Beyond time-binds: Rethinking work–family dynamics for a mobile world

Abstract

Contemporary work is increasingly mobile, sparking new challenges for scholars of work and organizations. In this review article, we argue that a ‘mobilities lens’ offers strong potential for rethinking established approaches, focusing on one important sub-field: work–family studies. Drawing on a ‘problematization’ approach (Sandberg and Alvesson, 2011) and a systematic literature review (SLR) of work–family research published from 1995 to 2015, we show how theoretical assumptions about time, space, and place have narrowed the scope of work–family studies, focusing attention on ‘time’ and ‘time-binds’, and a limited subset of mobilities (e.g. telework, commuting). We argue that a mobilities lens can help us ‘think differently’ about work–family dynamics, prompting theoretical and methodological reorientations that recognize the inextricable connection of time and space (as ‘time–space’) and the need for a more encompassing excavation of the power, practice, and meaning of employment-related mobility (ERM) in work–family life. We sketch out a ‘mobilities inspired’ agenda to illustrate how ideas from mobilities studies can enrich work–family inquiry. We also discuss how mobilities studies can benefit, in turn, from greater engagement with work–family and organizational research.