Examining the Relationships Among Work–Life Constructs: A Review

Abstract

Although there has been much research conducted on the work–life interface, the absence of an integrated review of its conceptualization is mystifying to many researchers. This study addresses this gap in the work–family research. The purpose of this article is to review and synthesize existing literature on the work–life interface. The article examines the conceptualization of the key constructs of work life interface, such as work–family conflict (WFC), work–family enrichment (WFE), and work–life balance (WLB), and draws differences among them. The study contributes to the work–family research by giving clarity about the meaning and relationship of work–life constructs. The study also gives an idea about the measures used in empirical work–life studies. The article concludes by suggesting propositions and a model which offers directions for future work–life researchers. The main limitation of this study is that it may have overlooked studies which are inaccessible or unpublished and having focused on research articles only in English. To the best of our knowledge, this study is among a few articles which attempted to understand the conceptualization of three work–life constructs simultaneously.