Work-Life Balance Among Dual-Career Couples Without Children: A Qualitative Study

Dual-career professional couples are becoming common in many countries. In North America, previous generations of dual-career professional couples were likely to have children, but today many such couples forego parenthood. Increased attention in management literature has been given to work-life balance of dual-career professional couples with children, but there is a paucity of qualitative research on work-life balance of dual-career professional couples without children. Given current social transformations, evolving work values, career aspirations, and changing family structures, more investigation into this demographic group is needed. This study sets out to examine how individuals in dual-career professional couples without children understand and experience work-life balance. This qualitative study draws on interview data collected from 21 couples to explore the following research questions: 1) How do dual-career professional couples without children define work-life balance? 2) What are the main influences on the work-life balance of dual-career professional couples without children? 3) How do dual-career professional couples without children experience work-life balance? and 4) How do dual-career professional couples without children manage their work-life balance? This study adds to contemporary academic literature by exploring the experiences of professional dual-career couples without children, within an interpretive ontology. This study also challenges the call in management scholarship to develop one clear definition of work-life balance. It indicates that work-life balance is a subjective construct that differs from individual to individual and from couple to couple, even those who share many similarities. Finally, this study demonstrates that work-life balance in professional dual-career couples is a social-relational process.