A review of work—life research in Australia and New Zealand

As many organisations and employees seek ways to better manage the tensions between work and other life demands, there has been a growing body of research in the area of work—family conflict and work—life issues. Despite the recent surge in research and practice addressing work—life issues, there has been no comprehensive review identifying where Australia and New Zealand stand in terms of work—life research. This paper addresses this issue with a review of research conducted in Australia and New Zealand between 2004 and 2007. Our review identifies the major themes and research methods that have dominated this research and discusses the implications for future research, policy and management in this field.

[1]  L. Susskind,et al.  Connecting Theory and Practice , 2008 .

[2]  D. Hambrick.  THE FIELD OF MANAGEMENT'S DEVOTION TO THEORY: TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING? , 2007 .

[3]  Phyllis Tharenou,et al.  Management Research Methods , 2007 .

[4]  Kenneth G. Brown,et al.  The Very Separate Worlds Of Academic And Practitioner Periodicals In Human Resource Management: Implications For Evidence-Based Management , 2007 .

[5]  E. Anne Bardoel,et al.  ‘Quality’ part-time work in Australian organizations: implications for HRD , 2007 .

[6]  J. Burgess,et al.  Equal employment opportunity legislation and policies: the Australian experience , 2007 .

[7]  Brigid van Wanrooy,et al.  A Desire for 9 to 5: Australians' Preference for a Standard Working Week , 2007 .

[8]  L. Bradley,et al.  Freedom or fallout in local government? How work–life culture impacts employees using flexible work practices , 2007 .

[9]  A. Polzer-Debruyne,et al.  The organisational pay-offs for perceived work–life balance support: , 2007 .

[10]  Suzan Lewis,et al.  The constraints of a ‘work–life balance’ approach: an international perspective , 2007 .

[11]  J. Haar.  The downside of coping: Work–family conflict, employee burnout and the moderating effects of coping strategies , 2006, Journal of Management & Organization.

[12]  Willem Adema.  tOw ARDs COheRent CARe AnD eDuCA tiOn suPPOR t POliCies FOR new ZeAlAnD FAMilies , 2006 .

[13]  Richard E. Kopelman,et al.  A Multilevel Examination of Work-Life Practices: Is More Always Better? , 2006 .

[14]  Denise M. Rousseau,et al.  Is there Such a thing as “Evidence-Based Management”? , 2006 .

[15]  L. Bradley,et al.  Investigating work-family policy aims and employee experiences , 2005 .

[16]  Kris Byron.  A meta-analytic review of work–family conflict and its antecedents ☆ , 2005 .

[17]  D. Brennan.  Children and Families: Forty Years of Analysis and Commentary in the Australian Journal of Social Issues , 2005 .

[18]  B. Pocock.  Work-life ‘balance’ in Australia: Limited progress, dim prospects , 2005 .

[19]  P. Brough.  A Comparative Investigation of the Predictors of Work-related Psychological Well-being within Police, Fire and Ambulance Workers. , 2005 .

[20]  W. Casper,et al.  Work and family research in IO/OB: Content analysis and review of the literature (1980–2002) , 2005 .

[21]  T. Pettit,et al.  Achievements and challenges for work/life balance strategies in Australian organizations , 2005 .

[22]  E. Kossek,et al.  “Work-Family Scholarship”: Voice and Context , 2004 .

[23]  S. Macdermid.  Re)Considering Conflict Between Work and Family , 2004 .

[24]  Chester S. Spell,et al.  Programme knowledge and value of work-family practices and organizational commitment , 2004 .

[25]  Louise Thornthwaite,et al.  Working Time and Work-Family Balance: A Review of Employees’ Preferences , 2004 .

[26]  J. Haar.  Work-family conflict and turnover intention: Exploring the moderation effects of perceived work-family support. , 2004 .

[27]  Paul E. Spector,et al.  A CROSS‐NATIONAL COMPARATIVE STUDY OF WORK‐FAMILY STRESSORS, WORKING HOURS, AND WELL‐BEING: CHINA AND LATIN AMERICA VERSUS THE ANGLO WORLD , 2004 .

[28]  T. Lau,et al.  The Macro-Environment and Work-Family Conflict , 2003 .

[29]  D. Lero,et al.  A Multi-Level Approach to Cross Cultural Work-Family Research , 2003 .

[30]  S. Poelmans.  Editorial The Multi-Level ‘Fit’ Model of Work and Family , 2003 .

[31]  Cary L. Cooper,et al.  A Cross-National Comparative Study of Work/Family Demands and Resources , 2003 .

[32]  R. Drago,et al.  Mapping the Terrain of Work/Family Journals , 2003 .

[33]  Randall S. Schuler,et al.  International Human Resource Management: Review and Critique , 2002 .

[34]  Annette Boaz,et al.  Social Science and the Evidence-based Policy Movement , 2002, Social Policy and Society.

[35]  D. Guest.  Perspectives on the Study of Work-life Balance , 2002 .

[36]  Claire A. Simmers,et al.  Type of employment, work–family conflict and well-being: a comparative study , 2001 .

[37]  Chris Brewster,et al.  Strategic Human Resource Management: The Value of Different Paradigms , 1999 .

[38]  Mark A. Mone,et al.  Determinants and Development of Schools in Organization Theory , 1999 .

[39]  Ellen Ernst Kossek,et al.  Bridging the work-family policy and productivity gap: A literature review , 1999 .

[40]  Rosalind C. Barnett,et al.  A New Work-Life Model for the Twenty-First Century , 1999 .

[41]  P. Rayman,et al.  Creating a Research and Public Policy Agenda for Work, Family, and Community , 1999 .

[42]  A. Strauss,et al.  Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. , 1993 .

[43]  B. Googins,et al.  Linking the worlds of work and family: Beyond the productivity trap , 1992 .

[44]  M. L. Cooper,et al.  Antecedents and outcomes of work-family conflict: testing a model of the work-family interface. , 1992, The Journal of applied psychology.

[45]  C. Higgins,et al.  Gender differences in work-family conflict. , 1991 .

[46]  Mary Reichel,et al.  Conceptual Frameworks for Bibliographic Education: Theory into Practice , 1987 .

[47]  Linda S. Lotto.  Qualitative Data Analysis: A Sourcebook of New Methods , 1986 .

[48]  Gregg B. Jackson,et al.  Methods for Integrative Reviews , 1980 .

[49]  Rosabeth Moss Kanter,et al.  Work and Family in the United States: A Critical Review and Agenda for Research and Policy , 1978 .

[50]  J. Pleck.  The work-family role system. , 1977 .

[51]  R. Rapoport,et al.  The Dual Career Family , 1969 .

[52]  W. Casper,et al.  A review of research methods in IO/OB work-family research. , 2007, The Journal of applied psychology.

[53]  Jeffrey H. Greenhaus,et al.  When Work And Family Are Allies: A Theory Of Work-Family Enrichment , 2006 .

[54]  John Burgess,et al.  Reworking work: what are the issues for Australia? , 2005 .

[55]  I. Kowanko,et al.  Literature reviews: evolution of a research methodology. , 2000, The Australian journal of advanced nursing : a quarterly publication of the Royal Australian Nursing Federation.

[56]  S. Kozlowski,et al.  A multilevel approach to theory and research in organizations: Contextual, temporal, and emergent processes. , 2000 .

[57]  E. Guba,et al.  Fourth Generation Evaluation , 1989 .

[58]  Jeffrey H. Greenhaus,et al.  Sources of Conflict Between Work and Family Roles , 1985 .

[59]  G. Glass,et al.  Meta-analysis in social research , 1981 .