Navigating Work–Life Balance: Experiences of Female Academics at Malaysian Private Universities
Keywords:
work–life balance; female academics; challenges; private higher educationAbstract
As a result of increasing academic pressures in performance-based, digitally mediated and market-oriented contexts, work–life balance has become a crucial issue in the education sector. Despite increasing scholarly interest in work–life balance in higher education, few empirical studies have examined the subjective experiences of female academics in Malaysian private higher education institutions (PHEIs), where institutional demands and academic expectations are especially high. This qualitative study investigated the major factors that influence work–life balance of female academics employed by Malaysian PHEIs, by applying boundary theory as a guide. In total six female academics at Malaysian PHEIs were selected through purposive sampling and participated in phenomenological interviews to gather data, which were then subjected to thematic analysis to identify recurrent issues. The findings indicate that work–life balance is affected by a number of interconnected factors, such as the blurring of work–life boundaries, the demands of academic workloads, structural resource limitations and leadership and line-manager behaviours. Overall, the findings demonstrate how institutional, leadership and structural factors exacerbate problems with work–life balance and make it difficult for female academics to pursue long-term academic careers in PHEIs.
https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.25.3.52
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