PurposeThis paper aims to further the understanding about the relationship between work–life conflict and possible barriers to career progression due to the perception of anticipated work–life conflict, considering the unbounded nature of academic work through features such as its intensity, flexibility and perception of organizational support.Design/methodology/approachThe model was tested using survey data from academics in a public university in the south of Spain. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe results reveal that current work–life conflict, job intensity and perception of support have a direct effect on the anticipation of work–life conflict in the event of progression in academic careers. The flexibility that academics enjoy is not sufficient to prevent the expected conflict. Academics' age is relevant, but gender or having childcare responsibilities have no significant effect of the anticipation of conflict.Research limitations/implicationsThis study addresses the gap in the literature on anticipated work–life conflict, expanding the focus to nonfamily commitments in unbounded jobs such as academic posts. The authors are not aware of any other study that focuses on the anticipation of work–life conflict in the case of career advancement among current employees with professional experience or accurate knowledge of what job they will be doing instead of students. Work–life balance should not be restricted to women with caring responsibilities, as conflict is no longer only related to gender roles.Originality/valueThis paper not only explores existing work–life conflict but also empirically analyzes anticipated work–life conflict in unbounded careers such as academia. It represents a significant contribution in an underresearched field and may lead to future research in other settings.

The paper explores whether work-life balance (WLB) is affected by the unbounded work context and how organisational support, work flexibility and gender affect this relationship.Design/methodology/approach: The study is quantitative, involving a survey of academics based in three UK institutions, using OLS regressions.Findings: There is a significant negative relationship between the perception of the unbounded nature of work and WLB among academics, irrespective of their gender. While flexible work and organisational support are positively associated with WLB, they have limited effect in an unbounded work context. Originality:The study makes original contributions for practitioners and academics. First, it provides empirical evidence of the relationship between the unboundedness of work and WLB, and finds no significant gender differences in WLB within an unbounded work context. Second, it helps to understand how flexible work and an organisational support culture are insufficient to eliminate the negative effect of unbounded work. Research limitations:The research involves a relatively small sample of UK academics but provides insights into WLB in an unbounded work context. Social implications:As became evident during the coronavirus pandemic, the boundaries between work and non-work domains in contemporary work settings are more and more blurred. Work will therefore become increasingly unbounded, potentially undermining WLB and causing tension between growing work demands and the necessities of family and personal lives.

Using retrospective work-family survey data and the event-history analysis technique, this paper explores the determinants of interfirm mobility i.e. the factors influencing the firm changing decisions of women in their early careers. In particular, it explores the extent to which family events, such as marriage and first childbirth, affect women's working duration in firms and, consequently, their decision to change jobs. Based on a sample of 295 married women, drawn from Information Technology-Information Technology Enabled Services (IT-ITES) firms in New Delhi and the National Capital Region, the findings show that, amongst individual-level characteristics, children significantly decline women's interfirm mobility rates, but marriage does not. Amongst firm-level characteristics, lower levels of job position and promotion significantly increase interfirm mobility, whilst rotating shifts, the IT-ITES sector and good working conditions significantly decline interfirm mobility rates. The study does not find that women are less mobile. It, however, takes longer for mothers to change firms due to childcare responsibilities and the extensive searching is required to find a company with standard working hours. This study concludes that women advance their careers by maximizing both status and income rewards through interfirm mobility. The data, however, cannot demonstrate the exact rewards-gain women receive upon changing employers. ARTICLE HISTORY

Literature on women’s economic empowerment argues that women’s income builds resilience and leads to reduction in intimate partner violence (IPV). We challenge this by showing a positive (statistically) insignificant link between women’s economic status and IPV, but significant positive links between women’s economic contribution and IPV, and men’s intergenerational violent behaviour and IPV. Based on a sample of 553 married women drawn from Nepal, we find that paid or precarious work is positively but insignificantly associated with IPV. Findings however reveal that after controlling for other factors, women contributing equally or more to household income are significantly at higher risks of IPV. Similarly, if a man has witnessed domestic violence while growing up, he is more likely to commit violence within his own marriage. We therefore argue for the need to transform men’s attitude and behaviours through targeted programmes to break the cycle of violence.