IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/eurman/v31y2013i3p250-262.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Balance between work and life: A qualitative study of German contract workers

Author

Listed:
  • Süß, Stefan
  • Sayah, Shiva

Abstract

In recent years, the number of contract workers has increased considerably – especially in the IT sector and the media sector. There is some evidence that the specific characteristics of contract working have consequences for the work-life balance of contract workers. However, there is a lack of empirical research on these consequences. This article reduces the existing research gap by presenting findings of an exploratory study of contract workers. These findings show that on the one hand contract working is challenging the individual work-life balance when it comes to long working hours, absences from home due to travel and flexibility requirements regarding time and place of work. On the other hand, for some individuals contract working offers the possibility to work flexibly with regard to time and place and therefore enables a better reconciliation of work and private life. These results suggest that a differentiated evaluation of the consequences of contract working for work-life balance, in which the specifics of the sector, demographic characteristics and working conditions (e.g. flexibility requirements) are considered, is necessary.

Suggested Citation

  • Süß, Stefan & Sayah, Shiva, 2013. "Balance between work and life: A qualitative study of German contract workers," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 250-262.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eurman:v:31:y:2013:i:3:p:250-262
    DOI: 10.1016/j.emj.2012.12.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0263237312001430
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.emj.2012.12.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Süß, Stefan & Kleiner, Markus, 2010. "Commitment and work-related expectations in flexible employment forms: An empirical study of German IT freelancers," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 40-54, February.
    2. Lyn Craig & Abigail Powell, 2011. "Non-standard work schedules, work-family balance and the gendered division of childcare," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 25(2), pages 274-291, June.
    3. Gideon Kunda & Stephen R. Barley & James Evans, 2002. "Why Do Contractors Contract? The Experience of Highly Skilled Technical Professionals in a Contingent Labor Market," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 55(2), pages 234-261, January.
    4. Dustin J. Bluhm & Wendy Harman & Thomas W. Lee & Terence R. Mitchell, 2011. "Qualitative Research in Management: A Decade of Progress," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(8), pages 1866-1891, December.
    5. Darcy, Colette & McCarthy, Alma & Hill, Jimmy & Grady, Geraldine, 2012. "Work–life balance: One size fits all? An exploratory analysis of the differential effects of career stage," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 111-120.
    6. Jeff Hyman & Chris Baldry & Dora Scholarios & Dirk Bunzel, 2003. "Work–Life Imbalance in Call Centres and Software Development," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 41(2), pages 215-239, June.
    7. Vivi Bach Pedersen & Suzan Lewis, 2012. "Flexible friends? Flexible working time arrangements, blurred work-life boundaries and friendship," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 26(3), pages 464-480, June.
    8. Anja-Kristin Abendroth & Laura den Dulk, 2011. "Support for the work-life balance in Europe: the impact of state, workplace and family support on work-life balance satisfaction," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 25(2), pages 234-256, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Darja Reuschke, 2019. "The subjective well-being of homeworkers across life domains," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 51(6), pages 1326-1349, September.
    2. María Jesús Carrasco-Santos & Carmen Cristófol Rodríguez & Eva Royo Rodríguez, 2020. "Why Is the Spanish Hotel Trade Lagging So Far Behind in Gender Equality? A Sustainability Question," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-20, May.
    3. S. Vijayakumar Bharathi & E. Padma Mala, 2016. "A Study on the Determinants of Work–Life Balance of Women Employees in Information Technology Companies in India," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 17(3), pages 665-683, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sayah, Shiva & Suess, Stefan, 2013. "Conflict between Work and Life: The Case of Contract Workers in the German IT and Media Sectors," management revue - Socio-Economic Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 24(3), pages 222-244.
