WORK-LIFE BALANCE RESEARCH IN DUAL-CAREER LIVES: A CHRONOLOGICAL REVIEW
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35631/IJEMP.936002Keywords:
Chronological Review, Dual-Career Lives, Work-Life Balance, Work-Family ConflictAbstract
Work-life balance has become an important research domain as changes in employment structures, family roles, and career expectations have increased the complexity of man-aging work and non-work responsibilities, particularly among dual-career individuals and couples. Despite growing scholarly attention, the literature remains fragmented across different periods, contexts, and research perspectives, limiting understanding of how work-life balance research in dual-career lives has evolved. This study provides a chronological review to trace the field's development and identify major shifts in re-search focus. A systematic advanced search was conducted in the Scopus database, using “work-life balance” and “dual-career lives” as the main search concepts alongside related terms. The search and screening procedures produced a final dataset of 72 primary articles for chronological analysis. Based on publication patterns and shifts in research focus, the literature was organised into three temporal phases: Emergence and Early Development (2007-2013), Expansion and Consolidation (2014-2020), and Acceleration and Contemporary Development (2021-2025). The findings demonstrate a progression from early attention to changing family structures, work-family conflict, organisational flexibility, and career coordination to broader consideration of dyadic relationships, boundary management, workplace support, gender roles, and family well-being. Recent studies increasingly emphasise parenting and caregiving, partner-level transmission of work-family experiences, flexible work arrangements, post-pandemic changes, persistent gender inequalities, and sustainable careers. Overall, the review reveals that work-life balance in dual-career lives has evolved from a predominantly conflict-oriented perspective to a multidimensional field incorporating relational, organisational, family, and societal dimensions. This evolution provides a structured foundation for future research on changing dual-career realities.
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