Negotiating Work–Life Balance among Higher-Education Lecturers: An Integrative Review with Indonesian Islamic Higher Education as a Focal Case

Bhaswarendra Guntur Hendratri; Adi Marsono; Mas'ut Mas'ut

doi:10.32806/jf.v15i03.1945

Authors

Bhaswarendra Guntur Hendratri Universitas Pangeran Diponegoro Nganjuk, Indonesia
Adi Marsono Universitas Pangeran Dipone goro Nganjuk, Indonesia
Mas'ut Mas'ut Universitas Pangeran Diponegoro Nganjuk, Indonesia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32806/jf.v15i03.1945

Keywords:

work–life balance; job demands–resources; Islamic work ethic; academic leadership; lecturer wellbeing

Abstract

Work–life balance (WLB) among higher-education lecturers has shifted from a welfare concern to a question of university governance, as rising demands and constant digital connectivity erode the boundary between academic work and personal life. This integrative review synthesizes international and Indonesian evidence on how lecturers negotiate WLB, how job demands and resources shape that negotiation, and what follows for academic practice and lecturer wellbeing. Indonesian Islamic higher education serves as a focal case in which religiously grounded expectations of dedication further intensify boundary work. A structured search of Scopus and Indonesian national indexes (SINTA, Garuda) identified 17 direct WLB studies of academics (8 international, 9 Indonesian Islamic higher education), alongside supporting literature on demands, resources, leadership, and the Islamic Work Ethic (IWE). The synthesis combined work/family border theory, the job demands–resources model, IWE, and Islamic and spiritual leadership research. Four patterns emerged. First, the direct evidence challenged common assumptions: in the only focal study that tested it, technology-enabled flexibility lowered balance, and among Muslim employees, IWE amplified rather than buffered harm under despotic leadership. Second, studies measured productivity far more consistently than well-being; third, Indonesian evidence concentrated on female lecturers and on cross-sectional designs. Fourth, no study stratified its findings by generational cohort. The review reframes WLB as negotiated academic practice, extends the conditional reading of IWE into the work–life domain, and sets out a research agenda. Because it is integrative rather than systematic, its conclusions are agenda-setting rather than definitive.

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