Social Media Strategies for Better Work-Life Engagement: Boundary Management in Cyberspace

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.

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The Happy Level: A New Approach to Measure Happiness at Work Using Mixed Methods

International Journal of Qualitative Methods ◽

10.1177/16094069211002413 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 20 ◽

pp. 160940692110024

Author(s):

Gisela Sender ◽

Flavio Carvalho ◽

Gustavo Guedes

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Mixed Methods ◽

Sentiment Analysis ◽

Narrative Analysis ◽

Research Data ◽

Work Life ◽

Self Report ◽

Level Indicator ◽

New Approach ◽

Automatic Methods

Happiness at Work is considered the Holy Grail of organizational sciences. The belief that happier workers are more productive leads to a win-win situation for both individuals and organizations. Nevertheless, years of research have not brought a convergent conclusion about the topic, mainly due to the lack of a widely accepted measure. Usually, questionnaires and self-report surveys are used; however, these methods embed shortcomings that allow studies’ results to be questioned. In order to overcome these shortcomings, the present study proposes a different approach to measure Happiness at Work, bringing mixed methods to encompass the complexity of the phenomenon. Based on work-life narratives and following Kahneman’s concepts, the proposed approach puts together Narrative Analysis and Sentiment Analysis. Although increasingly used to assess social media reviews, Sentiment Analysis is not yet applied to narratives related to Happiness at Work. Four methods to calculate the Happy Level indicator were tested on actual research data: one manual, through traditional coding processes, and three automatic methods to provide scalability. An example of the Happy Level application is also provided to illustrate how the indicator could improve analyses. The present study concludes that despite the manual method presents better results at this moment; the automatic ones are promising. The results also indicate paths for improvement of these methods.

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

Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies ◽

10.19154/njwls.v4i4.4705 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 4 (4) ◽

pp. 7 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

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.

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Finding their Place in the World: Using Digital Storytelling to Understand the Intersections Between Students Technology Use and their Work, Life, Play and Learning

EDEN Conference Proceedings ◽

10.38069/edenconf-2019-ac-0056 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 499-508

Author(s):

Peter Bryant

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Technology Use ◽

Business School ◽

Digital Storytelling ◽

Learning Experience ◽

Work Life ◽

The World ◽

Digital Stories ◽

Methodological Approaches ◽

The University

Understanding how and with your students participate in learning and how technology and social media supports that learning is a key challenge for modern higher education institutions. Learning practices intersect personal, professional and educational lives in complex, inter-connected and personally defined and managed ways. Drawing on the analysis of digital stories told by 100 students at the University of Sydney Business School, this paper will explore the unique methodological approaches of digital storytelling and student-led research to understanding how technology shapes and intersects the learning experience. It will also identify how students use technology (and especially extended forms of social media) to forms connections between their work, life, play and learning.

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Work–life boundary management and the personal digital assistant

Human Relations ◽

10.1177/0018726707076698 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 60 (3) ◽

pp. 519-551 ◽

Cited By ~ 102

Author(s):

Annis G. Golden ◽

Cheryl Geisler

Keyword(s):

Personal Digital Assistant ◽

Work Life ◽

Boundary Management

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Managing work-life boundaries with mobile technologies

Information Technology and People ◽

10.1108/itp-08-2013-0155 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 28 (1) ◽

pp. 34-71 ◽

Cited By ~ 37

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.

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