a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c tWork-life balance (WLB) is receiving increasing attention in the human resource management field. Line managers are playing a more active role in HRM decision-making, including work-life balance decisions, with the devolution of human resource management responsibility. Drawing on the theory of planned behavior, this paper develops a conceptual model explaining what affects line manager WLB policy and practice behaviors and the consequent impact on employee WLB experience in their organizations. Line manager WLB policy involvement, policy awareness, perceived policy instrumentality, and personal policy utilization are variables which are proposed to impact line manager attitudes towards WLB policies. These attitudes, in turn, are proposed to affect three employee WLB policy outcomes: employee WLB policy awareness, policy uptake, and policy satisfaction. The implications for future research and practice are set out.

Summary This paper explores the antecedents of work-life balance for employees as they progress through different career stages denoted by age. To date, research has failed to adequately explore how work-life balance issues develop over the course of an employeeÕs working life. As a consequence, much of the work-life balance policy and practice research examines WLB issues from a relatively static and unchanging perspective resulting in praxis which is undifferentiated. Such a Ôone size fits allÕ approach to the design and development of work-life balance initiatives is not only costly but likely to be ineffective in terms of meeting the real needs of different categories of employees. This paper challenges the static approaches and instead seeks to examine if and how WLB is affected and shaped by different antecedents as they impact on differing career stages as defined by distinct age categorisations.The research was carried out among a sample of 729 employees in 15 organisations (10 private sector and 5 public sector organisations) in the Republic of Ireland. Four career stages are considered with regard to both men and women irrespective of their parenting status. The findings suggest that factors which impact upon work-life balance differ marginally across various career stages thereby indicating that WLB is a concern for employees at all career stages and not the preserve of parents with young children only. These findings shed new light on our understanding of the antecedents of work-life balance and have particular implications for organisations who wish to foster a culture which values work-life balance across all career stages for all their employees.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to consider organisational sustainability in the small-to medium-sized enterprises (SME) context focussing on a resource-based view. The paper overlays two contrasting perspectives: those of the SME and human resource (HR) perspectives to allow for the development of a composite model of organisational sustainability for SMEs. Design/methodology/approach -The paper overlays four models of Carson's (1985Carson's ( , 1990 small firm evolution and unique characteristics of SMEs; Wright et al.'s (2001) pertaining to the application of the resource-based view of the firm perspective to strategic HR and Boudreau and Ramstad (2005) model of effectiveness, efficiency and impact of talentship. The paper, in particular, considers the human resource management (HRM) perspectives pertaining to the overlay and considers how these might impact organisational sustainability. Findings -An outcome of the paper is the development of a composite model to the SME and HR perspectives of organisational sustainability and its applicability to the SME context. Research limitations/implications -The paper suggests a number of emergent areas for future research. Future research should focus on the intangible aspects and softer elements of the organisational resource base. The majority of work in this area is grounded in the positivist paradigm. Future research should consider a pluralists perspective and draw on traditions of the post-positivist paradigm, for example, social constructionism. Practical implications -SME-support agencies and consultants who work with SMEs need, therefore, to work with them in assessing their competency spectra and then to help them develop the talent pools required to effect continued growth and success. In doing so SMEs need to be guided towards a better understanding of the traditional temporal cycle of recruitment; in essence, they need to ensure that they have the right competency set in situ in the early stages of the firms' development. Originality/value -This paper is unique in its approach to the examination of sustainability within the context of SMEs and, in particular, the HRM aspects which contribute towards organisational survival, growth and sustainability.

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Green human resource management (GHRM) practices increasingly receive attention by both HRM scholars and practitioners. Research on these practices has emphasised systems rather than individual HR practices and HR managers' perceptions rather than employees' perceptions of these practices. In addition, little attention has been paid to the mediating mechanisms that link employee perceptions of GHRM practices to voluntary green work behaviour (VGWB) outcomes. This study addresses these research gaps by investigating the impact of employee perception of four individual GHRM practicesrecruitment, selection, performance management and compensation and their impact on employee VGWB in Chinese manufacturing firms. We also investigate the mediating role of reflective moral attentiveness (RMA). Applying signalling theory and drawing on data collected from 300 employees in 50 manufacturing organisations, we found a direct relationship between all four individual GHRM practices and VGWB. We also found that RMA partially mediated the relationship between selection, performance management and compensation practices (but not recruitment) and VGWB. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our study findings.

Drawing on the utility of paradox theory and adopting a micro‐practice perspective, we explore the implementation of high potential talent development (HiPo) programs in multinational corporations (MNCs). In doing so we take an emergent approach to implementation and seek to cast light on some of the day‐to‐day tensions that arise, along with key responses that salient actors appear to make when navigating these paradoxes. Through an inductive, mixed method study involving nine MNCs, we found that, over time, actors construed three particular sets of performance paradoxes relating to variations in their goals, in their beliefs, and in their roles in the particular HiPo programs in focus. We also found that these actors responded to the tensions experienced using an assortment of both defensive and proactive actions. Finally, we uncovered that both the tensions and responses in play vary with the implementation phase of the HiPo program. We highlight some key practice implications that arise from our work, acknowledge attendant limitations and identify possible directions for future research.

Purpose -The purpose of this article is to explore the impact of life cycle stage, specifically parenting stage, on work-family conflict among working parents to determine whether discernible differences are evident among those individuals at the early stage of their parenting cycle compared with those with older children. Design/methodology/approach -An explorative study was undertaken among parents employed within the Irish hotel sector. The questionnaire was distributed to 22 hotels and 76 individuals who reported having children responded. A number of measures were used to assess the impact which a number of factors, namely job stress, job involvement, managerial support and colleague support, may have on working parents' work-life conflict. Correlation and regression analysis are performed to test the hypotheses proposed. Findings -The research findings provide initial support for the possibility that the factors influencing work-family conflict differ for each of the parenting groups analysed. For all parents with dependent children it was found that job involvement, job stress and colleague support all have predictive powers in terms of explaining the antecedents of work-family conflict. Research limitations/implications -The findings provide a compelling case for the need to begin to address work-family conflict in a more holistic manner, examining both the immediate and long-term consequences for employees with childcare responsibilities. Practical implications -The ability to design and implement specific, targeted responses to employees' work-life needs is an area where HRD can make a real and significant contribution. Strategic HRD has the potential to reduce the misappropriation of organisational resources by ensuring a focused and targeted response, thereby minimising the fruitless pursuit of "one size fits all" approaches to this complex issue. Originality/value -The paper seeks to lay the first key foundation-stones in framing the debate in relation to work-life balance in terms of the entire working lives of individuals and not just specific snapshots during the course of that employment. The paper is critical of current organisational thinking in relation to employees' work-life balance needs and challenges HRD professionals to begin to examine this important and complex issue in a more holistic manner.

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