An Exploration of Retail Line-Managers and Work-Life Balance Experiences, Strategies and Responsibilities
The concept of work-life balance is generating increasing academic and public interest as research highlights its positive links to organisational commitment, performance and job-satisfaction. However, achieving a work-life balance has been noted as problematic for employees in the retail sector, am...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Dissertation (University of Nottingham only) |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2018
|
| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/53589/ |
| _version_ | 1848798961738973184 |
|---|---|
| author | Reilly, Justine C |
| author_facet | Reilly, Justine C |
| author_sort | Reilly, Justine C |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | The concept of work-life balance is generating increasing academic and public interest as research highlights its positive links to organisational commitment, performance and job-satisfaction. However, achieving a work-life balance has been noted as problematic for employees in the retail sector, amidst a traditional service sector culture of small budgets, long-hours and emotionally and physically demanding work. As middle managers are rarely studied in work-life balance research, the aim of this study is to explore retail line-manager experiences of work-life balance. More specifically, the research aims to explore how retail line-managers take responsibility for their work-life balance and how they attempt to personally manage it. The research aims are addressed through in-depth qualitative interviews with retail line-managers in a large retail organisation.
The study suggests that the work-life balance of retail managers is significantly shaped by the nature of their job-role and the retail sector, particularly as underlying cultural norms and unclear expectations result in line-managers undertaking excessive workloads. This also influenced the way retail line-managers attempted to manage their work-life balance. The study also found that there were varied line-manager attitudes towards work-life balance responsibility, with some believing that managing work-life balance is totally their own responsibility and others claiming retail employers should be more responsible. Despite the varied beliefs, on the whole, most of the line-managers claimed that their work-life balance could be better facilitated by their organisation. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:28:05Z |
| format | Dissertation (University of Nottingham only) |
| id | nottingham-53589 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:28:05Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-535892022-03-11T16:08:43Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/53589/ An Exploration of Retail Line-Managers and Work-Life Balance Experiences, Strategies and Responsibilities Reilly, Justine C The concept of work-life balance is generating increasing academic and public interest as research highlights its positive links to organisational commitment, performance and job-satisfaction. However, achieving a work-life balance has been noted as problematic for employees in the retail sector, amidst a traditional service sector culture of small budgets, long-hours and emotionally and physically demanding work. As middle managers are rarely studied in work-life balance research, the aim of this study is to explore retail line-manager experiences of work-life balance. More specifically, the research aims to explore how retail line-managers take responsibility for their work-life balance and how they attempt to personally manage it. The research aims are addressed through in-depth qualitative interviews with retail line-managers in a large retail organisation. The study suggests that the work-life balance of retail managers is significantly shaped by the nature of their job-role and the retail sector, particularly as underlying cultural norms and unclear expectations result in line-managers undertaking excessive workloads. This also influenced the way retail line-managers attempted to manage their work-life balance. The study also found that there were varied line-manager attitudes towards work-life balance responsibility, with some believing that managing work-life balance is totally their own responsibility and others claiming retail employers should be more responsible. Despite the varied beliefs, on the whole, most of the line-managers claimed that their work-life balance could be better facilitated by their organisation. 2018 Dissertation (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/53589/1/Justine%20Reilly%20Dissertation%20PDF.pdf Reilly, Justine C (2018) An Exploration of Retail Line-Managers and Work-Life Balance Experiences, Strategies and Responsibilities. [Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)] |
| spellingShingle | Reilly, Justine C An Exploration of Retail Line-Managers and Work-Life Balance Experiences, Strategies and Responsibilities |
| title | An Exploration of Retail Line-Managers and Work-Life Balance Experiences, Strategies and Responsibilities |
| title_full | An Exploration of Retail Line-Managers and Work-Life Balance Experiences, Strategies and Responsibilities |
| title_fullStr | An Exploration of Retail Line-Managers and Work-Life Balance Experiences, Strategies and Responsibilities |
| title_full_unstemmed | An Exploration of Retail Line-Managers and Work-Life Balance Experiences, Strategies and Responsibilities |
| title_short | An Exploration of Retail Line-Managers and Work-Life Balance Experiences, Strategies and Responsibilities |
| title_sort | exploration of retail line-managers and work-life balance experiences, strategies and responsibilities |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/53589/ |