively explored three research questions pertaining to entrepreneurs’ perceptions of their work–life interface and boundaries between roles, as well as the context factors that could explain these perceptions. Findings suggest that several subjective as well as objective factors could explain how entrepreneurial work is sometimes experienced as conflicting, and at other times, perceived as conducive to balance. Theoretical and practical implications and recommendations as well as study limitations are discussed in closing.

Expanding role boundary management theory: How volunteering highlights contextually shifting strategies and collapsing work–life role boundaries

2017 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 182-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Disraelly Cruz ◽  
Rebecca Meisenbach
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Boundary Management ◽  
Management Processes ◽  
Role Boundary ◽  
Life Issues ◽  
Work Family ◽  
Collapsing Boundaries ◽  
Role Boundaries ◽  
Life Roles

Despite interest in expanding work–family research to focus on work–life issues, few scholars have addressed non-family life enrichment roles and their potential additional forms of and issues for boundary management. Using in-depth qualitative interviews, this study investigates the management of under-researched work–life boundaries by focusing on how volunteers communicatively manage the volunteer role in light of work and home demands. The findings suggest new boundary management processes. Specifically, in addition to the established segmenting and integrating processes, the volunteers also articulated a process of collapsing boundaries. This latter new category is manifested in two forms, named simultaneous role enactment and role value fusion. Furthermore, findings highlight how rather than only enacting one stance, individuals described contextually dependent, shifting ways of managing multiple life roles. These findings have implications for how scholars study work–life management, how practitioners seek to recruit members, and how volunteers and organizational employees make membership decisions.

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