Linking Unlearning with Work–Life Balance: An Initial Empirical Investigation into SMEs

The use of work–life balance () supporting cultures to provide and support the welfare of both the individuals and their families is expected to improve organizational outcomes by enabling company members to improve levels of job satisfaction and commitment to work. However, creating or introducing another culture in the company frequently generates internal problems when it conflicts with the current culture in terms of the beliefs, habits, and things managers take for granted. In this paper, we develop a framework for modeling how the unsuitable knowledge may be mitigated in order to strengthen a culture. It is based on the idea that the presence of an unlearning context that fosters the updating of knowledge is likely to be essential for small and medium‐sized enterprises (s) that are trying to implement a culture. The research model and hypothesized relationships are empirically tested using the structural equation modeling approach, validated by factor analysis of 229 s in the Spanish metal industry. Our findings show that in order to strengthen a WLB culture and thus positively influence innovation‐related outcomes, s meet the challenge of developing an unlearning context to counteract the negative effects of the outdated knowledge in relevant areas and to facilitate the replacement of out‐of‐date or obsolete knowledge.