    2. Pasamar, Susana, 2020. "Why a strong work-life balance system is needed?," Cuadernos de Gestión, Universidad del País Vasco - Instituto de Economía Aplicada a la Empresa (IEAE).
    3. Eling, Martin & Jia, Ruo, 2018. "Business failure, efficiency, and volatility: Evidence from the European insurance industry," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 58-76.
    4. App, Stefanie & Merk, Janina & Buettgen, Marion, 2012. "Employer Branding: Sustainable HRM as a Competitive Advantage in the Market for High-Quality Employees," management revue - Socio-Economic Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 23(3), pages 262-278.
    5. Beth A. Bechky, 2006. "Gaffers, Gofers, and Grips: Role-Based Coordination in Temporary Organizations," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(1), pages 3-21, February.
    6. Deirdre Donovan & Dr Angela Wright, 2013. "Teleworking: An Examination of the Irish Dichotomy," International Journal of Business and Social Research, LAR Center Press, vol. 3(3), pages 18-31, March.
    7. Gazi Md. Shakhawat Hossain & Md. Nayem Hossen & Md. Sharifur Rahman & Maruf Hasan, 2019. "Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) Approach to Examining the Factors’ Affecting Work Life Balance among Female Teachers’: An Empirical Study," International Journal of Science and Business, IJSAB International, vol. 3(6), pages 140-152.
    8. Ruud Gerards & Sanne Wetten & Cecile Sambeek, 2021. "New ways of working and intrapreneurial behaviour: the mediating role of transformational leadership and social interaction," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 15(7), pages 2075-2110, October.
    9. Mohammed Alblihed & Haitham Ali Alzghaibi, 2022. "The Impact of Job Stress, Role Ambiguity and Work–Life Imbalance on Turnover Intention during COVID-19: A Case Study of Frontline Health Workers in Saudi Arabia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-15, October.
    10. Laudien, Sven M. & Reuter, Ute & Sendra Garcia, Francisco Javier & Botella-Carrubi, Dolores, 2024. "Digital advancement and its effect on business model design: Qualitative-empirical insights," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    11. Sven M. Laudien & Birgit Daxböck, 2016. "The Influence Of The Industrial Internet Of Things On Business Model Design: A Qualitative-Empirical Analysis," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 20(08), pages 1-28, December.
    12. Sarbu, Miruna, 2018. "The role of telecommuting for work-family conflict among German employees," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 37-51.
    13. Kim Hoque & Ian Kirkpatrick & Alex De Ruyter & Chris Lonsdale, 2008. "New Contractual Relationships in the Agency Worker Market: The Case of the UK's National Health Service," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 46(3), pages 389-412, September.
    14. Ewa Hącia & Natalia Wagner & Aleksandra Łapko, 2022. "The Importance of City Logistics for Urban Tourism Development: Searching for a New Research Field," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-17, December.
    15. Malhotra, P. & Singh, Manjari, 2014. "Individual Factors and Organisational Initiatives Enabling the Success of PWD-Managers," IIMA Working Papers WP2014-03-19, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department.
    16. Zoe Adams & Simon Deakin, 2014. "Institutional Solutions to Precariousness and Inequality in Labour Markets," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 52(4), pages 779-809, December.
    17. A. Rebecca Reuber & Eileen Fischer, 2022. "Putting qualitative international business research in context(s)," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(1), pages 27-38, February.
    18. Hamid Reza Saberi & Amir Hossein Khoshakhlagh & Fereydoon Laal & Marziyeh Mirzahosseininejad & Mitra Hannani & Umesh Bamel, 2023. "Investigating the Reasons for Turnover Intention of Workers in the Spinning and Weaving Industries in Iran," Corporate Reputation Review, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 26(4), pages 320-331, November.
    19. Othmar Manfred Lehner & Alex Nicholls & Sarah Beatrice Kapplmüller, 2022. "Arenas of Contestation: A Senian Social Justice Perspective on the Nature of Materiality in Impact Measurement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(4), pages 971-989, September.
    20. Sundarakani, Balan & Ajaykumar, Aneesh & Gunasekaran, Angappa, 2021. "Big data driven supply chain design and applications for blockchain: An action research using case study approach," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:eurman:v:31:y:2013:i:3:p:250-262. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/115/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.