Adah, C A; Aghimien, D O and Oshodi, O (2025) Work–life balance in the construction industry: A bibliometric and narrative review. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 32(1), pp. 38-58. ISSN 0969-9988
Abstract
Purpose: The nature of construction works has a negative impact on physical, mental and emotional well-being and makes it difficult for the construction industry to attack and retain its workforce. The current study seeks to integrate the current knowledge focused on work–life balance (WLB) in the industry into an understandable whole. Design/methodology/approach: An interpretivist philosophical approach was adopted using a bibliometric review and a narrative review of existing studies from both Scopus and Google databases. The Visualisation of Similarities viewer (VOSviewer) was used to prepare co-occurrence maps from the bibliographic data garnered. Findings: The study reveals that the prominent factors influencing the WLB of the construction workforce are organizational culture, salary earned, heavy workload, long working hours and inflexible working time. The recent WLB discourse is on organisational commitment, job satisfaction and workplace dynamics. While WLB areas for further exploration are job stress, safety performance, employee attrition and an ageing workforce. Meanwhile, Africa and South America are still lagging in WLB research. Practical implications: The findings reported here will assist stakeholders in identifying appropriate WLB initiatives that can be used to improve the well-being of the construction workforce. Also, the gaps in knowledge for further research were highlighted. Originality/value: The findings reveal current trends and a road map for future studies on WLB in construction. It also reveals prominent factors influencing the WLB of workers in the construction industry.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction industry; review; well-being; workforce; work–life balance |
| Index terms: | Africa, database, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, construction work, dynamics, job stress, future study, construction industry, maps, workload, well-being, working hours, exploration, methodology, narrative, safety performance, organizational culture, visualization |
| Subjects: | employment law, qualitative and interpretive research, design practice, management, industry analysis, systems engineering, occupational health and safety management, data management, sociology, research design and methodology, mental health and wellbeing, regions and continents, research methods, spatial and geospatial analysis, operations management, environmental resource management |
| Topics: | Health and Safety, Geographical Context, Project Management, Engineering Principles, Sustainability, Legal Issues, Research Practice, Design Practice, Digital Applications, Human Resources, Organizational Design |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here