In this era, the concepts of human resource management (HRM) practices have evolved to the implementation of work-life balance (WLB) practices, such as: flexible working hours and supportive supervision. WLB practices have shown a great influence on employee attraction, retention, motivation and development. This study examines the relationship between WLB practices on employee job performance as well as the mediating effect of job satisfaction in the relationship between work-life balance practices and employee job performance among doctors and nurses in East Malaysia. The study surveys 491 doctors and nurses in the East Malaysia states of Sabah and Sarawak in 2016-2017. Four hypotheses were tested with validated measures of WLB practices (flexible working hours and supportive supervision), job satisfaction and job performance. Findings revealed that flexible working hours and supportive supervision has a significant and positive impact to job performance. Job satisfaction positively mediates the relationship between flexible working hours and supportive supervision towards job performance. An effective WLB practices will improve employees’ job satisfaction which eventually increase their job performance and productivity. This study’s findings aim to assist the Malaysian healthcare industry in improving doctors’ and nurses’ attraction, retention and motivation.

This article presents evidence for a new facet of our understanding of why scuba divers pursue their interest so fervently and are willing to travel to do so. The perennial question of why people travel is addressed through the concept of eudaimonia, the good life, or flourishing, an idea originating with Aristotle but currently enjoying renewed interest in the context of positive psychology and well-being tourism. Results of a qualitative study are presented through themes that resonate with the authentic happiness model used to evaluate long-term satisfaction, happiness, or eudaimonia. Exploratory findings indicate that participants gain meaning and fulfillment from the acts of learning and personal growth, and they are motivated to dive because this special interest promotes positive experiences, which may lead to the good life.

This paper explores how a specific context supports or hinders work-life balance (WLB) experiences focusing on women doctors and nurses in Malaysia. WLB and gender formed the conceptual basis of a qualitative study using in-depth, semi-structured interviews. The 26 participants were employed across public and private healthcare sectors. A systematic multistep data analytical procedure produced three key themes which contribute to the contemporary debate on WLB. In Malaysia, contextual factors exert a strong influence on WLB experiences for women doctors and nurses. Due to gender norms, women carry the burden of dual responsibilities for both professional and familial duties which disrupts WLB. Notably, collegiality at work facilitates WLB but is an informal mechanism rooted in a collectivist society.Finally, staff shortages in the healthcare sector also impede WLB. Based on the key themes, recommendations are made for a sustainable workforce in the Malaysian healthcare industry.

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Tourists’ sense of place or destination attachment could play an important role in destination branding. Yet, sense of place literature focuses on residents as the concept originates from a long-term residence in one place. This study explores the role of destination attachment based on tourist experience for branding based on a case study in Malaysian Borneo. A qualitative content analysis using QCAmap of 34 blogs extracted 116 blogposts with narratives containing emotional sentiments from international tourists. Findings uncovered six important attributes: namely nature, adventure, environment, culture, conservation, and education associated with destination attachment. Findings show that these attributes are interconnected as the main attribute, nature, produces other attributes. A tourists’ sense of place model for destination attachment is proposed to understand how tourists develop attachment to a place.